Viscous scalar conservation law ($u_t+F(u{)}_x=\epsilon u_{xx}$)

Positive $\epsilon$ adds diffusion to a one-dimensional scalar conservation law. For a sufficiently decaying smooth solution, the divergence structure gives $\frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{dt}\Vert u{\Vert }_2^2+\epsilon \Vert u_x{\Vert }_2^2=0$, so the $L^2$ energy estimate is uniform in $\epsilon$. If $|F^{\prime }|\le M$, testing against $-u_{xx}$ also yields $\Vert u_x(t){\Vert }_2^2\le e^{M^{2}t/\epsilon }\Vert u_x(0){\Vert }_2^2$. Thin travelling waves explain why a uniform gradient bound generally fails.

This approximation studies the limit of a viscous scalar conservation law as its positive diffusion coefficient tends to zero. Under hypotheses giving compactness and appropriate convergence, the viscous entropy dissipation selects an entropy solution of the inviscid scalar conservation law. Fixed-phase decreasing travelling waves for a strictly convex flux converge to an entropy shock. Translating each profile differently can change or destroy the limit, so phase or initial data must specify the family.