A Uniqueness Theorem for Incompressible Fluid Flows with Straight Streamlines

Abstract: It is proven that the only incompressible Euler fluid flows with fixed straight streamlines are those generated by the normal lines to a round sphere, a circular cylinder or a flat plane, the fluid flow being that of a point source, a line source or a plane source at infinity, respectively. The proof uses the local differential geometry of oriented line congruences to integrate the Euler equations explicitly.