Gradient Catastrophe for Solutions to the Hyperbolic Navier-Stokes Equations
Abstract
This paper studies local existence and the singularity formation of the solutions of the one-dimensional hyperbolic Navier-Stokes equations, in particular proving the gradient blow-up of the derivatives of the solutions. The underlying model introduces a relaxation mechanism that leads to hyperbolization, achieved both through a nonlinear Cattaneo law for heat conduction and through Maxwell-type constitutive relations for the stress tensor. Our main approach is to prove that the hyperbolic Navier-Stokes equations are indeed hyperbolic, and to prove that they possess two genuinely nonlinear eigenvalues, thereby establishing the blow-up of the gradient of the solution. In addition, we provide a derivation of the equation of state for the hyperbolic Navier-Stokes equations in the appendix.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2604.13837,
title = {Gradient Catastrophe for Solutions to the Hyperbolic Navier-Stokes Equations},
author = {Qingsong Zhao},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.13837},
year = {2026}
}