Flow (mathematics)

Flow in phase space specified by the differential equation of a pendulum. On the horizontal axis, the pendulum position, and on the vertical one its velocity.

In mathematics, a flow formalizes the idea of the motion of particles in a fluid. Flows are ubiquitous in science, including engineering and physics. The notion of flow is basic to the study of ordinary differential equations. Informally, a flow may be viewed as a continuous motion of points over time. More formally, a flow is a group action of the real numbers on a set.

The idea of a vector flow, that is, the flow determined by a vector field, occurs in the areas of differential topology, Riemannian geometry and Lie groups. Specific examples of vector flows include the geodesic flow, the Hamiltonian flow, the Ricci flow, the mean curvature flow, and Anosov flows. Flows may also be defined for systems of random variables and stochastic processes, and occur in the study of ergodic dynamical systems. The most celebrated of these is perhaps the Bernoulli flow.

Formal definition

A flow on a set Template:Mvar is a group action of the additive group of real numbers on Template:Mvar. More explicitly, a flow is a mapping

$\phi :X\times ℝ\to X$

such that, for all Template:Math and all real numbers Template:Mvar and Template:Mvar,

$\begin{array}{cc}& \phi (x,0)=x;\\ & \phi (\phi (x,t),s)=\phi (x,s+t).\end{array}$

It is customary to write Template:Math instead of Template:Math, so that the equations above can be expressed as ${\phi }^0=\text{Id}$ (the identity function) and ${\phi }^s\circ {\phi }^t={\phi }^{s+t}$ (group law). Then, for all Template:Tmath the mapping Template:Tmath is a bijection with inverse Template:Tmath This follows from the above definition, and the real parameter Template:Mvar may be taken as a generalized functional power, as in function iteration.

Flows are usually required to be compatible with structures furnished on the set Template:Mvar. In particular, if Template:Mvar is equipped with a topology, then Template:Mvar is usually required to be continuous. If Template:Mvar is equipped with a differentiable structure, then Template:Mvar is usually required to be differentiable. In these cases the flow forms a one-parameter group of homeomorphisms and diffeomorphisms, respectively.

In certain situations one might also consider Template:Visible anchors, which are defined only in some subset

$\mathrm{d}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{m}(\phi )=\{(x,t)|t\in [a_x,b_x],a_x<0<b_x,x\in X\}\subset X\times ℝ$

called the Template:Visible anchor of Template:Mvar. This is often the case with the flows of vector fields.

Alternative notations

It is very common in many fields, including engineering, physics and the study of differential equations, to use a notation that makes the flow implicit. Thus, Template:Math is written for Template:Tmath and one might say that the variable Template:Mvar depends on the time Template:Mvar and the initial condition Template:Math. Examples are given below.

In the case of a flow of a vector field Template:Mvar on a smooth manifold Template:Mvar, the flow is often denoted in such a way that its generator is made explicit. For example,

${\mathrm{\Phi }}_V:X\times ℝ\to X;(x,t)\mapsto {\mathrm{\Phi }}_V^t(x).$

Orbits

Given Template:Mvar in Template:Mvar, the set $\{\phi (x,t):t\in ℝ\}$ is called the orbit of Template:Mvar under Template:Mvar. Informally, it may be regarded as the trajectory of a particle that was initially positioned at Template:Mvar. If the flow is generated by a vector field, then its orbits are the images of its integral curves.

Examples

Algebraic equation

Let Template:Tmath be a time-dependent trajectory which is a bijective function. Then a flow can be defined by

$\phi (x,t)=f(t+f^{-1}(x)).$

Autonomous systems of ordinary differential equations

Let Template:Tmath be a (time-independent) vector field and Template:Tmath the solution of the initial value problem

$\dot{𝒙}(t)=𝑭(𝒙(t)),𝒙(0)={𝒙}_0.$

Then $\phi ({𝒙}_0,t)=𝒙(t)$ is the flow of the vector field Template:Mvar. It is a well-defined local flow provided that the vector field Template:Tmath is Lipschitz-continuous. Then Template:Tmath is also Lipschitz-continuous wherever defined. In general it may be hard to show that the flow Template:Mvar is globally defined, but one simple criterion is that the vector field Template:Mvar is compactly supported.

