Higher-order Approximate Symmetries

Abstract

Fushchych and Shtelen defined approximate symmetry by expanding the solution of a perturbed differential equation in the small parameter, replacing the original equation by a triangular system for the expansion coefficients. We extend this construction to arbitrary order. A coefficient-map formulation yields the order-$p$ Fushchych--Shtelen (FS) system and establishes, under explicit hypotheses, a correspondence with the Baikov--Gazizov--Ibragimov (BGI) method. The two frameworks are compared for a perturbed cubic wave equation. Up to equivalences, we classify the nonlinearities admitting an FS dilation through second order. The classification consists of a generic power family and logarithmic branches at exceptional exponents. Among perturbations nontrivial at first order, vertical BGI continuations select a proper subfamily of one FS branch, and a second common branch arises when the perturbation first enters at second order; the two methods are related but not interchangeable. Joint reduction by the Lorentz algebra and the inherited FS dilation integrates all resulting FS normal forms; the explicit solutions of the 1989 Fushchych--Shtelen letter are recovered as the first-order members of this reduction. In the part common to both frameworks, the logarithmic corrections arise from the expansion of a power law with a perturbation-dependent exponent. Finally, periodic travelling waves are used to examine the long-scale validity of the FS expansion. The first correction is obtained by quadrature, the second-order secular structure is isolated, and phase renormalization produces bounded order-consistent approximations. For integer-power members of the generic family, the amplitude dependence of the corrected wavenumber agrees with the scaling weights obtained from the symmetry classification.