The Nash-Kuiper theorem and the Onsager conjecture (Q2227773)

The author discusses analogies between the isometric embedding problem for manifolds and the existence of weak solutions of the incompressible Euler equations which do not conserve energy. After introducing the Nash-Kuiper theorem on the isometric embedding, comments on rigidity versus flexibility are given, together with regularity properties of those maps culminating in the Borisov-Gromov problem. Then, a discussion of recent progress in studies of weak solutions of the three-dimensional Euler equations in hydrodynamics is presented, with a stress on methods of constructing solutions that violate the conservation of energy property. These objects solve the Onsager conjecture on the critical regularity of such solutions closely related to the Kolmogorov K41 theory of turbulence. The author shed some light on the analogies and similarities of the both geometrically motivated constructions, and technically based on delicate iterations of maps.