Time-dependent ordinary differential equations

In the case of time-dependent vector fields Template:Tmath, one denotes ${\phi }^{t,t_0}({𝒙}_0)=𝒙(t+t_0),$ where Template:Tmath is the solution of

$\dot{𝒙}(t)=𝑭(𝒙(t),t),𝒙(t_0)={𝒙}_0.$

Then Template:Tmath is the time-dependent flow of Template:Mvar. It is not a "flow" by the definition above, but it can easily be seen as one by rearranging its arguments. Namely, the mapping

$\phi :({ℝ}^n\times ℝ)\times ℝ\to {ℝ}^n\times ℝ;\phi (({𝒙}_0,t_0),t)=({\phi }^{t,t_0}({𝒙}_0),t+t_0)$

indeed satisfies the group law for the last variable:

$\begin{array}{cc}\phi (\phi (({𝒙}_0,t_0),t),s)& =\phi (({\phi }^{t,t_0}({𝒙}_0),t+t_0),s)\\ & =({\phi }^{s,t+t_0}({\phi }^{t,t_0}({𝒙}_0)),s+t+t_0)\\ & =({\phi }^{s,t+t_0}(𝒙(t+t_0)),s+t+t_0)\\ & =(𝒙(s+t+t_0),s+t+t_0)\\ & =({\phi }^{s+t,t_0}({𝒙}_0),s+t+t_0)\\ & =\phi (({𝒙}_0,t_0),s+t).\end{array}$

One can see time-dependent flows of vector fields as special cases of time-independent ones by the following trick. Define

$𝑮(𝒙,t):=(𝑭(𝒙,t),1),𝒚(t):=(𝒙(t+t_0),t+t_0).$

Then Template:Math is the solution of the "time-independent" initial value problem

$\dot{𝒚}(s)=𝑮(𝒚(s)),𝒚(0)=({𝒙}_0,t_0)$

if and only if Template:Math is the solution of the original time-dependent initial value problem. Furthermore, then the mapping Template:Mvar is exactly the flow of the "time-independent" vector field Template:Mvar.

Flows of vector fields on manifolds

The flows of time-independent and time-dependent vector fields are defined on smooth manifolds exactly as they are defined on the Euclidean space Template:Tmath and their local behavior is the same. However, the global topological structure of a smooth manifold is strongly manifest in what kind of global vector fields it can support, and flows of vector fields on smooth manifolds are indeed an important tool in differential topology. The bulk of studies in dynamical systems are conducted on smooth manifolds, which are thought of as "parameter spaces" in applications.

Formally: Let $ℳ$ be a differentiable manifold. Let ${\mathrm{T}}_pℳ$ denote the tangent space of a point $p\in ℳ.$ Let $\mathrm{T}ℳ$ be the complete tangent manifold; that is, $\mathrm{T}ℳ={\cup }_{p\in ℳ}{\mathrm{T}}_pℳ.$ Let $$f:ℝ\times ℳ\to \mathrm{T}ℳ$$ be a time-dependent vector field on $ℳ$; that is, Template:Mvar is a smooth map such that for each $t\in ℝ$ and $p\in ℳ$, one has $f(t,p)\in {\mathrm{T}}_pℳ;$ that is, the map $x\mapsto f(t,x)$ maps each point to an element of its own tangent space. For a suitable interval $I\subseteq ℝ$ containing 0, the flow of Template:Mvar is a function $\varphi :I\times ℳ\to ℳ$ that satisfies $$\begin{array}{ccc}\varphi (0,x_0)& =x_0& \mathrm{\forall }{x}_0\in ℳ\\ \frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}t}{|}_{t=t_0}\varphi (t,x_0)& =f(t_0,\varphi (t_0,x_0))& \mathrm{\forall }{x}_0\in ℳ,t_0\in I\end{array}$$

Solutions of heat equation

Let Template:Math be a subdomain (bounded or not) of Template:Tmath (with Template:Mvar an integer). Denote by Template:Math its boundary (assumed smooth). Consider the following heat equation on Template:Math, for Template:Math,

$\begin{array}{cccc}{u}_t-\mathrm{\Delta }u& =& 0& \text{ in }\mathrm{\Omega }\times (0,T),\\ u& =& 0& \text{ on }\mathrm{\Gamma }\times (0,T),\end{array}$

with the following initial value condition Template:Math in Template:Math .

