We consider the systems of hyperbolic equations ⎧$uₜₜ=\Delta \left(a(t,x)u\right)+\Delta \left(b(t,x)v\right)+{h(t,x)\left|v\right|}^p$, t > 0, $x\in {ℝ}^N$, (S1) ⎨ ⎩$vₜₜ=\Delta \left(c(t,x)v\right)+{k(t,x)\left|u\right|}^q$, t > 0, $x\in {ℝ}^N$ ⎧$uₜₜ=\Delta \left(a(t,x)u\right)+{h(t,x)\left|v\right|}^p$, t > 0, $x\in {ℝ}^N$, (S2) ⎨ ⎩$vₜₜ=\Delta \left(c(t,x)v\right)+{l(t,x)\left|v\right|}^m+k(t,x){\left|u\right|}^q$, t > 0, $x\in {ℝ}^N$, (S3) ⎧$uₜₜ=\Delta \left(a(t,x)u\right)+\Delta \left(b(t,x)v\right)+{h(t,x)\left|u\right|}^p$, t > 0, $x\in {ℝ}^N$, ⎨ ⎩$vₜₜ=\Delta \left(c(t,x)v\right)+{k(t,x)\left|v\right|}^q$, t > 0, $x\in {ℝ}^N$, in $(0,\infty )\times {ℝ}^N$ with u(0,x) = u₀(x), v(0,x) = v₀(x), uₜ(0,x) = u₁(x), vₜ(0,x) = v₁(x). We show that, in each case, there exists a bound B on N such that for 1 ≤ N ≤ B solutions to the systems blow up in finite time.

We study the lifespan of solutions to fully nonlinear second-order Cauchy problems with small real- or complex-analytic data. The nonlinear term is an analytic function in u, ū and their derivatives. We give an outline of the proof based on the method of majorants and the fixed point technique.

We study the Cauchy problem for utt − ∆u + V (x)u^5 = 0 in 3–dimensional case. The function V (x) is positive and regular, in particular we are interested in the case V (x) = 0 in some points. We look for the global classical solution of this equation under a suitable hypothesis on the initial energy.

In the present paper we explain the classification of oscillations and its relation to the loss of derivatives for a homogeneous hyperbolic operator of second order. In this way we answer the open question if the assumptions to get $C^{\infty }$ well posedness for weakly hyperbolic Cauchy problems or for strictly hyperbolic Cauchy problems with non-Lipschitz coefficients are optimal.

∗The author was partially supported by M.U.R.S.T. Progr. Nazionale “Problemi Non Lineari...”In this work we analyse the nonlinear Cauchy problem (∂tt − ∆)u(t, x) = ( λg + O(1/(1 + t + |x|)^a) ) ) ∇t,x u(t, x), ∇t,x u(t, x) ), whit initial data u(0, x) = e u0 (x), ut (0, x) = e u1 (x). We assume a ≥ 1, x ∈ R^n (n ≥ 3) and g the matrix related to the Minkowski space. It can be considerated a pertubation of the case when the quadratic term has constant coefficient λg (see Klainerman [6]) We...