Hyperbolic phenomena in a strongly degenerate parabolic equation

We consider the equation u _t =((u) (u _x )) _x , where >0 and where is a strictly increasing function with lim _s = <. We solve the associated Cauchy problem for an increasing initial function, and discuss to what extent the solution behaves qualitatively like solutions of the first-order conservation law u _t = ((u)) _x . Equations of this type arise, for example, in the theory of phase transitions where the corresponding free-energy functional has a linear growth rate with respect to the gradient.