Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 July 2016
We consider first-order hyperbolic systems on an interval with dynamic boundary conditions. These systems occur when the ordinary differential equation dynamics on the boundary interact with the waves in the interior. The well-posedness for linear systems is established using an abstract Friedrichs theorem. Due to the limited regularity of the coefficients, we need to introduce the appropriate space of test functions for the weak formulation. It is shown that the weak solutions exhibit a hidden regularity at the boundary as well as at interior points. As a consequence, the dynamics of the boundary components satisfy an additional regularity. Neither result can be achieved from standard semigroup methods. Nevertheless, we show that our weak solutions and the semigroup solutions coincide. For illustration, we give three particular physical examples that fit into our framework.