Generalized solutions to a Cauchy problem for a nonconservative hyperbolic system (Q1353759)

The author considers the whole space Cauchy problem for a \(1-d\) strictly hyperbolic nonconservative nonlinear system, where the nonlinearity is of KdV type which models elastodynamical problems. For the system it is known that global smooth solutions (even for smooth initial data) do not exist; esp. the nonlinear terms in the equations make no sense as distributions at points of discontinuity. The author shows that the given hyperbolic system has global generalized solutions in the sense of Colombeau. This means that a regularized version of the system (which consists in adding `vanishing viscosity terms' of type \(\varepsilon\) times second order space derivatives of the unknown functions to the equations) has global solutions for every \(\varepsilon>0\) which behave `moderately' as \(\varepsilon\to 0\), i.e. the behavior of the sup-norm of any space-time derivative of order \(k\) of solutions of the regularized system is of type \(O(\varepsilon^{-N})\) with some \(N\) depending on \(k\); also, in the weak formulation of the regularized system the viscosity terms have to cancel if \(\varepsilon\to 0\). All this means that the set of all regularized solutions is a class in the Colombeau algebra of generalized functions. The proof of the `moderate' behavior of regularized solutions as \(\varepsilon\to 0\) is quite messy, using iteration procedures and ideas of O. Oleinik.