Using global invariant manifolds to understand metastability in the Burgers equation with small viscosity (Q6829192)

The authors describe the long-time behavior of solutions of classical Burgers equations with small viscosity using invariant manifolds. They show that metastable behavior in the viscous Burgers equation, which was observed numerically by \textit{Y. J. Kim} and \textit{A. E. Tzavaras} already in 2001 in [``Diffusive \(N\)-waves and metastability in the Burgers equation'', SIAM J. Math. Anal. 33, No.~3, 607--633 (2001; Zbl 1077.35092)], can be viewed as the approach of a solution to and along a normally attractive, invariant manifold in the phase space of the equation. This means that solutions spend a very long time near the family of solutions known as diffusive \(N\)-waves before finally converging to a stable self-similar diffusion wave.\N\NMore precisely, the authors show that in terms of similarity, or scaling, variables in an algebraically weighted \(L^2\) space, the self-similar diffusion waves correspond to a one-dimensional global center manifold of stationary solutions. Through each of these fixed points there exists a one-dimensional, global, attractive, invariant manifold corresponding to the diffusive \(N\)-waves. Thus, metastability of solutions corresponds to a drift along this latter ``metastable'' manifold of diffusive \(N\)-waves and, finally, a convergence to the self-similar diffusion wave.