English

Shock Formation for Compressible Euler Equations on $\mathbb{S}^2$

Analysis of PDEs 2025-12-29 v1 Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

In this paper, we prove the finite-time shock formation for the compressible Euler equations on the two-dimensional sphere S2\mathbb{S}^2. In contrast to the flat Euclidean case R2\mathbb{R}^2, the geometry of S2\mathbb S^2 imposes new difficulties, and the fluid dynamics are affected by the curved background. To overcome these challenges, we modify the existing modulation method and employ a set of carefully constructed, time-dependent coordinates that precisely track the shock formation on S2\mathbb{S}^2. In particular, we first perform a time-dependent rotation of S2\mathbb S^2, then apply the stereographic projection to the sphere, straighten the steepening shock front, and finally construct shock-adapted coordinates. In the shock-adapted coordinates, the compressible Euler equations on S2\mathbb{S}^2 can be recast into a form suitable for self-similar analysis. Within this framework, we implement a detailed bootstrap argument and establish global well-posedness for the self-similar system. After transferring these results back to the original physical system, we thereby demonstrate the finite-time shock formation on S2\mathbb{S}^2.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2512.21548,
  title  = {Shock Formation for Compressible Euler Equations on $\mathbb{S}^2$},
  author = {Xinliang An and Haoyang Chen and Fulin Qi and Wenze Su},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.21548},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

89 pages

R2 v1 2026-07-01T08:40:42.619Z