
62 Lectures on Dynamics of Stochastic Systems
2.2.2 Imbedding Method for Boundary-Value Problems
Consider first boundary-value problems formulated in terms of ordinary differential
equations. The imbedding method (or invariant imbedding method, as it is usually
called in mathematical literature) offers a possibility of reducing boundary-value prob-
lems at hand to the evolution-type initial-value problems possessing the property of
dynamic causality with respect to an auxiliary parameter.
The idea of this method was first suggested by V.A. Ambartsumyan (the so-called
Ambartsumyan invariance principle) [36–38] for solving the equations of linear theory
of radiative transfer. Further, mathematicians grasped this idea and used it to convert
boundary-value (nonlinear, in the general case) problems into evolution-type initial-
value problems that are more convenient for simulations. Several monographs (see,
e.g., [39–41]) deal with this method and consider both physical and computational
aspects.
Consider the dynamic system described in terms of the system of ordinary diffe-
rential equations
d
dt
x(t) = F
(
t, x(t)
)
, (2.27)
defined on segment t ∈ [0, T] with the boundary conditions
gx(0) + hx(T) = v, (2.28)
where g and h are the constant matrixes.
Dynamic problem (2.27), (2.28) possesses no dynamic causality property, which
means that the solution x(t) to this problem at instant t functionally depends on exter-
nal forces F
(
τ, x(τ)
)
for all 0 ≤ τ ≤ T. Moreover, even boundary values x(0) and
x(T) are functionals of field F
(
τ, x(τ)
)
. The absence of dynamic causality in problem
(2.27), (2.28) prevents us from using the known statistical methods of analyzing sta-
tistical characteristics of the solution to Eq. (2.27) if external force functional F
(
t, x
)
is the random space- and time-domain field. Introducing the one-time probability den-
sity P(t;x) of the solution to Eq. (2.27), we can easily see that condition (2.28) is
insufficient for determining the value of this probability at any point. The boundary
condition imposes only certain functional restriction.
Note that the solution to problem (2.27), (2.28) parametrically depends on T and v,
i.e., x(t) = x(t;T, v). Abiding by paper [42], we introduce functions
R(T, v) = x(T;T, v), S(T, v) = x(0;T, v)
that describe the boundary values of the solution to Eq. (2.27).
Differentiate Eq. (2.27) with respect to T and v. We obtain two linear equations in
the corresponding derivatives
d
dt
∂x
i
(t;T, v)
∂T
=
∂F
i
(t, x)
∂x
l
∂x
l
(t;T, v)
∂T
,
d
dt
∂x
i
(t;T, v)
∂v
k
=
∂F
i
(t, x)
∂x
l
∂x
l
(t;T, v)
∂v
k
.
(2.29)