Beltrami fields with a nonconstant proportionality factor are rare (Q261297)

The authors deal with the existence of Beltrami fields, that is, vector fields \(u\) in \(\mathbb{R}^3\) satisfying equations \(\operatorname{curl} u = fu\) and \(\operatorname{div} u = 0\) in an open subset \(U\) in \(\mathbb{R}^3\), with nonconstant proportionality factor \(f\). They show that the possible nontrivial Beltrami fields in \(U\) correspond to factors \(f\) which satisfy a complicated nonlinear partial differential equation of order 6 (in \(U\)), that can be computed explicitly. This implies that there exists only the trivial Beltrami field in \(U\) (\(u\equiv 0\)) for all \(f\) in an open and dense subset of \(C^k(U)\) with \(k\geq 7\). For proving these assertions, the authors reformulate the Beltrami equations as a constrained evolution equation on a surface. As a consequence of the proof, it follows that if \(f\) has a regular level set in \(U\) diffeomorphic to the sphere, then the only Beltrami field in \(U\) is the trivial one.