On the existence of periodic solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations in a thin domain using the topological degree (Q5935826)

The authors study the existence of periodic solutions to the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations in thin domains. They consider periodic boundary conditions and prove the existence of periodic solutions in two cases: a) the force (the right-hand side) is time dependent, \(T\)-periodic b) the force is time independent. In the former the existence is proved under the assumption that the reduced Navier-Stokes equations (i.e. the limit when the thickness of the domain goes to zero) possesses a \(T\)-periodic solution with non zero topological degree with respect to a certain operator \(\Phi\). In the latter they assume, together with the existence of a \(T\)-periodic solution to the reduced Navier-Stokes equations, also additional properties of the linearized reduced Navier-Stokes system. The main tools of the proof are the fractional powers of operators and the topological degree theory.