Classical Euler flows generate the strong Guderley imploding shock wave
Abstract
We prove that Guderley's self-similar imploding shock solution for the compressible Euler equations with ideal--gas law () arises from classical, radially symmetric, shock--free data. For such data prescribed at initial time , we prove that the flow remains smooth up to a first singular time , where a preshock forms with a cusp in the fast acoustic variable. From this preshock a unique, initially weak, regular shock is born, whose strength can be made arbitrarily large on a controlled time interval; the front then deforms onto the Guderley shock and implodes at the origin at the collapse time . There exists a matching time such that on the solution coincides exactly with the classical Guderley self--similar profile, and at the shock trajectory matches the self--similar front to all orders. As , the Euler solution implodes at the center, and continues for as a reflected blast wave, providing a global-in-time unique Euler solution which evolves from regular initial conditions.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2510.19688,
title = {Classical Euler flows generate the strong Guderley imploding shock wave},
author = {Giorgio Cialdea and Steve Shkoller and Vlad Vicol},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.19688},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
76 pages, 7 figures, minor typos corrected