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# The Optical/Near-Infrared Light Curves of SN 2002ap for the First 140 Days after Discovery

## 1 Introduction

The discovery of hypernovae, i.e., supernovae (SNe) with explosion energies exceeding that of normal SNe, and possibly linked with gamma-ray bursts, has motivated the creation of a close network between transient-object hunters, follow-up observers, and model builders. This network successfully functioned for the recent energetic Type Ic SN 2002ap, which appeared in the outer part of the nearby spiral galaxy M74 ($`mM=29.5_{0.2}^{+0.1}`$, $`D7.9`$ Mpc; Sharina, Karachentsev & Tikhonov 1996; Sohn & Davidge 1996). After its discovery on January 29 by Y. Hirose and confirmation the following day (Nakano et al. 2002), intensive world-wide follow-up observational programs (e.g., Gal-Yam, Ofek & Shemmer 2002) were started, accumulating photometric and spectroscopic data. Theoretical models (e.g., Mazzali et al. 2002) have been used to constrain the physical properties of SN 2002ap.

Having received notification of the rare opportunity of a nearby SN event soon after discovery, multi-wavelength monitoring of the brightness of SN 2002ap in the $`UBVRIJHK`$ bands was started with the multi-color imaging photometer (MIP) mounted on the MAGNUM 2m telescope (Yoshii et al. 2002), which is located at a height of 3055m at the summit of Haleakala, on the Island of Maui, Hawaii. The MAGNUM (Multi-color Active Galactic Nuclei Monitoring) Project was designed to monitor many AGNs at wavelengths from the UV/optical to the near infrared (NIR) and to determine a redshift-independent distance to the AGNs from which the cosmological parameters could finally be determined (Yoshii 2002).

In this paper, the full set of $`UBVRIJHK`$ imaging observations of SN 2002ap taken during the first 40 days following its discovery until it disappeared because of solar conjunction, and then in June after it reappeared, is presented, including the first NIR light curves 111A part of the data presented here was previously used in Mazzali et al. (2002) for the sake of theoretical modelling.. These light curves are analyzed and compared to those of the hypernovae SNe 1998bw and 1997ef. The bolometric light curve, constructed for dates up to March 11, and then combined with one point in June, is compared with that synthesized using theoretical models.

## 2 Imaging Photometry

### 2.1 Observations

The MAGNUM telescope has a 2m primary mirror and Rithey-Chrétien optics giving a field view of 33 arcminutes (Kobayashi et al. 1998a). The MIP camera, installed at the focal point of the bent-Cassegrain focus, contains an SITe CCD ($`1024\times 1024`$ pixels, 0.277 arcsec/pixel) and an SBRC InSb array ($`256\times 256`$ pixels, 0.346 arcsec/pixel). A dichroic beam splitter enables simultaneous imaging through optical ($`UBVRI`$) and NIR ($`ZJHK^{}KL^{}`$) filters (Kobayashi et al. 1998b). The effective area of each frame over which the light was received by the detector is $`119\times 119`$ arcsecs for the CCD and $`88.5\times 88.5`$ arcsecs for the InSb. Observations of SN 2002ap are on the Johnson-Cousins system after correction for color-terms and color-offsets.

SN 2002ap ($`\alpha _{2000}=01^h36^m23.^s85,\delta _{2000}=+15^{}45^{}13.^{\prime \prime }2`$, Nakano et al. 2002) was observed in the $`UBVRIJHK`$ bands starting on February 2 and until March 11, 2002 before solar conjunction. Observations performed during June 2002, the first month after solar conjunction, are also reported. Given the inferred explosion date, January 28 (Mazzali et al. 2002), our observation began only 5 days after the explosion. A nearby star ($`\alpha _{2000}=01^h36^m19.^s49,\delta _{2000}=+15^{}45^{}20.^{\prime \prime }8`$), known to be a double star, was of comparable brightness to SN 2002ap in the same CCD frame, so that it was observed as a reference star for $`UBVRI`$.

