Relative entropy and compressible potential flow

Abstract

Compressible (full) potential flow is expressed as an equivalent first-order system of conservation laws for density $\rho$ and velocity $v$. Energy $E$ is shown to be the only nontrivial entropy for that system in multiple space dimensions, and it is strictly convex in $\rho,v$ if and only if $|v|<c$. For motivation some simple variations on the relative entropy theme of Dafermos/DiPerna are given, for example that smooth regions of weak entropy solutions shrink at finite speed, and that smooth solutions force solutions of singular entropy-compatible perturbations to converge to them. We conjecture that entropy weak solutions of compressible potential flow are unique, in contrast to the known counterexamples for the Euler equations.