Liouville theorems for the Navier-Stokes equations and applications (Q617866)

This is a very interesting paper related to fundamental problems in Navier-Stokes equations. The solutions of Navier-Stokes equations in \(\mathbb R^n\times (-\infty, 0)\) -- called ancient solutions -- are considered. The point is to characterize the ancient solutions with (global) velocity \(u\). Two types of solutions are considered: weak solutions, introduced by \textit{J. Leray} [Acta Math. 63, 193--248 (1934; JFM 60.0726.05)], and mild solutions. Mild solutions are defined in Sect. 3, starting with a Stokes equation with a particular force term in form of the divergence of a function \(f\). The mild solution \(u\) has the representation \[ u_i(x,t)= \int_{\mathbb R^n}\Gamma(x-y,t)u_{0i}(y)\,dy+ \int_0^t \int_{\mathbb R^n} K_{ijk}(x-y,t-s)f_{jk}(y,s)\,dy\,ds \] in terms of the Helmholtz projector on divergence-free vectors \(P\) and the heat equation operator \(S\). The main results are: (1) any ancient mild solution with bounded \(u\) is constant; (2) any ancient weak solution with bounded \(u\) is a function of time only. This is proved in the 2D and in the 3D axisymmetric case (here, under some additional conditions). The main strategy is to use the vorticity equation in 2D. It is proved that the vorticity is zero, then the free-divergence condition implies \(u=\text{constant}\) (by using the Liouville theorem for harmonic functions). In the last part, the above results are used to obtain some results limiting the types of singularities which can occur in 3D axisymmetric Navier-Stokes equations.