Viscous Burgers equation ($u_t+u{u}_x=\nu u_{xx}$)

The viscous Burgers equation adds diffusion with viscosity $\nu >0$ to nonlinear transport. Smooth initial data remain smooth, and the diffusion regularizes the shocks of the Inviscid Burgers equation.

A localized negative-flux Burgers N-wave has initial profile $-U\theta$ on $|\theta |<L$ and zero outside, for $U,L>0$. The Cole-Hopf solution for a Burgers N-wave expresses its viscous evolution in Gaussian interval masses. In the vanishing-viscosity limit, the interior slope becomes $-U/(1+UZ)$ and its entropy-shock fronts move to $\pm L\sqrt{1+UZ}$.

For the negative-flux viscous Burgers equation, the Cole-Hopf transformation uses $f=2\alpha {\partial }_{\theta }\log \psi$. Initial N-wave data give ${\psi }_0=\exp [U(L^2-{\theta }^2)/(4\alpha )]$ inside $[-L,L]$ and one outside. Completing the square in the heat kernel convolution gives, with $a=1+UZ$,The Gaussian interval masses and their exponentially weighted tails must be treated together when taking the small-diffusion limit.

For positive diffusivity, the Cole-Hopf transformation with $f=2\alpha {\partial }_{\theta }\log \psi$ converts the negative-flux equation into the heat equation. Step data give a ratio of two Gaussian-tail integrals $J$. At $\theta =-UZ/2$, $J=1$ and $f=U/2$. Its vanishing-viscosity limit selects the shock or rarefaction wave in the Burgers Riemann problem with negative flux, depending on the sign of $U$.

The Cole-Hopf transformation $u=-2\nu {\varphi }_x/\varphi$ converts the viscous Burgers equation into the heat equation ${\varphi }_t=\nu {\varphi }_{xx}$. Initial data $u(x,0)=g(x)$ correspond to $\varphi (x,0)=C\exp [-(2\nu {)}^{-1}{\int }^{x}g(s)ds]$.