Global existence and convergence to the modified Barenblatt solution for the compressible Euler equations with physical vacuum and time-dependent damping

Abstract: In this paper, the smooth solution of the physical vacuum problem for the one dimensional compressible Euler equations with time-dependent damping is considered. Near the vacuum boundary, the sound speed is $C^{1/2}$-H\"{o}lder continuous. The coefficient of the damping depends on time, given by this form $\frac{\mu}{(1+t)^\lambda}$, $\lambda$, $\mu>0$, which decays by order $-\lambda$ in time. Under the assumption that $0<\lambda<1$, $0<\mu$ or $\lambda=1$, $2<\mu$, we will prove the global existence of smooth solutions and convergence to the modified Barenblatt solution of the related porous media equation with time-dependent dissipation and the same total mass when the initial data of the Euler equations is a small perturbation of that of the Barenblatt solution. The pointwise convergence rates of the density, velocity and the expanding rate of the physical vacuum boundary are also given. The proof is based on space-time weighted energy estimates, elliptic estimates and Hardy inequality in the Lagrangian coordinates. Our result is an extension of that in Luo-Zeng [Comm. Pure Appl. Math. 69 (2016), no. 7, 1354-1396], where the authors considered the physical vacuum free boundary problem of the compressible Euler equations with constant-coefficient damping.