Although SN 2002ap was only visible at low elevations ($`4020`$ degrees), either after sunset (for the observations before solar conjunction) or before sunrise (for the observations after solar conjunction), MIP’s efficient splitting of the incident light allowed the successful completion of simultaneous multi-color imaging within an hour or so. Because of such simultaneous imaging, telescope dithering required primarily for $`JHK`$ was also performed for $`UBVRI`$ using 3 10-arcsec steps. A typical exposure time for one step was 120 sec for $`U`$, 40 sec for each of $`BVRI`$, and 10 sec for each of $`JHK`$. However, for the observations in June, the exposure time was prolonged within the saturation limits of the reference star. Typical seeing sizes of the stellar images were 1.0-1.7 arcsec in $`V`$ and 0.85-1.3 arcsec in $`K`$, respectively.

Our observational strategy was to observe SN 2002ap, the infrared standard stars for $`JHK`$ (Hunt et al. 1997) and the optical standard stars for $`UBVRI`$ (Landolt 1992), irrespective of whether the night was photometric or not. Those observations were performed by interrupting the scheduled queue of our original program of observing AGNs. At the end of each night, dome-flat images for $`BVRIJHK`$ and infrared dark images were obtained. However, twilight-flat images for $`U`$ were obtained on other days.

### 2.2 Image reduction

Image reduction was performed using our package of IRAF-based automated reduction software (MAGRED), which was developed for the MAGNUM Project. A simple pattern of noises, which was overlayed on the images by interference from the radio broadcast station near the telescope site, was removed from the bias region of each CCD frame. Then, for the CCD data reduction, nonlinear corrections, bias subtraction, flat fielding based on the dome flat (twilight flat for $`U`$), and interpolation among bad pixels were applied to each frame in a standard manner. Sky subtraction was not employed because the difference between sky flat and dome flat was negligibly small except near the edge of each frame.

For the InSb data reduction, the noise pattern was removed from the image region of each frame, because the bias region is absent in the InSb. Then, similar corrections as above were made, but sky subtraction was done by using the sky flat taken at a time close to the observation of SN 2002ap. Flat images for $`H`$ and $`K`$ were generated as the difference between the dome-flat images taken with the light on and off, after correcting for illumination by comparing with the sky flat. Flat images for $`J`$ were taken similarly except that dark images were used instead of dome-flat images taken with the light off.

Multi-aperture photometry was used throughout, since SN 2002ap is located far from the center of M74, in a region where the sky background is sufficiently flat. An aperture size of 11 arcsec was chosen as a compromise between smaller apertures which reliably increase the S/N ratio, and larger apertures which ensure constant and stable measured magnitudes of the reference double star. However, in order to enhance the S/N ratio, a smaller aperture was adopted for the $`U`$-band images taken on March $`45`$ (8.3 arcsec), and for the images taken in June (5.5 arcsec for $`BVRI`$ and 8.3 arcsec for $`JHK`$).

Three CCD frames of SN 2002ap were obtained each night while dithering the telescope position, and aperture photometry was performed for each frame. The adopted aperture magnitude of SN 2002ap is the median of the three. However, for the $`U`$-band frames taken after February 21, the three frames were stacked before aperture photometry was performed. Figure 1 shows a series of color-coded images taken on eight different nights (February 2, 4, 8, 14, 16, 18, 22, and March 5), which give a visual impression of the optical color evolution of SN 2002ap.

Since each CCD frame is wide enough to cover both SN 2002ap and the reference star, the aperture magnitude of SN 2002ap was obtained via differential photometry between SN 2002ap and the reference star in the same CCD frame (Enya et al. 2002).

