On the analytical construction of radially symmetric solutions for the relativistic Euler equations

Abstract This paper is concerned with the analytical construction of piecewise smooth solutions containing a single shock wave for the radially symmetric relativistic Euler equations with polytropic gases. We derive meticulously the a priori ‐estimates on the Riemann invariants of the governing system under some assumptions on the piecewise initial data. Based on these estimates, we show that the long time of existence of smooth solutions in the angular region bounded by a characteristic curve and a shock curve. The piecewise smooth initial conditions ensured the existence of smooth solutions in the angular region are discussed. Moreover, it is verified that the existence time is proportional to the initial discontinuous position.