On the long-time behavior of scale-invariant solutions to the 2d Euler equation and applications

Abstract

We study the long-time behavior of scale-invariant solutions of the 2d Euler equation satisfying a discrete symmetry. We show that all scale-invariant solutions with bounded variation on $\mathbb{S}^1$ relax to states that are piece-wise constant with finitely many jumps. All continuous scale-invariant solutions become singular and homogenize in infinite time. On $\mathbb{R}^2$, this corresponds to generic infinite-time spiral and cusp formation. The main tool in our analysis is the discovery of a monotone quantity that measures the number of particles that are moving away from the origin. This monotonicity also applies locally to solutions of the 2d Euler equation that are $m$-fold symmetric ($m\geq 4$) and have radial limits at the point of symmetry. Our results are also applicable to the Euler equation on a large class of surfaces of revolution (like $\mathbb{S}^2$ and $\mathbb{T}^2$). Our analysis then gives generic spiraling of trajectories and infinite-time loss of regularity for globally smooth solutions on any such smooth surface, under a discrete symmetry.