One-parameter solutions of the Euler-Arnold equation on the contactomorphism group

Abstract: We study solutions of the equation $$g_t-g_{tyy} + 4g² - 4gg_{yy} = y gg_{yyy}-yg_yg_{yy}, \qquad y\in\mathbb{R},$$ which arises by considering solutions of the Euler-Arnold equation on a contactomorphism group when the stream function is of the form $f(t,x,y,z) = zg(t,y)$. The equation is analogous to both the Camassa-Holm equation and the Proudman-Johnson equation. We write the equation as an ODE in a Banach space to establish local existence, and we describe conditions leading to global existence and conditions leading to blowup in finite time.