Some characterizations of the Taylor-Couette attractor (Q1854105)

The paper deals with the Taylor-Couette problem, i.e., the Navier-Stokes flow between two infinite rotating cylinders. It is known that if the Reynolds number \(R\) is less than some critical value \(R_c\) then the flow is asymptotically exponentially stable. The author studies the weakly unstable regime parametrized by the bifurcation parameter \(\varepsilon ^2 = R - R_c\). Provided that \(\varepsilon \) and data are sufficiently small, the following results are established: (i) For the Taylor-Couette problem, there exists a bounded, invariant set attracting all sets contained in a positively invariant set in a local topology -- such a set is called local attractor; (ii) The connection with the Ginzburg-Landau equation is investigated: Every orbit of the Taylor-Couette problem can be approximated by the pseudo-orbit of the Ginzburg-Landau equation (pseudo-orbit is an orbit where small equidistant jumps are allowed) and the approximation improves as \(\varepsilon \to 0\); (iii) For \(\varepsilon \) small enough, the attractor of the Taylor-Couette problem consists solely of axially symmetric solutions.