The magnitude calibration of the reference star in the CCD frame was carried out only on photometric nights, i.e. when the dispersion in instrumental magnitudes of SN2002ap and that for the reference star were comparable to the S/N ratio, and also when it was judged to be a fine day from the MAGNUM cloud monitor data (Suganuma et al. in preparation) and by eye inspection of the weather. Whenever optical standard stars were observed more than twice at different elevations on a photometric night, the airmass dependence and the magnitude zero points in each band were obtained, so that the aperture magnitudes of the reference star were calibrated. Their respective medians and number of calibrations are $`U(4)=14.13\pm `$0.04, $`B(5)=13.83\pm `$0.02, $`V(5)=13.07\pm `$0.01, $`R(5)=12.61\pm `$0.015, and $`I(3)=12.15\pm `$0.01, where the error is estimated as half of the difference between the brightest and faintest magnitudes for multiple calibrations in each band.

On the other hand, the InSb frame of the $`JHK`$ observations is not wide enough to include any reference star of brightness comparable to SN 2002ap. Therefore, the aperture $`JHK`$ magnitudes of SN 2002ap in individual image frames were calibrated using standards-based photometry, and for each band the median was adopted as the aperture magnitude of SN2002ap.

### 2.3 Observed light curves

Figure 2 shows the $`UBVRIJHK`$ light curves based on the data taken on 14 nights during the period February 2 to March 11, 2002, until SN 2002ap disappeared behind the sun. These data are listed in Table 1, together with the data for 5 nights in June after solar conjunction. For the purpose of comparison, data reported by other authors are also shown in Figure 2.

The magnitude error in each optical band is estimated as $`\sigma _e^2=\sigma _{sn}^2+\sigma _{ref}^2+\sigma _{}^2`$, where $`\sigma _{sn}`$ and $`\sigma _{ref}`$ are the photometric errors of SN 2002ap and the reference star, respectively, which were estimated from the output of IRAF PHOT, and $`\sigma _{}`$ is the magnitude calibration error of the reference star given in the previous section. For June data taken when SN 2002ap faded, the use of a small aperture for both SN 2002ap and the reference double star introduced some small error because of their different brightness profiles. This error was estimated to be 0.01 mag and was incorporated in the quadrature.

The magnitude error in each NIR band is estimated as $`\sigma _e^2=\sigma _{sn}^2+\sigma _{std}^2+\sigma _{zp}^2`$, where $`\sigma _{sn}`$ and $`\sigma _{std}`$ are the photometric errors of SN 2002ap and the standard stars, respectively, and $`\sigma _{zp}`$ is the zero-point uncertainty of the standard stars caused by time-variant atmospheric conditions. The error $`\sigma _{sn}`$ is basically given by the IRAF magnitude dispersion of SN 2002ap divided by the square root of the number of frames obtained during the same night. However, since the error given this way is smaller than the standard deviation of the instrumental magnitudes of SN 2002ap, additional errors likely arising from the flat fielding and the reduction procedure must also be added in quadrature. We adopted $`\sigma _{std}=0.01`$ mag because all standard stars were observed with enough S/N. We adopted $`\sigma _{zp}=0.02`$ mag for clear nights and 0.05 mag for poor conditions. The errors are larger when thin patchy clouds were present.

The lines in Figure 2 are fits to the data using cubic splines weighted by observational errors. Larger weights were given to the $`UBVRI`$ fitting, while relatively small weights were given to the $`JKH`$ fitting. In this fitting procedure, we combined our own data (filled circles) with other $`B`$ and $`H`$ data (open circles) reported in the IAUCs and Gal-Yam et al.’s $`I`$ data (crosses) from the Wise Observatory. Except for the $`I`$ band, where we have no data before February 14, we could obtain light curves covering the entire period using only our own data.

The date and magnitude of the epoch of peak brightness were determined from the spline curve for each of $`UBVRIJHK`$. The uncertainty of the epoch of maximum was defined as the range of epochs when the magnitude is fainter than the peak magnitude by no more than 0.01 mag. The results are shown in Table 2. These peak dates agree well with those derived previously by Gal-Yam et al. (2002).

The wavelength-dependent slope of the declining part of the light curve, $`dm_\lambda /dt`$ (mag/day), was also determined. These results are also given in Table 2.

