Hydrodynamic Killing vector fields on surfaces (Q6187295)

The aim of this paper is to determine the surfaces admitting hydrodynamic Killing vector fields (HKVF), under appropriate assumptions for fluid dynamics. First, the author explores the types of Killing vector fields that are suitable in the context of fluid dynamics. Next, he proceeds to classify connected, orientable surfaces that admit a given type of HKVF. The surface must be conformally equivalent to one of 14 canonical Riemann surfaces. Then, the HKVF is represented by a rotational or translational vector field on the Riemann surface with the Riemannian metric represented as a conformal metric that possesses rotational or translational symmetry, respectively. The proof presented here is grounded in both the geometric properties of Killing vector fields and the classification of Möbius transformations on exceptional Riemann surfaces. This paves the way for quantitative investigations of fluid flows associated with Killing vector fields and zonal flows, such as issues of stability and instability, extending its applications potentially to global meteorological phenomena and planetary atmospheric science. The paper is organized as follows: Section 1 is an introduction to the subject and statement of results. In Section 2, the author briefly reviews the geometry of Riemann surfaces. In Section 3, he discusses which types of Killing vector fields are of interest in the context of fluid dynamics. In Section 4, he presents the main results, followed by proofs in Section 5.