Waiting time solutions in gas dynamics

Abstract

In this article, we construct a continuum family of self-similar waiting time solutions for the one-dimensional compressible Euler equations for the adiabatic exponent $\gamma \in (1,3)$ in the half-line with the vacuum boundary. The solutions are confined by a stationary vacuum interface for a finite time with at least $C^1$ regularity of the velocity and the sound speed up to the boundary. Subsequently, the solutions undergo the change of the behavior, becoming only Hölder continuous near the singular point, and simultaneously transition to the solutions to the vacuum moving boundary Euler equations satisfying the physical vacuum condition. When the boundary starts moving, a weak discontinuity emanating from the singular point along the sonic curve emerges. The solutions are locally smooth in the interior region away from the vacuum boundary and the sonic curve.