Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
The long‐time asymptotic solution of the Korteweg‐deVries equation, corresponding to initial data which decay rapidly as | x |→∞ and produce no solitons, is found to be considerably more complicated than previously reported. In general, the asymptotic solution consists of exponential decay, similarity, rapid oscillations and a “collisionless shock” layer. The wave amplitude in this layer decays as (ln t )/ t 2/3 . Only for very special initial conditions is the shock layer absent from the solution.
Ablowitz et al. (Fri,) studied this question.