Nonlinear stability of plane ideal flows in a periodic channel

Abstract

In this paper, we establish two stability theorems for steady or traveling solutions of the two-dimensional incompressible Euler equation in a finite periodic channel, extending Arnold's classical work from the 1960s. Compared to Arnold's approach, we employ a compactness argument rather than relying on the negative definiteness of the energy-Casimir functional. The isovortical property of the Euler equation and Burton's rearrangement theory play an essential role in our analysis. As a corollary, we prove for the first time the existence of a class of stable non-shear flows when the ratio of the channel's height to its length is less than or equal to $\sqrt{3}/2.$ Two rigidity results are also obtained as byproducts.