Solitary waves and $N$-particle algorithms for a class of Euler-Poincare equations

We study a class of partial differential equations (PDEs) in the family of the so-called Euler-Poincare differential systems, with the aim of developing a foundation for numerical algorithms of their solutions. This requires particular attention to the mathematical properties of this system when the associated class of elliptic operators possesses non-smooth kernels. By casting the system in its Lagrangian (or characteristics) form, we first formulate a particles system algorithm in free space with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions for the evolving fields. We next examine the deformation of the system when non-homogeneous constant stream boundary conditions are assumed. We show how this simple change at the boundary deeply affects the nature of the evolution, from hyperbolic-like to dispersive with a non-trivial dispersion relation, and examine the potentially regularizing properties of singular kernels offered by this deformation. From the particle algorithm viewpoint, kernel singularities affect the existence and uniqueness of solutions to the corresponding ordinary differential equations systems. We illustrate this with the case when the operator kernel assumes a conical shape over the spatial variables, and examine in detail two-particle dynamics under the resulting lack of Lipschitz-continuity. Curiously, we find that for the conically-shaped kernels the motion of the related two-dimensional waves can become completely integrable under appropriate initial data. This reduction projects the two-dimensional system to the one-dimensional completely integrable Shallow-Water equation [Camassa, R. and Holm, D. D., Phys. Rev. Lett., 71, 1961-1964, 1993], while retaining the full dependence on two spatial dimensions for the single channel solutions.

An inertia paradox for incompressible stratified Euler fluids

The interplay between incompressibility and stratification can lead to non-conservation of horizontal momentum in the dynamics of a stably stratified incompressible Euler fluid filling an infinite horizontal channel between rigid upper and lower plates. Lack of conservation occurs even though in this configuration only vertical external forces act on the system. This apparent paradox was seemingly first noticed by Benjamin (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 165, 1986, pp. 445-474) in his classification of the invariants by symmetry groups with the Hamiltonian structure of the Euler equations in two dimensional settings, but it appears to have been largely ignored since. By working directly with the motion equations, the paradox is shown here to be a consequence of the rigid lid constraint coupling through incompressibility with the infinite inertia of the far ends of the channel, assumed to be at rest in hydrostatic equilibrium. Accordingly, when inertia is removed by eliminating the stratification, or, remarkably, by using the Boussinesq approximation of uniform density for the inertia terms, horizontal momentum conservation is recovered. This interplay between constraints,action at a distance by incompressibility, and inertia is illustrated by layer-averaged exact results, two-layer long-wave models, and direct numerical simulations of the incompressible Euler equations with smooth stratification.