Symmetry, compatibility and exact solutions of PDEs

Abstract: We discuss various compatibility criteria for overdetermined systems of PDEs generalizing the approach to formal integrability via brackets of differential operators. Then we give sufficient conditions that guarantee that a PDE possessing a Lie algebra of symmetries has invariant solutions with respect to this Lie algebra. These conditions hold for generic=nondegenerate pairs (equation,symmetry) in certain dimension range for the Lie algebra. Finally we discuss models of equations with large symmetry algebras, which eventually lead to integration in closed form.