## 3 Bolometric Light Curve

Bolometric light curves of SNe are very valuable for constructing theoretical models. Our photometric data, covering from $`U`$ to $`K`$, enable us to build the bolometric light curve for SN 2002ap. For days when data in one or two bands are not available from MAGNUM measurements, we interpolated the data taken on adjacent dates from MAGNUM and other sources (Gal-Yam et al. 2002, IAUCs and VSNET 222http://vsnet.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/vsnet/SNe/sn2002ap.html).

First, all $`UBVRIJHK`$ magnitudes were converted into absolute monochromatic fluxes. Various sets of conversion factors for the standard system are available in the literature. As differences between these various sets are marginal, we adopted the values recently compiled by Bessell (2001). We adopted a combined Galaxy-M74 reddening of $`E(BV)=0.09\pm 0.01`$, as determined from the Na I D equivalent widths in a high resolution spectrum (Takada-Hidai, Aoki & Zhao 2002), and a distance modulus $`mM=29.5_{0.2}^{+0.1}`$, combining the estimates of Sharina et al. (1996) and Sohn & Davidge (1996) from the brightest supergiants.

Monochromatic fluxes were then integrated over frequency with a cubic spline interpolation technique. Those on February 8 are plotted in Figure 3 as an example. We assumed zero flux at both integral limits, i.e. at the blue edge of the $`U`$ band and at the red edge of the $`K`$ band. The errors introduced by this assumption are much less than 10%. An early UV flux between 245 - 320 nm was measured with XMM-Newton on February 3 (Soria & Kong 2002). Extending the integration to this band, we found it contributes only 4% of the total flux. The NIR flux, on the other hand, accounts for a significant fraction of the total flux, ranging from 20% on February 2 to 40% on March 10, and being around 20% in June. This highlights the importance of $`JHK`$ photometry.

Uncertainty in the bolometric light curve also comes from the non-stellar nature of SN spectra, which are dominated by very broad lines. The true bolometric flux can only be obtained from spectrophotometry. We compared our results with the model UV-optical-NIR spectrophotometry derived from the best-fit synthetic Monte Carlo spectra of Mazzali et al. (2002), and found that the differences between the two datasets are less than 0.2 mag. The total uncertainty in our bolometric light curve, including the uncertainty in the distance modulus, is therefore estimated to be $`0.3`$ mag.

We list in Table 3 our bolometric magnitudes, $`M_{\mathrm{bol}}`$, along with the bolometric corrections, $`\mathrm{B}.\mathrm{C}.M_{\mathrm{bol}}M_\mathrm{V}`$. They are shown in Figure 4 as filled circles. We adopted an explosion date of January 28 (Mazzali et al. 2002). We also plot the spectrophotometric point on January 30 as an open circle, and four unfiltered CCD magnitude points taken within 1 day of the discovery (Nakano et al. 2002; VSNET) as crosses. These roughly define the very early phase of the bolometric light curve.

## 4 Discussion

### 4.1 Comparison with other hypernovae

The multi-band light curves of SN 2002ap are narrower than those of the well-studied Type Ic hypernovae, SNe 1998bw and 1997ef. This is shown in Figure 4, where the bolometric light curve of SN 1998bw (Patat et al. 2001), shifted down by 1.85 mag for the sake of comparison, and that of SN 1997ef (Mazzali et al. 2000), are plotted as open circles and filled stars, respectively. The light curve of SN 2002ap declines more rapidly after peak, indicating that the trapping of $`\gamma `$-rays released in the 56Ni$``$56Co$``$56Fe decays is less efficient in SN 2002ap, and that the radiation generated by trapped $`\gamma `$-rays can escape more easily. This suggests that the ejecta of SN 2002ap are less massive.

