Weak Continuity and Compactness for Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations

We present several examples of fundamental problems involving weak continuity and compactness for nonlinear partial differential equations, in which compensated compactness and related ideas have played a significant role. We first focus on the compactness and convergence of vanishing viscosity solutions for nonlinear hyperbolic conservation laws, including the inviscid limit from the Navier-Stokes equations to the Euler equations for homentropy flow, the vanishing viscosity method to construct the global spherically symmetric solutions to the multidimensional compressible Euler equations, and the sonic-subsonic limit of solutions of the full Euler equations for multidimensional steady compressible fluids. We then analyze the weak continuity and rigidity of the Gauss-Codazzi-Ricci system and corresponding isometric embeddings in differential geometry. Further references are also provided for some recent developments on the weak continuity and compactness for nonlinear partial differential equations.Comment: 29 page

Symmetries and global solvability of the isothermal gas dynamics equations

We study the Cauchy problem associated with the system of two conservation laws arising in isothermal gas dynamics, in which the pressure and the density are related by the $\gamma$-law equation $p(\rho) \sim \rho^\gamma$ with $\gamma =1$. Our results complete those obtained earlier for $\gamma >1$. We prove the global existence and compactness of entropy solutions generated by the vanishing viscosity method. The proof relies on compensated compactness arguments and symmetry group analysis. Interestingly, we make use here of the fact that the isothermal gas dynamics system is invariant modulo a linear scaling of the density. This property enables us to reduce our problem to that with a small initial density. One symmetry group associated with the linear hyperbolic equations describing all entropies of the Euler equations gives rise to a fundamental solution with initial data imposed to the line $\rho=1$. This is in contrast to the common approach (when $\gamma >1$) which prescribes initial data on the vacuum line $\rho =0$. The entropies we construct here are weak entropies, i.e. they vanish when the density vanishes. Another feature of our proof lies in the reduction theorem which makes use of the family of weak entropies to show that a Young measure must reduce to a Dirac mass. This step is based on new convergence results for regularized products of measures and functions of bounded variation.Comment: 29 page

Isothermal limit of entropy solutions of the Euler equations for isentropic gas dynamics

We are concerned with the isothermal limit of entropy solutions in ∞, containing the vacuum states, of the Euler equations for isentropic gas dynamics. We prove that the entropy solutions in ∞ of the isentropic Euler equations converge strongly to the corresponding entropy solutions of the isothermal Euler equations, when the adiabatic exponent →1. This is achieved by combining careful entropy analysis and refined kinetic formulation with a compensated compactness argument to obtain the required uniform estimates for the limit. The entropy analysis involves careful estimates for the relation between the corresponding entropy pairs for the isentropic and isothermal Euler equations when the adiabatic exponent →1. The kinetic formulation for the entropy solutions of the isentropic Euler equations with the uniformly bounded initial data is refined, so that the total variation of the dissipation measures in the formulation is locally uniformly bounded with respect to >1. The explicit asymptotic analysis of the Riemann solutions containing the vacuum states is also presented

Vanishing dissipation limit for non-isentropic Navier-Stokes equations with shock data

This paper is concerned with the vanishing dissipation limiting problem of one-dimensional non-isentropic Navier-Stokes equations with shock data. The limiting problem was solved in 1989 by Hoff-Liu in [13] for isentropic gas with single shock, but was left open for non-isentropic case. In this paper, we solve the non-isentropic case, i.e., we first establish the global existence of solutions to the non-isentropic Navier-Stokes equations with initial discontinuous shock data, and then show these solutions converge in $L^{\infty}$ norm to a single shock wave of the corresponding Euler equations away from the shock curve in any finite time interval, as both the viscosity and heat-conductivity tend to zero. Different from [13] in which an integrated system was essentially used, motivated by [21,22], we introduce a time-dependent shift $\mathbf{X}^\varepsilon(t)$ to the viscous shock so that a weighted Poincar\'{e} inequality can be applied to overcome the difficulty generated from the ``bad" sign of the derivative of viscous shock velocity, and the anti-derivative technique is not needed. We also obtain an intrinsic property of non-isentropic viscous shock, see Lemma 2.2 below. With the help of Lemma 2.2, we can derive the desired uniform a priori estimates of solutions, which can be shown to converge in $L^{\infty}$ norm to a single inviscid shock in any given finite time interval away from the shock, as the vanishing dissipation limit. Moreover, the shift $\mathbf{X}^\varepsilon(t)$ tends to zero in any finite time as viscosity tends to zero. The proof consists of a scaling argument, $L^2$-contraction technique with time-dependent shift to the shock, and relative entropy method.Comment: All comments are welcome

Global Solutions of the Compressible Euler-Poisson Equations for Plasma with Doping Profile for Large Initial Data of Spherical Symmetry

We establish the global-in-time existence of solutions of finite relative-energy for the multidimensional compressible Euler-Poisson equations for plasma with doping profile for large initial data of spherical symmetry. Both the total initial energy and the initial mass are allowed to be {\it unbounded}, and the doping profile is allowed to be of large variation. This is achieved by adapting a class of degenerate density-dependent viscosity terms, so that a rigorous proof of the inviscid limit of global weak solutions of the Navier-Stokes-Poisson equations with the density-dependent viscosity terms to the corresponding global solutions of the Euler-Poisson equations for plasma with doping profile can be established. New difficulties arise when tackling the non-zero varied doping profile, which have been overcome by establishing some novel estimates for the electric field terms so that the neutrality assumption on the initial data is avoided. In particular, we prove that no concentration is formed in the inviscid limit for the finite relative-energy solutions of the compressible Euler-Poisson equations with large doping profiles in plasma physics.Comment: 42 page

Global Solutions of the Compressible Euler Equations with Large Initial Data of Spherical Symmetry and Positive Far-Field Density

We are concerned with the global existence theory for spherically symmetric solutions of the multidimensional compressible Euler equations with large initial data of positive far-field density. The central feature of the solutions is the strengthening of waves as they move radially inward toward the origin. Various examples have shown that the spherically symmetric solutions of the Euler equations blow up near the origin at certain time. A fundamental unsolved problem is whether the density of the global solution would form concentration to become a measure near the origin for the case when the total initial-energy is unbounded. Another longstanding problem is whether a rigorous proof could be provided for the inviscid limit of the multidimensional compressible Navier-Stokes to Euler equations with large initial data. In this paper, we establish a global existence theory for spherically symmetric solutions of the compressible Euler equations with large initial data of positive far-field density and relative finite-energy. This is achieved by developing a new approach via adapting a class of degenerate density-dependent viscosity terms, so that a rigorous proof of the vanishing viscosity limit of global weak solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations with the density-dependent viscosity terms to the corresponding global solution of the Euler equations with large initial data of spherical symmetry and positive far-field density can be obtained. One of our main observations is that the adapted class of degenerate density-dependent viscosity terms not only includes the viscosity terms for the Navier-Stokes equations for shallow water (Saint Venant) flows but also, more importantly, is suitable to achieve our key objective of this paper. These results indicate that concentration is not formed in the vanishing viscosity limit even when the total initial-energy is unbounded.Comment: 57 page