 Concave-flux characteristic lifespan

For smooth compactly supported data in the scalar conservation law $u_t+f(u{)}_x=0$, put $m={\min }_{\xi }{f}^{\prime \prime }(u_0(\xi ))u_0^{\prime }(\xi )$. Its smooth characteristic solution of a scalar conservation law exists until $t_{\ast }=-1/m$ if $m<0$, and for all times if $m\ge 0$. The characteristic flow map $X_t(\xi )=\xi +t{f}^{\prime }(u_0(\xi ))$ has derivative $1+t{f}^{\prime \prime }(u_0)u_0^{\prime }$; its first zero produces gradient blowup. The formula applies to smooth fluxes of either concavity, although it is particularly useful for a concave function flux.