The validity of nonlinear geometric optics for weak solutions of conservation laws (Q1069049)

It is shown that the solution u(x,t) to the genuinely nonlinear hyperbolic system of n conservation laws \[ u_ t+f(u)_ x=0,\quad u(x,0)=u_ 0+\epsilon v(x) \] in one space dimension satisfies \[ u(x,t)=u_ 0+\epsilon \sum^{n}_{j=1}\sigma^ j(\phi^ j,\tau)r_ j(u_ 0)+O(\epsilon^ 2)\quad for\quad \epsilon \to 0, \] where \(r_ j\) are right eigenvectors of the matrix \(f'(u_ 0)\), and the scalar functions \(\sigma^ j\) are solutions of an equation of Burgers' type. It is shown that for initial data v with compact support and bounded variation the terms \(O(\epsilon^ 2)\) is uniformly small for all \(t>0\) in the \(L_ 1\)-norm. Similar estimates are given for periodic initial data v.