The equation Template:Math on Template:Math corresponds to the Homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition. The mathematical setting for this problem can be the semigroup approach. To use this tool, we introduce the unbounded operator Template:Math defined on $L^2(\mathrm{\Omega })$ by its domain

$D({\mathrm{\Delta }}_D)=H^2(\mathrm{\Omega })\cap H_0^1(\mathrm{\Omega })$

(see the classical Sobolev spaces with $H^k(\mathrm{\Omega })=W^{k,2}(\mathrm{\Omega })$ and

$H_0^1(\mathrm{\Omega })={\overline{C_0^{\mathrm{\infty }}(\mathrm{\Omega })}}^{H^1(\mathrm{\Omega })}$

is the closure of the infinitely differentiable functions with compact support in Template:Mvar for the $H^1(\mathrm{\Omega })-$norm).

For any $v\in D({\mathrm{\Delta }}_D)$, we have

${\mathrm{\Delta }}_{D}v=\mathrm{\Delta }v=\sum _{i=1}^n\frac{{\partial }^2}{\partial x_i^2}v.$

With this operator, the heat equation becomes $u^{\prime }(t)={\mathrm{\Delta }}_{D}u(t)$ and Template:Math. Thus, the flow corresponding to this equation is (see notations above)

$\phi (u^0,t)={\text{e}}^{t{\mathrm{\Delta }}_D}{u}^0,$

where Template:Math is the (analytic) semigroup generated by Template:Math.

Solutions of wave equation

Again, let Template:Mvar be a subdomain (bounded or not) of Template:Tmath (with Template:Mvar an integer). We denote by Template:Mvar its boundary (assumed smooth). Consider the following wave equation on $\mathrm{\Omega }\times (0,T)$ (for Template:Math),

$\begin{array}{cccc}{u}_{tt}-\mathrm{\Delta }u& =& 0& \text{ in }\mathrm{\Omega }\times (0,T),\\ u& =& 0& \text{ on }\mathrm{\Gamma }\times (0,T),\end{array}$

with the following initial condition Template:Math in Template:Math and $u_t(0)=u^{2,0}\text{ in }\mathrm{\Omega }.$

Using the same semigroup approach as in the case of the Heat Equation above. We write the wave equation as a first order in time partial differential equation by introducing the following unbounded operator,

$𝒜=\left(\begin{array}{cc}0& Id\\ {\mathrm{\Delta }}_D& 0\end{array}\right)$

with domain $D(𝒜)=H^2(\mathrm{\Omega })\cap H_0^1(\mathrm{\Omega })\times H_0^1(\mathrm{\Omega })$ on $H=H_0^1(\mathrm{\Omega })\times L^2(\mathrm{\Omega })$ (the operator Template:Math is defined in the previous example).

We introduce the column vectors

$U=\left(\begin{array}{c}{u}^1\\ u^2\end{array}\right)$

(where $u^1=u$ and $u^2=u_t$) and

$U^0=\left(\begin{array}{c}{u}^{1,0}\\ u^{2,0}\end{array}\right).$

With these notions, the Wave Equation becomes $U^{\prime }(t)=𝒜U(t)$ and Template:Math.

Thus, the flow corresponding to this equation is

$\phi (U^0,t)={\text{e}}^{t𝒜}{U}^0$

where ${\text{e}}^{t𝒜}$ is the (unitary) semigroup generated by $𝒜.$

Bernoulli flow

Ergodic dynamical systems, that is, systems exhibiting randomness, exhibit flows as well. The most celebrated of these is perhaps the Bernoulli flow. The Ornstein isomorphism theorem states that, for any given entropy Template:Mvar, there exists a flow Template:Math, called the Bernoulli flow, such that the flow at time Template:Math, i.e. Template:Math, is a Bernoulli shift.

Furthermore, this flow is unique, up to a constant rescaling of time. That is, if Template:Math, is another flow with the same entropy, then Template:Math, for some constant Template:Mvar. The notion of uniqueness and isomorphism here is that of the isomorphism of dynamical systems. Many dynamical systems, including Sinai's billiards and Anosov flows are isomorphic to Bernoulli shifts.

See also

• Abel equation
• Iterated function
• Schröder's equation
• Infinite compositions of analytic functions

References

• Template:Springer
• Template:Springer
• Template:Springer
• Template:PlanetMath attribution