Chaos from Symmetry: Navier Stokes equations, Beltrami fields and the Universal Classifying Crystallographic Group

Abstract

The core of this paper is a novel group-theoretical approach, initiated in 2015 by one of the present authors in collaboration with Alexander Sorin, which allows for a more systematic classification and algorithmic construction of Beltrami flows on torii $\mathbb{R}^3/\Lambda$ where $\Lambda$ is a crystallographic lattice. The new hydro-theory, based on the idea of a Universal Classifying Group $\mathfrak{UG}_\Lambda$, is here revised. We construct the so far missing $\mathfrak{UG}_{\Lambda_{Hex}}$ for the hexagonal lattice. Mastering the cubic and hexagonal instances, we can cover all cases. The classification relation between Beltrami Flows and contact structures is enlightened. The most promising research direction opened by the present work streams from the fact that the Fourier series expansion of a generic Navier-Stokes solution can be regrouped into an infinite sum of contributions $\mathbf{W}_r$, each associated with a spherical layer of quantized radius $r$ in the momentum lattice and consisting of a superposition of a Beltrami and an anti-Beltrami field, with an analogous decomposition into irreps of the group $\mathfrak{UG}_\Lambda$ that are variously repeated on higher layers. This crucial property enables the construction of generic Fourier series with prescribed hidden symmetries as candidate solutions of the NS equations. As a further result of this research programme a complete and versatile system of MATHEMATICA Codes named \textbf{AlmafluidaNSPsystem} has been constructed and is now available through the site of the Wolfram Community. The main message streaming from our constructions is that the more symmetric the Beltrami Flow the highest is the probability of the onset of chaotic trajectories.