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OP-3487Status unassessedPartial differential equations

Breakdown of periodic Navier–Stokes solutions in three dimensions

TheoremDB P9800 · Candidate awaiting source review

Inferred from the community field; finer classification has not been reviewed.

Source candidate · not reviewedAs of 2026-09-08Source & evidence ↓

Problem statement

Let ν>0\nu > 0 be a positive real number. Does there exist a smooth, divergence-free, 1-periodic initial velocity field u0:R3→R3u_0 : \mathbb{R}^3 \to \mathbb{R}^3 and a smooth external force f:R3×[0,∞)→R3f : \mathbb{R}^3 \times [0,\infty) \to \mathbb{R}^3 that is 1-periodic in space and whose derivatives decay faster than any polynomial in time, such that there is no smooth solution pair (v,p)(v,p) to the three-dimensional periodic Navier–Stokes equations with viscosity ν\nu, initial data u0u_0, and forcing ff? Specifically, no pair (v,p)(v,p) exists where v:R3×[0,∞)→R3v : \mathbb{R}^3 \times [0,\infty) \to \mathbb{R}^3 and p:R3×[0,∞)→Rp : \mathbb{R}^3 \times [0,\infty) \to \mathbb{R} are both smooth, 1-periodic in space for all t≥0t \geq 0, satisfy the Navier–Stokes equation

∂v∂t+(v⋅∇)v=νΔv−∇p+f\frac{\partial v}{\partial t} + (v \cdot \nabla)v = \nu \Delta v - \nabla p + f

for all x∈R3x \in \mathbb{R}^3 and t≥0t \geq 0, maintain ∇⋅v=0\nabla \cdot v = 0 for all xx and t≥0t \geq 0, and satisfy the initial condition v(x,0)=u0(x)v(x,0) = u_0(x) for all x∈R3x \in \mathbb{R}^3.

Lean 4

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Formal statement

Lean 4
theorem navier_stokes_breakdown_periodic (nu : ℝ) (hnu : nu > 0) :
    ∃ (u₀ : ℝ³ → ℝ³) (f : ℝ³ → ℝ → ℝ³),
    InitialVelocityConditionPeriodic u₀ ∧ ForceConditionPeriodic f ∧
    ¬ (∃ v p, NavierStokesExistenceAndSmoothnessPeriodic nu u₀ f v p)

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Progress & source assessment

Source-reported assessment, retrieved 8 September 2026. Frontier Science has not independently reviewed this status.

Open. No signed Lean verification is attached to this problem or its selected resolution.

This record is in the source backlog; its novelty and unresolved status have not passed source review.

References
  1. [1]TheoremDB P9800 link
  2. [2]Source formal statement (not locally verified) link

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