English

The Newton's problem assuming non-constant density of the fluid

Analysis of PDEs 2026-05-13 v1 Differential Geometry

Abstract

This paper investigates the Newton's problem of minimal resistance for a body moving through a fluid whose density decreases exponentially with altitude. We prove the local existence and regularity of radial solutions u(r)u(r) satisfying the initial conditions u(0)=u(0)=0u(0)=u'(0)=0 using a fixed-point theorem. We show that the maximal domain of the solution is finite, [0,rM)[0, r_M), terminating at a critical slope u(rM)=13u'(r_M) = \frac{1}{\sqrt{3}}.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2605.11641,
  title  = {The Newton's problem assuming non-constant density of the fluid},
  author = {Rafael López},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.11641},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

7 pages, 1 figure