In this paper we study self-similar solutions to the singular and degenerate diffusion equation u t=(|(p (u)) x| -2 (p (u)) x) x,-< x<+, t> 0, where 1< < 2. The existence and uniqueness for the solutions are established. In addition, the asymptotic behavior is investigated.

The ellipsoidal BGK model was introduced in\cite {Ho} to fit the correct Prandtl number in the Navier-Stokes approximation of the classical BGK model. In the paper we establish the global existence of mild solutions to the Cauchy problem on the model for a class of initial data allowed to have large oscillations. The proof is motivated by a recent study of the same topic on the Boltzmann equation in\cite {DHWY}.

A generalized entropy functional was introduced in [T.-P. Liu, T. Yang, A new entropy functional for scalar conservation laws, Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 52 (1999) 14271442] for the scalar hyperbolic conservation laws with convex flux function. This functional was crucially used in the functional approach to the L 1 stability study on the system of hyperbolic conservation laws when each characteristic field is either genuinely nonlinear or linearly degenerate. However, how to construct the generalized entropy functional for scalar conservation laws with general flux, and then how to apply the functional approach to the L 1 study on general systems are still open. In this paper, we construct a new nonlinear functional which gives some partial answer to this question and we expect the analysis will shed some light on the future investigation in this direction.

Given a strictly hyperbolic, genuinely nonlinear system of conservation laws, we prove the a priori bound u (t,) u (t,)= O (1)(1+ t) | ln | on the distance between an exact BV solution u and a viscous approximation u, letting the viscosity coefficient 0. In the proof, starting from u we construct an approximation of the viscous solution u by taking a mollification u* and inserting viscous shock profiles at the locations of finitely many large shocks for each fixed . Error estimates are then obtained by introducing new Lyapunov functionals that control interactions of shock waves in the same family and also interactions of waves in different families. 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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 to a 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 NavierStokes 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.