Stability of semi-discrete shock profiles by means of an Evans function in infinite dimensions (Q700805)

The discretization in space of the system of conservation laws \(\partial _t u+\) \(\partial _x f(u)\) \(=0\) is performed leading to the semi-discrete system \(\Delta x \partial _t u+\) \(f(u(x,t))\) \(-f(u(x-\Delta x,t))\) \(=0.\) Travelling-wave solutions \(u(t,x)=\) \(U(\frac{x-\sigma t}{\Delta x})\) are considered under the condition \(U(\pm\infty)=\) \(u_{\pm}.\) The question of stability of such solutions is studied. To this end they are treated as steady solutions to the evolution system \[ \partial _t u-\sigma \partial _x u+f(u(t,x))-f(u(t,x-1))=0, \tag{1} \] which appears after a rescaling procedure. Let the equation \[ \partial _t v- Lv=0 \tag{2} \] be a linearization of (1). Then the profile \(U\) is called stable if and only if the spectrum of \(L\) lies in the left half-plane \(\{\lambda\in \mathbb{C}:\) \(\mathbb{R}e \lambda \leq 0\}.\) The technique of the so-called Evans function is applied to derive stability criteria. The retarded differential equations (2) are reduced to an infinite-dimensional dynamical system. The construction of the Evans function, whose zeros are related to instability, involves the study of both the above-mentioned dynamical system and its adjoint.