Figure 4 also shows that SN 2002ap was about 1.8 mag fainter than SN 1998bw at peak, and about as bright as SN 1997ef. The brightness of the bolometric peak, $`16.9`$ mag, and its epoch, $``$ day 11, are similar to those of SN 1994I (Nomoto et al. 1994). This indicates that a similar amount of 56Ni, $`0.07M_{}`$, was produced by the two SNe, as suggested by theoretical models (Mazzali et al. 2002). SN 2002ap is not as powerful an explosion as SN 1998bw, which ejected $`0.40.7M_{}`$ of 56Ni (Nakamura et al. 2001), but rather more similar to SN 1997ef, which ejected $`0.1M_{}`$.

Figure 5 shows a comparison of the colors of SN 2002ap with those of SN 1997ef. In the figure, the time axes of SNe 1998bw and 1997ef are compressed by a factor of 1.5, which clearly shows that SN 2002ap evolves about 1.5 times faster than SNe 1998bw and 1997ef in terms of colors. This is in agreement with the finding by Kinugasa et al. (2002) that the evolution of the spectra of SN 2002ap proceeds at about 1.5 times the rate of SN 1997ef, which again suggests that SN 2002ap ejected less material than SNe 1998bw and 1997ef.

### 4.2 NIR light curves

Our NIR photometry is the most intensive for any Type Ic SN.

In Figure 6 we compare the absolute $`JHK(K^{})`$ light curves of SN 2002ap with those of the other four Type Ic SNe with published NIR photometry. These are SNe 1983I (Elias et al. 1985), 1983V (Clocchiatti et al. 1997), 1994I (Rudy et al. 1994; Grossan et al. 1999) and 1998bw (Patat et al. 2001). Among these, the hypernova SN 1998bw stands out for being about 1.5 magnitudes brighter. The $`J`$-band light curve of SN 1983V is significantly broader than that of SN 2002ap, consistent with its designation as a ”slow” Type Ic in the optical (Clocchiatti et al. 1997). For the otherwise well-observed SN 1994I, there is only one data point in each of $`J`$ and $`H`$, and two in $`K^{}`$. These show that the NIR light curves of SN 1994I were probably much narrower than those of SN 2002ap. The data of SN 1983I seem to connect smoothly with those of SN 2002ap before day 50 and after day 130, but this may be the result of our arbitrarily assigning the epochs.

Better understanding of the $`JHK`$ photometry of Type Ic SNe and hypernovae requires theoretical modelling in the NIR, which is beyond the scope of this paper.

### 4.3 Comments on theoretical models

Based on spectrum synthesis, Mazzali et al. (2002) have proposed as a viable model for SN 2002ap the energetic spherical explosion of a C+O star, ejecting $`2.55M_{}`$ of material with a kinetic energy of $`410\times 10^{51}\mathrm{ergs}`$. Their favorite model is one with $`M_{\mathrm{ej}}=2.5\mathrm{M}_{}`$ and $`E_\mathrm{K}=4\times 10^{51}\mathrm{ergs}`$. This is the explosion of a $`5M_{}`$ C+O star, leaving a compact remnant of mass $`M_{\mathrm{rem}}=2.5\mathrm{M}_{}`$, possibly a black hole. Such a C+O star is formed in a He core of mass $`M_\alpha =7.0M_{}`$, corresponding to a main-sequence mass $`M_{\mathrm{ms}}2025M_{}`$. The light curve obtained from this model, which is shown in Figure 4 as a solid line, fits the bolometric light curve very well before day 50. 333The model light curve in the first day shown in Figure 4 of Mazzali et al. (2002) is in disagreement with the early unfiltered photometry. That was caused by a numerical error and has been corrected.

However, the model light curve deviates from the observations at later phases, lying 0.7 mag above the bolometric point in June. This suggests that the $`\gamma `$-ray optical depth at later phases may be underestimated by the Mazzali et al. (2002) model. A similar problem occurred in the case of SN 1998bw, where the models that best reproduce the observed light curve near the peak underestimate its brightness around day 150 (Nakamura et al. 2001) by $`1`$ mag. Maeda et al. (2003) recently proposed a general parameterized two-component ejecta model and successfully reproduced the light curves of SNe 1998bw and 2002ap at both peak and later phases. They suggested that the denser inner component introduced to increase the $`\gamma `$-ray optical depth at later phases is the natural outcome of jet-driven hypernovae explosions (Maeda et al. 2002).

