Stable viscosity matrices for systems of conservation laws (Q1050225)

We study a natural class of appropriate viscosity matrices for strictly hyperbolic systems of conservation laws in one space dimension, \(u_t + f(u)_x = 0\), \(u\in\mathbb R^m\). These matrices are admissible in the sense that small-amplitude shock wave solutions of the hyperbolic system are shown to be limits of smooth traveling wave solutions of the parabolic system \(u_t + f(u)_x = \nu(Du_x)_x\) as \(\nu\to 0\) if \(D\) is in this class. The class is determined by a linearized stability requirement: The Cauchy problem for the equation \(u_t + f'(u_0)u_x = \nu(Du_x)_{xx}\) should be well posed in \(L^2\) uniformly in \(\nu\) as \(\nu\to 0\). Previous examples of inadmissible viscosity matrices are accounted for through violation of the stability criterion.