Hopf bifurcation of the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations (Q1305464)

The paper presents a rigorous analysis of an explicit example of a Hopf bifurcation phenomenon in the Navier-Stokes equations. Let \(v(x,y,z,t)\) and \(p(x,y,z,t)\) satisfy the 3-D Navier-Stokes equations \[ \frac{\partial v}{\partial t}-\Delta v+\lambda (v\cdot\nabla)v +\lambda\nabla p=4k^2(\sin 2kz, 0,0),\quad \nabla\cdot v=0 \tag{1} \] with the space-periodic conditions \[ v(x+2\pi,y,z,t)=v(x,y+2\pi,z,t)=v(x,y,z+2\pi,t) =v(x,y,z,t) \tag{2} \] and the average velocity condition \[ \int\limits_0^{2\pi}\int\limits_0^{2\pi}\int\limits_0^{2\pi} v dx dy dz=0. \tag{3} \] Here \(\lambda\) is a positive constant, \(k\geqslant 1\) is an integer. Based on the Hopf bifurcation theorem the author obtains the existence of a time-dependent periodic solution to problem (1)--(3) branching off the basic flow \(v_0\), when the Reynolds number \(\lambda\) varies around some critical values.