Bifurcation of relative equilibria generated by a circular vortex path in a circular domain (Q2284906)

The dynamics of passive particle transport in a two-dimensional incompressible inviscid fluid is analyzed. The flow is driven by a circular vortex patch and confined in circular domain. Circular stirring protocols are studied using a Hamiltonian system in the Lagrangian formulation. Possible phase space portraits are classified and a bifurcation analysis of the relative equilibria is performed. Then the influence of perturbations of the stirring protocol is considered. Finally an analytic proof showing that under small periodic perturbations of the radius an infinite number of orbits are persistent, yielding periodic orbits with zero winding number.