Auto-Bäcklund transformation and similarity reductions for general variable coefficient KdV equations

Abstract Based on the idea of the homogeneous balance (HB) method, we study the Backlund transformation and similarity reductions of general variable coefficient KdV equation. It is found that the corresponding results are coincide with those by Weiss–Tabor–Carnevale (WTC) method and Clarkson–Kruskal (CK) method, respectively. The close connections among the HB, WTC and CK methods are exposured in theory. In the meantime, a Lax pair, a symmetry, two conservation laws and a analytic solution for the general variable coefficient KdV equation are given.