Effective velocity and $L^\infty$-based well-posedness for incompressible fluids with odd viscosity

Abstract

The present paper is concerned with the well-posedness theory for non-homogeneous incompressible fluids exhibiting odd (non-dissipative) viscosity effects. Differently from previous works, we consider here the full odd viscosity tensor. Similarly to the work of Bresch and Desjardins in compressible fluid mechanics, we identify the presence of an effective velocity in the system, linking the velocity field of the fluid and the gradient of a suitable function of the density. By use of this effective velocity, we propose a new formulation of the original system of equations, thus highlighting a strong similarity with the equations of the ideal magnetohydrodynamics. By taking advantage of the new formulation of the equations, we establish a local in time well-posedness theory in Besov spaces based on $L^\infty$ and prove a lower bound for the lifespan of the solutions implying ``asymptotically global'' existence: in the regime of small initial density variations, $ρ_0-1= O(\varepsilon)$ for small $\varepsilon>0$, the corresponding solution is defined up to some time $T_\varepsilon>0$ satisfying the property $T_\varepsilon\,\longrightarrow\,+\infty$ when $\varepsilon\to0^+$.