We give a geometric descriptions of (wave) fronts in wave propagation processes. Concrete form of defining function of wave front issued from initial algebraic variety is obtained by the aid of Gauss-Manin systems associated with certain complete intersection singularities. In the case of propagations on the plane, we get restrictions on types of possible cusps that can appear on the wave front.

We study the microlocal analyticity of solutions $u$ of the nonlinear equation$$u_t=f(x,t,u,u_x)$$where $f(x,t,{\zeta }_0,\zeta )$ is complex-valued, real analytic in all its arguments and holomorphic in $({\zeta }_0,\zeta )$. We show that if the function $u$ is a $C^2$ solution, $\sigma \in \text{Char}{L}^u$ and $\frac{1}{i}\sigma \left([L^u,\overline{L^u}]\right)\<0$ or if $u$ is a $C^3$ solution, $\sigma \in \text{Char}{L}^u$, $\sigma \left([L^u,\overline{L^u}]\right)=0$, and $\sigma \left([L^u,[L^u,\overline{L^u}]]\right)\ne 0$, then $\sigma \notin W{F}_{a}u$. Here $W{F}_{a}u$ denotes the analytic wave-front set of $u$ and Char$L^u$ is the characteristic set of the linearized operator. When $m=1$, we prove a more general result involving the repeated brackets of $L^u$ and $\overline{L^u}$ of any order.