On the symmetric conservative form of Landau's superfluid equations (Q1820650)

Landau's theory regards superfluid helium (the isotope \({}^ 4He\) below 2.17K) as a mixture of a 'normal' fluid which is assumed to be a Newtonian viscous fluid and a ''superfluid'' which is taken to be inviscid and irrotational. The basic equations are conservation of mass, balance of linear momentum, a superfluid equation of motion and an energy balance. The present author shows how these equations can be written in symmetric conservative form when all dissipative effects are neglected. The constraints involved in writing the equations in this form are more complicated than those found in the classical theory developed by Godunov and others [e.g.: \textit{S. K. Godunov}, Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 139, 521-523 (1961; Zbl 0125.060)]. Necessary and sufficient conditions for the entropy function to be convex and also derived and include the concavity of the chemical potential. It appears that these conditions agree with the thermodynamic inequalities derived by \textit{D. L'Huillier} [Phys. Lett., A 56, 295 ff. (1976)].