Zero dissipation limit to rarefaction wave with vacuum for 1-D compressible Navier-Stokes equations

Abstract

It is well-known that one-dimensional isentropic gas dynamics has two elementary waves, i.e., shock wave and rarefaction wave. Among the two waves, only the rarefaction wave can be connected with vacuum. Given a rarefaction wave with one-side vacuum state to the compressible Euler equations, we can construct a sequence of solutions to one-dimensional compressible isentropic Navier-Stokes equations which converge to the above rarefaction wave with vacuum as the viscosity tends to zero. Moreover, the uniform convergence rate is obtained. The proof consists of a scaling argument and elementary energy analysis based on the underlying rarefaction wave structures.