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The general-order Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem applies to analytic data on a non-characteristic hypersurface. In local coordinates $(t,z)$, a real analytic system of order $m$ in an unknown vector $U$ is in normal form whenwith $F$ real analytic near the initial jet. Analytic data ${\partial }_t^{j}U(0,z)=h_j(z)$ for $0\le j<m$ determine a unique real analytic solution near each initial point. More general systems, including different orders for the components, have the same conclusion after solving for the highest normal derivatives: the corresponding coefficient matrix, or highest-derivative Jacobian for a nonlinear system, must be invertible. This is the system's non-characteristic hypersurface condition. The uniqueness asserted by the Cauchy-Kovalevskaya theorem is initially uniqueness in the real analytic class.

A real analytic coordinate change flattens a real analytic initial hypersurface. Non-characteristicity permits solving for its highest normal derivatives by the real analytic implicit function theorem. Introduce all derivatives through order $m-1$ as additional unknowns. Their normal derivatives are either another jet variable, a tangential first derivative of a jet variable, or the right-hand side of the original equation. This gives a first-order real analytic system. The derivative-compatibility identities have zero initial data and are preserved by the system; equivalently, its real analytic coefficient recurrence reproduces the derivatives of $U$. This explains both reductions, rather than assuming arbitrary real analytic hypersurfaces are already flat.

For the first example, the principal symbol of the Laplace equation at the conormal $d{x}_1$ is $1$, so the plane is a non-characteristic hypersurface. The theorem therefore applies to real analytic $u{|}_{x_1=0}$ and ${\partial }_{1}u{|}_{x_1=0}$:This does not give Hadamard well-posedness in smooth or Sobolev space norms. For $n\ge 2$, the harmonic functionshave zero value data and normal derivative data $e^{-\sqrt{N}}\cos (N{x}_2)$ tending to zero with every fixed tangential derivative. At any fixed $x_1=\delta >0$, however, $u_N(\delta ,0)$ diverges. Thus the elliptic Cauchy problem for a partial differential equation is unstable despite real analytic solvability. The exceptional case $n=1$ is the elementary affine ordinary differential equation and has no such tangential high-frequency instability.