The two-dimensional Euler equation: A statistical study (Q1300620)

The paper deals with a statistical approach to the two-dimensional Euler equation for incompressible fluids with periodic boundary conditions. Define the enstrophy as \[ S={1\over 2}\int({\mathop{\text{curl}}}u)^2 \] and the energy \[ E={1\over 2}\int |u|^2, \] where \(u\) is the velocity field (hence \(\mathop{\text{curl}}\) is the vorticity) and consider the Gaussian measure \(\mu_\gamma\) whose covariance is a constant \(\gamma\) times the enstrophy operator \(S\). Since the energy is not integrable with respect to \(\mu_\gamma\), another invariant quantity, the renormalized energy \(:E:\), can be defined. Let \(E_n\) be the energy approximated with the Fourier component of scale less than \(n\) and define \[ :E:_n=E_n-\mathbf{E}_\gamma E_n, \] where \(\mathbf{E}_\gamma\) is the expectation with respect to the probability measure \(\mu_\gamma\). Define \(:E:\) as the limit of \(:E:_n\). It turns out that this quantity is an invariant for the Euler flow. Consider the measure \(\nu_\gamma^a\) on the level set \(\{:E:=a\}\), which is the conditional law of the measure \(\mu_\gamma\) knowing that \(:E:=a\). The main result is that there exist a weak flow, living on the set \(\{:E:=a\}\) which evolves according to the Euler dynamics such that for every \(t\) the law of this process at time \(t\) is \(\nu_\gamma^a\). The proof of these results uses heavily the Malliavin calculus. Finally the author shows that, with a general construction, the measures \(\nu_\gamma^a\) are a particular case of it, many other invariant measures for the Euler dynamics with different characteristics can be obtained.