Inviscid dynamical structures near Couette flow (Q717491)

The authors discuss decay in time for non-linear Euler equations in the Sobolev space \(H^s\). The linear inviscid damping near Couette flow holds for any initial vorticity in \(L^2\). It is proved that it is not true for \(s<\frac32\) in any (vorticity) neighborhood of Couette flow. The proof is based on the observation that there exist non-parallel steady flows with arbitrary minimal horizontal periods. In the case \(s>\frac32\), there exist no non-parallel steadily travelling flows \(v(x-ct,y)\) in (vorticity) neighborhoods of Couette flow, and no unstable shears.