On the rigidity of the 2D incompressible Euler equations

Abstract: We consider rigidity properties of steady Euler flows in two-dimensional bounded domains. We prove that steady Euler flows in a disk with exactly one interior stagnation point and tangential boundary conditions must be circular flows, which confirms a conjecture proposed by F. Hamel and N. Nadirashvili in [J. Eur. Math. Soc., 25 (2023), no. 1, 323-368]. Moreover, for steady Euler flows on annuli with tangential boundary conditions, we prove that they must be circular flows provided there is no stagnation point inside, which answers another open problem proposed by F. Hamel and N. Nadirashvili in the same paper. We secondly show that the no-slip boundary conditions would result in absolute rigidity in the sense that except for the disks (\emph{resp}. annuli), there is no other smooth simply (\emph{resp}. doubly) connected bounded domain on which there exists a steady flow with only one (\emph{resp}. no) interior stagnation point and no-slip boundary conditions, and if present on the other hand, the flow must be circular. The arguments are based on the geometry of streamlines and 'local' symmetry properties for the non-negative solutions of semi-linear elliptic problems.