Asymptotic stability of rarefaction wave of the Cauchy problem for viscous conservation laws (Q1776932)

The author of this very interesting paper considers a two-dimensional steady inviscid isentropic irrotational flow \[ v_x-u_x=0, \quad (\rho u)_x+(\rho v)_y=0, \tag{i} \] where \(u\) and \(v\) are the velocities of the flow in the direction of \(x\)- and \(y\)- axis, respectively, \(\rho \) is the density which is determined by Bernoulli relation \[ {1\over 2}(u^2+v^2)+{a^2\over \gamma -1}=c. \tag{ii} \] Here \(c\) is a positive constant, \(\gamma \in (1,2]\) is a constant representing adiabatic exponent taken from the pressure density relation \(p=\rho^{\gamma }\), the sound speed \(a(\rho )\) is defined by \(a^2(\rho )=dp/d\rho \). The author adds a viscosity term and after letting \(t=x\), \(x=y\) obtains two systems \[ v_t-u_x=\mu v_{xx}, \quad (\rho u)_x+(\rho v)_y=0, \quad {1\over 2}(u^2+v^2)+{a^2\over \gamma -1}=c \tag{iii} \] and \[ v_t-u_x=0, \quad (\rho u)_x+(\rho v)_y=0, \quad {1\over 2}(u^2+v^2)+{a^2\over \gamma -1}=c+\mu v_{x}, \tag{iv} \] where \(\rho = \rho_1(v,u)\) and \(\rho = \rho_2(v,u)\) in (iii) and (iv), respectively. It is shown the asymptotic behavior of the solution to the Cauchy problem of (iii) and (iv) with initial data \[ (v,u)(x,0)=(v_0,u_0)(x)\to (v_{\pm },u_{\pm }), \] as \(x\to \pm \infty \). The main result is that if the initial value is close to a constant state and the corresponding inviscid hyperbolic system admits a weak rarefaction wave, then the solution tends to this rarefaction wave as \(t\to \infty \).