On the Cauchy problem for thermoelastic plates

The Cauchy problem for an infinite thermoelastic plate with a non-homogeneous governing system and homogeneous initial conditions is solved by means of an area potential. This is the first step in the construction of a potential theory for time-dependent problems for thermoelastic plates, enabling the reduction of various initial-boundary value problems to their versions for the homogeneous system of equations with homogeneous initial conditions, which, in turn, may then be solved by means of dynamic potentials.