Scaling symmetries, conservation laws and action principles in one-dimensional gas dynamics

Abstract

Scaling symmetries of the planar, one-dimensional gas dynamic equations with adiabatic index γ are used to obtain Lagrangian and Eulerian conservation laws associated with the symmetries. The known Eulerian symmetry operators for the scaling symmetries are converted to the Lagrangian form, in which the Eulerian spatial position of the fluid element is given in terms of the Lagrangian fluid labels. Conditions for a linear combination of the three scaling symmetries to be a divergence or variational symmetry of the action are established. The corresponding Lagrangian and Eulerian form of the conservation laws are determined by application of Noether's theorem. A nonlocal conservation law associated with the scaling symmetries is obtained by applying a nonlocal symmetry operator to the scaling symmetry-conserved vector. An action principle incorporating known conservation laws using Lagrangian constraints is developed. Noether's theorem for the constrained action principle gives the same formulas for the conserved vector as the classical Noether theorem, except that the Lie symmetry vector field now includes the effects of nonlocal potentials. Noether's theorem for the constrained action principle is used to obtain nonlocal conservation laws. The scaling symmetry conservation laws only apply for special forms of the entropy of the gas.