Classical and relativistic fluids as intermediate integrals of finite dimensional mechanical systems

Abstract

We explore the relationship between mechanical systems describing the motion of a particle with the mechanical systems describing a continuous medium. More specifically, we will study how the so-called intermediate integrals or fields of solutions of a finite dimensional mechanical system (a second order differential equation) are simultaneously Euler's equations of fluids and conversely. This will be done both in the classical and relativistic context. A direct relationship will be established by means of the so-called time constraint (classical unsteady case, static or not) and the relativistic correction (for arbitrary pseudo-Riemannian metrics).