Classification of a system of two second order PDEs with two dependent and two independent variables

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If we have a second order quasilinear PDE of the form

$A\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial x^2}+B\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial y^2}+2C\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial x\partial y}+ lower\,\, order \,\, terms=0$

where $A,B,C$ are functions of $x,y,u$,

then the equation is called elliptic if $det=\begin{vmatrix}A &C \\C & B\end{vmatrix}>0$, parabolic if $det=0$ and hyperbolic if $det<0$.

Now what happens if we have a system of two coupled PDEs of the form

$A\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial x^2}+B\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial y^2}+2C\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial x\partial y}+D\frac{\partial^2 v}{\partial x^2}+E\frac{\partial^2 v}{\partial y^2}+2F\frac{\partial^2 v}{\partial x\partial y}+ lower\,\, order \,\, terms=0 \\ G\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial x^2}+H\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial y^2}+2K\frac{\partial^2 u}{\partial x\partial y}+L\frac{\partial^2 v}{\partial x^2}+M\frac{\partial^2 v}{\partial y^2}+2N\frac{\partial^2 v}{\partial x\partial y}+ lower\,\, order \,\, terms=0$

with $A,B,C,...$ being functions of $x,y,u,v$.

Does it make sense to construct the determinant

$det=\begin{vmatrix}A &C & D&F\\C & B&F&E\\G &K & L&N\\K &H & N&M\end{vmatrix}$

and investigate its sign, or something like that?

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The classification of linear PDEs with constant coefficients is based on the principle that any linear transformation of coordinates should preserve the classification. That is, we define $$ \xi = ax+by+c, \quad \eta = dx+ey+f. $$ where $ae \neq bd$ so that lines of constant $\xi$ and $\eta$ are not parallel. Substituting in this change of coordinates, you will find a new system of PDEs in $\xi, \eta$ which have a new set of coefficients. A classification of the system should be the same whether the coefficients of the $x, y$ or $\xi, \eta$ system are used. However, the classes of your system will be more numerous than those of the classical second order PDE.

With the general approach out of the way, I suspect that your system will be classified by the sign of the following 4 determinants: $$ \left|\begin{array} {ccc} A & C \\ C & B \end{array} \right| $$ $$ \left|\begin{array} {ccc} D & F \\ F & E \end{array} \right| $$ $$ \left|\begin{array} {ccc} G & K \\ K & H \end{array} \right| $$ $$ \left|\begin{array} {ccc} L & N \\ N & M \end{array} \right| $$ and should be classified by four words, based on the sign of each. You should verify that the signs of these determinants are invariant under the change of coordinates.

Edit: For the case where the coefficients are not constant, we use exactly the same classification system pointwise. Defining the change of coordinates $$ \xi = \xi(x, y), \quad \eta = \eta(x, y) $$ which has a nonzero and finite Jacobian at all points, then local to any point $(x_0,y_0)$ we have that $$ \xi(x, y) \sim \xi(x_0, y_0) + (x-x_0) \cdot \frac{\partial \xi} {\partial x}(x_0, y_0) + (y-y_0) \cdot \frac{\partial \xi} {\partial y}(x_0, y_0) $$ $$ \eta(x, y) \sim \eta(x_0, y_0) + (x-x_0) \cdot \frac{\partial \eta} {\partial x}(x_0, y_0) + (y-y_0) \cdot \frac{\partial \eta} {\partial y}(x_0, y_0) $$ which gives us the local linear transform around each point. The coefficients at each point are locally given by there value at each point e.g. $$ A(x, y, u,v) \sim A(x_0, y_0, u(x_0, y_0),v(x_0, y_0)). $$ Thus, from an understand of the linear constant coefficient case, the quasi-linear variable coefficient case can be investigated in a pointwise manner.