A note on the equivalence of shock manifold equations (Q1112677)

The shock manifold equation is a first order nonlinear partial differential equation, which describes the kinematics of a shockfront in an ideal gas with constant specific heats. However, it was found that there was more than one of these shock manifold equations, and the shock surface could be embedded in a one parameter family of surfaces, obtained as a solution of any of these shock manifold equations. Associated with each shock manifold equation is a set of characteristic curves called ``shock rays''. This paper investigates the nature of various associated shock ray equations.