RATE OF CONVERGENCE FOR VANISHING VISCOSITY APPROXIMATIONS TO HYPERBOLIC BALANCE LAWS.

The rate of convergence for vanishing viscosity approximations to hyperbolic balance laws is established. The result applies to systems that are strictly hyperbolic and genuinely nonlinear with a source term satisfying a special mechanism that induces dissipation. The proof relies on error estimates that measure the interaction of waves. Shock waves are treated by monitoring the evolution of suitable Lyapunov functionals, whereas interactions involving rarefaction waves are accommodated by employing a sharp decay estimate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]