LAUSR

Abstract Starting from the Darboux transformation (DT) related nonlocal symmetry of the (2+1)-dimensional Caudrey–Dodd–Gibbon–Kotera–Sawada (CDGKS) equation, the original symmetry is localized by introducing four field quantities. On the basis of the local symmetry, some novel group invariant solutions are derived by utilizing the classical symmetry reduction method. The result shows that the essential and unique role of the DT is to add an additional soliton to the fifth order nonlinear wave, which is the basic reduction of the (2+1)-dimensional CDGKS equation. As an illustration, the interactions between solitons and fifth order nonlinear waves expressed by Jacobi elliptic functions and incomplete elliptic integrals of the third kind are exhibited, and some of their dynamical properties are analyzed.