Loss of smoothness and energy conserving rough weak solutions for the 3d Euler equations

TL;DR

This paper constructs examples of weak solutions to the 3D Euler equations that lose smoothness, have concentrated vorticity, and conserve energy, challenging traditional regularity assumptions and related to the Onsager conjecture.

Contribution

It introduces shear flow-based examples demonstrating loss of smoothness, vorticity concentration, and energy conservation in 3D Euler solutions, expanding understanding of solution regularity and energy conservation.

Findings

Existence of non-smooth weak solutions with concentrated vorticity

Examples of energy-conserving solutions with loss of smoothness

Contrast with 2D Kelvin-Helmholtz problem regarding regularity

Abstract

A basic example of shear flow was introduced by DiPerna and Majda to study the weak limit of oscillatory solutions of the Euler equations of incompressible ideal fluids. In particular, they proved by means of this example that weak limit of solutions of Euler equations may, in some cases, fail to be a solution of Euler equations. We use this shear flow example to provide non-generic, yet nontrivial, examples concerning the loss of smoothness of solutions of the three-dimensional Euler equations, for initial data that do not belong to $C^{1,\alpha}$. Moreover, we show by means of this shear flow example the existence of weak solutions for the three-dimensional Euler equations with vorticity that is having a nontrivial density concentrated on non-smooth surface. This is very different from what has been proven for the two-dimensional Kelvin-Helmholtz problem where a minimal regularity implies the real analyticity of the interface. Eventually, we use this shear flow to provide explicit examples of non-regular solutions of the three-dimensional Euler equations that conserve the energy, an issue which is related to the Onsager conjecture.