English

Non-uniqueness for a differential equation and a proof by ChatGPT

Analysis of PDEs 2026-05-07 v1 Classical Analysis and ODEs

Abstract

Let f(t,x),M(t,x)C([0,1]2)f(t,x),M(t,x)\in C([0,1]^2) with M(t,x)>0M(t,x)>0. We consider differential equations of the form ft(t,x)=M(t,x)f(t,x)M(t,0)f(t,0)x,x>0. \frac{\partial f}{\partial t}(t,x)=\frac{M(t,x)f(t,x)-M(t,0)f(t,0)}{x},\quad x>0. For a fixed positive weight MM, we ask whether the condition f(0,x)=0f(0,x)=0 forces f0f\equiv 0. We show the answer is negative for smooth functions: there exist f(t,x),M(t,x)C([0,1]2)f(t,x),M(t,x)\in C^{\infty}([0,1]^2) with f(0,x)=0f(0,x)=0, f(t,0)≢0f(t,0)\not\equiv 0, and M(t,x)>0M(t,x)>0 satisfying the above equation. However, we show that for a large class of M(t,x)M(t,x), the equation does have uniqueness. We relate this to uniqueness/non-uniqueness theorems for weighted Laplace transforms. A key example originated in an output by ChatGPT-5.5-Pro, and we include a discussion of its output as well as a complete proof.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.04810,
  title  = {Non-uniqueness for a differential equation and a proof by ChatGPT},
  author = {Brian Street},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.04810},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

15 pages

R2 v1 2026-07-01T12:52:38.601Z