On the L2 stability of shock waves for finite-entropy solutions of Burgers

Abstract We prove L 2 stability estimates for entropic shocks among weak, possibly non-entropic, solutions of scalar conservation laws ∂ t u + ∂ x f ( u ) = 0 with strictly convex flux function f. This generalizes previous results by Leger and Vasseur, who proved L 2 stability among entropy solutions. Our main result, the estimate ∫ R | u ( t , ⋅ ) − u 0 s h o c k ( ⋅ − x ( t ) ) | 2 d x ≤ ∫ R | u 0 − u 0 s h o c k | 2 + C μ + ( [ 0 , t ] × R ) , for some Lipschitz shift x ( t ) , includes an error term accounting for the positive part of the entropy production measure μ = ∂ t ( u 2 / 2 ) + ∂ x q ( u ) , where q ′ ( u ) = u f ′ ( u ) . Stability estimates in this general non-entropic setting are of interest in connection with large deviation principles for the hydrodynamic limit of asymmetric interacting particle systems. Our proof adapts the scheme devised by Leger and Vasseur, where one constructs a shift x ( t ) which allows to bound from above the time-derivative of the left-hand side. The main difference lies in the fact that our solution u ( t , ⋅ ) may present a non-entropic shock at x = x ( t ) and new bounds are needed in that situation. We also generalize this stability estimate to initial data with bounded variation.