Höflich, Wheeler & Wang (1999) introduced aspherical but low-energy and low-mass ejecta to reproduce the light curve of SN 1998bw. In fact, it is not difficult to find low-energy solutions, aspherical or spherical, for hypernova light curves by decreasing the mass of the ejecta, (e.g. Iwamoto et al. 1998). However, we must emphasize that it is the unusually broad spectral features that make hypernovae distinct from normal SNe, and that these strongly require high kinetic energies in both spherical models (Iwamoto et al 1998) and aspherical ones (Maeda et al. 2002). It is unclear whether the low-energy model of Höflich et al. (1999) can reproduce the broad lines in SN 1998bw. Wang et al. (2002) also warned that very broad line features might have been observed in the spectra of other Type Ib/Ic SNe, so far classified as normal, if they had been observed at a time as early as SN 2002ap. Obviously, future early observations are necessary to verify this speculation.

As for SN 2002ap, Wang et al. (2002) interpreted the weak polarization in SN 2002ap as due to an asymmetry ($`10`$%) in the ejecta. Spectropolarimetry was also obtained by Kawabata et al. (2002) and Leonard et al. (2002) at somewhat later epochs. Their estimate of the degree of asymmetry is similar, and they discovered an intriguingly fast evolution of the polarization angle. Our estimate of the kinetic energy of SN 2002ap may change if asymmetry is introduced. In the case of SN 1998bw, concentrating the kinetic energy along the line of sight led Maeda et al. (2002) to reduce its value to $`10\times 10^{51}\mathrm{ergs}`$. However, Wang et al. (2002) suggested that SN 2002ap is likely viewed near the equatorial plane, unlike SN 1998bw. In the aspherical models of Maeda et al. (2002), this would actually lead to a larger, not a smaller kinetic energy. In any case, we do not expect that the degree of asphericity, about 10%-20%, will significantly affect the global values derived in spherical symmetry.

Berger, Kulkarni & Chevalier (2002) claimed that the Mazzali et al. (2002) model places some $`10^{48}`$ ergs kinetic energy at $`v>10^5`$ km s-1, which is too large, considering the weak radio emission observed. We note, however, that Mazzali et al. (2002) constructed their model by fitting the optical observations and hence the density structure they used only extended up to 60,000km s-1. It is therefore not justified to extrapolate it to above $`v>10^5`$ km s-1, where the material has too low a density to make an observable contribution to the optical spectra and light curves, except for polarimetry (Kawabata et al. 2002).

This work has been supported partly by the Grand-in-Aid of Scientific Research (10041110, 10304014, 12640233, 14047206, 14253001, 14540223) and COE Research (07CE2002) of the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports of Japan. J.D. is supported by a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellowship for Foreign Researchers. Y.Y. is very grateful to Lena Okajima for preparing the manuscript.


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# Space-time decay of Navier–Stokes flows invariant under rotations

## 1 Introduction and main results

This paper is devoted to the study of the asymptotic behavior of viscous flows of incompressible fluids filling the whole space $`^d`$ ($`d2`$) and not submitted to the action of external forces. These flows are governed by the Navier–Stokes equations, which we may write in the following form

$$\{\begin{array}{c}_tu\mathrm{\Delta }u+(uu)=0\hfill \\ u(x,0)=a(x)\hfill \\ u=0.\hfill \end{array}$$
(NS)
Here $`u(,t):^d^d`$ $`(d2)`$ denotes the velocity field and $``$ is the Leray–Hopf projector onto the soleinodal vectors field, defined by $`f=f\mathrm{\Delta }^1(f)`$, with $`f=(f_1,\mathrm{},f_d)`$.

