Shock wave formation process for a multidimensional scalar conservation law
We construct a global smooth approximate solution to a multidimensional scalar conservation law describing the shock wave formation process for initial data with small variation. In order to solve the problem, we modify the method of character- istics by introducing "new characteristics" | nonintersecting curves along which the (approximate) solution to the problem under study is constant. The procedure is based on the weak asymptotic method, a technique which appeared to be rather powerful for investigating nonlinear waves interactions