Non-symmetric hyperbolic problems with different time scales

Abstract

We study the Cauchy problem for nonsymmetric hyperbolic differential operators with different time-scales $P=\frac{1}{\epsilon} P_0(\frac{\partial}{\partial x}) + P_1(x,t,\frac{\partial}{\partial x}),$ $0<\epsilon \ll1$. Sufficient conditions for well-posedness independently of $\epsilon$ are derived. The bounded derivative principle is also shown to be valid, i.e., there exists smooth initial data such that a number of time derivatives are uniformly bounded initially. This gives an existence theory for the limiting equations when $\epsilon \rightarrow 0$. We apply our theory to the slightly compressible upper convected Maxwell model describing viscoelastic fluid flow.