Maximal dissipation and well-posedness for the compressible Euler system

Abstract

We discuss the problem of well-posedness of the compressible (barotropic) Euler system in the framework of weak solutions. The principle of maximal dissipation introduced by C.M. Dafermos is adapted and combined with the concept of admissible weak solutions. We use the method of convex integration in the spirit of the recent work of C.DeLellis and L.Szekelyhidi to show various counterexamples to well-posedness. On the other hand, we conjecture that the principle of maximal dissipation should be retained as a possible criterion of uniqueness as it is violated by the oscillatory solutions obtained in the process of convex integration.