Invariant regions under Lax-Friedrichs scheme for multidimensional systems of conservation laws (Q1355022)

The author proves necessity and sufficiency of conditions for the invariance of state space regions under the well-known Lax-Friedrichs scheme approximating the solution to a system of conservation laws in two space dimensions. A region \(\Omega\) is said to be invariant if there is a CFL-like condition, such that the states computed with the Lax-Friedrichs scheme under this condition lie within \(\Omega\), whenever the initial data lie in \(\Omega\). Furthermore, it is analyzed in which case the necessary conditions are sufficient, too. The main result improves results by \textit{D. Hoff} [Invariant regions for systems of conservation laws, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 289, 591-610 (1985; Zbl 0562.35057)], with respect to the passage to more than one space dimension, and to the fact that the system under consideration might not be hyperbolic. So examples are given which are of mixed elliptic-hyperbolic type. Finally, the result is applied to the \(2\times 2\) system of isentropic gas dynamics, and to a system arising from nonlinear elasticity, both in one spatial dimension.