On the thermalization of the three-dimensional, incompressible, Galerkin-truncated Euler equation

Abstract

The long-time solutions of the Galerkin-truncated three-dimensional, incompressible Euler equation relax to an absolute equilibrium as a consequence of phase space and kinetic energy conservation in such a finite-dimensional system. These thermalized solutions are characterised by a Gibbs distribution of the velocity field and kinetic energy equipartition amongst its (finite) Fourier modes. We now show, through detailed numerical simulations, the triggers for the inevitable thermalization in physical space and how the problem is reducible to an effective one-dimensional problem making comparisons with the more studied Burgers equation feasible. We also discuss how our understanding of the mechanism of thermalization can be exploited to numerically obtain dissipative solutions of the Euler equations and evidence for or against finite-time blow-up in computer simulations.