Unique solvability of the initial boundary value problems for compressible viscous fluids. (Q1429966)

The authors consider the compressible Navier-Stokes equations in either a bounded or unbounded domain (exterior domain, half-space or \(\mathbb R^3\)) with sufficiently smooth boundary. The presence of initial vacuum states is also allowed. Under minimal regularity asumptions on the data and standard compatibility conditions, local-in-time existence of the strong solution is proved. The solution is shown to be smoother provided the data are so. A blow up criterion for strong solutions is proved; this criterion is new also for strictly positive densities. Under the assumption that the initial vacuum region is not too irregular (its regularity is expressed via unique strong solvability of the Lamé system), it is shown that standard compatibility conditions are sufficient and necessary for the unique strong solvability of the Navier-Stokes equations. The paper is also accompanied with some regularity results for the Lamé system.