We consider continuous solutions u to the balance equation
∂t u(t, x) + ∂x [f (u(t, x))] = g(t, x) f ∈ C 2 (R), g ∈ L∞ (R) for a bounded source term g. Continuity improves to H ̈lder continuity o when f is uniformly convex, but it is not more regular in general. We discuss the reduction to ODEs on characteristics, mainly based on the joint works [5, 1]. We provide here local regularity results holding in
the region where f (u)f (u) = 0 and only in the simpler case of autonomous sources g = g(x), but for solutions u(t, x) which may depend on time. This corresponds to a local regularity result, in that region, for the system of ODEs
γ(t) = f (u(t, γ(t)))
̇
d
u(t, γ(t)) = g(t, γ(t)).
dt
