Generalized Rankine-Hugoniot condition and shock solutions for quasilinear hyperbolic systems (Q1840599)

The author considers initial-value problems for a general class of systems of quasilinear hyperbolic partial differential equations in one space dimension and time, including zeroth order terms and rather general coefficients depending on space and time. The paper focuses on the method of vanishing viscosity. Initial data is restricted to the case for which there is a traveling wave for the viscous system connecting the left and right limits at an initial discontinuity. The analysis establishes the motion of the shock through the use of a Melnikov integral that generalizes the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions when the system is not in conservation form.