Abstract
Multidimensional hyperbolic-elliptic equations describe important physical, astronomical, and geometric processes. It is known that the oscillations of elastic membranes in space according to Hamiltons prism can be modeled by multidimensional degenerate hyperbolic equations. Assuming that the membrane is in equilibrium in half the bend, from Hamiltons principle we also obtain degenerate elliptic equations. Consequently, vibrations of elastic membranes in space can be modeled as multidimensional degenerate hyperbolic-elliptic equations. When studying these applications, it is necessary to obtain an explicit representation of the investigated boundary value problems. The author has previously studied the Dirichlet problem for multidimensional hyperbolic-elliptic equations, where the unique solvability of this problem is shown, which essentially depends on the height of the cylindrical domain under consideration. However, the Dirichlet problem in a cylindrical domain for multidimensional degenerate hyperbolic-elliptic equations has not been studied previously. In this paper, the Dirichlet problem is studied for a class of degenerate multidimensional hyperbolic-elliptic equations. Moreover, the existence and uniqueness of the solution depends on the height of the considered cylindrical domain and on the degeneration of the equation. A uniqueness criterion for a regular solution is also obtained.