A harmonic maps approach to fluid flows (Q2405854)

This paper is concerned with the explicit solutions of 2D incompressible Euler equations, by using the Lagrangian coordinates. The result of \textit{A. Aleman} and \textit{A. Constantin} [Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 204, No. 2, 479--513 (2012; Zbl 1290.76014)] is improved. The initial (simply connected) flow domain (at time \(t=0\)) can be considered as a labelling domain. An injective map exists between the actual position of each fluid particle and the corresponding label (initial position). The Jacobian \(J\) of this map is always different from zero. The Euler equations are written in Lagrangian coordinates, using \(J\). The known explicit solutions of the initial equations are related to harmonic maps. Based on this idea, a new approach to find all flows with harmonic labelling maps is given, using a relationship between the 2D harmonic maps having the same Jacobian.