It is now well known (see e.g. , , , ) that generic solutions $`u`$ to (NS) decay at infinity at considerably slow rates in space-time. Indeed, even if the data have the form $`a(x)=ϵ\varphi (x)`$, where $`ϵ>0`$ is a small constant, the components of $`\varphi `$ belong to the Schwartz class and have vanishing moments, then the corresponding strong solution $`u`$ to (NS) satisfies $`|u(x,t)|C(1+|x|)^{(d+1)}`$ and $`|u(x,t)|C(1+t)^{(d+1)/2}`$ for all $`x^d`$ and $`t>0`$; but such decay rates, in general, are optimal (we refer to ,  ,  for a proof of these bounds under different assumptions). Furthermore, very few examples of solutions which decay faster are known so far: we should mention here the classical example of a two dimensional flow with radial vorticity (, , see also ) and the examples of flows in $`^d`$ ($`d2`$) constructed in ,  imposing some special symmetries on the initial data.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic study of the connection between symmetry and space-time decay of viscous flows in dimension two and three. Our starting point is the observation that the Navier–Stokes equations are invariant under the transformations of the orthogonal group $`O(d)`$: if $`u(x,t)`$ is a solution to the Navier–Stokes equations in $`^d`$, and $`PO(d)`$ is an orthogonal matrix, then $`\stackrel{~}{u}(x,t)=P^Tu(Px,t)`$ is a Navier–Stokes flow as well (here, $`P^T`$ is the transposed matrix). Roughly, it follows that if the initial data commute with $`PO(d)`$, then the velocity field will satisfy

$$Pu(x,t)=u(Px,t),$$
(1)
whenever the solution to (NS) is defined (even if only in a weak sense).

If $`G`$ is any subgroup of $`O(d)`$, then a natural problem is that of computing the space-time decay rates of solutions that are invariant under all the transformations of $`G`$. In this paper we will consider only discrete subgroups of the orthogonal group, the reason being the following: in the two dimensional case, solutions that are invariant under the continuous subgroup $`SO(2)`$ do exist, but boil down to flows with radial vorticity. These flows are “trivial” in the sense that the non-linear term $`(uu)`$ in (NS) identically vanishes. On the other hand, in the three dimensional case, one easily sees via the Fourier transform that flows $`u(x,t)0`$ which are invariant under the whole group $`SO(3)`$ do not exist.

As an immediate consequence of our results in the $`d=2`$ case we will prove in section 3 the following theorem.

###### Theorem 1.1

Let $`a(x)`$ be a soleinoidal vector field in $`𝒮(^2)`$ (the Schwartz class). If $`a`$ is invariant under the cyclic group $`C_n`$ of order $`n`$, then the global strong solution $`u(x,t)`$ such that $`u(0)=a`$ satisfies $`u(x,t)=O(|x|^{(n+1)})`$ for all $`t0`$. If, in addition, $`a`$ is invariant under the dihedral group $`D_n`$ of order $`2n`$, then this decay is uniform in time and, moreover, $`u(t)_pC(1+t)^{(n+1)/2+1/p}`$ (with $`2<p\mathrm{}`$).

As we shall see later on, the flows obtained in Theorem 1.1 do not have radial vorticity and hence they do not boil down to “trivial solutions” (or to solutions of the homogeneous heat equation $`_tu=\mathrm{\Delta }u`$). At best of our knowledge, no other examples of highly localized flows in $`^2`$ were known so far.

In the three dimensional case, the problem of the existence of (trivial or non-trivial) rapidly decreasing solutions $`u=(u_1,u_2,u_3)0`$ as $`|x|\mathrm{}`$ to Navier–Stokes equations was raised in  and it is still open.

However, non-trivial and localized divergence-free vector fields in $`^3`$ $`a(x)`$, which are invariant under discrete subgroups of $`O(3)`$ can be easily constructed, and we may expect that such fields should lead to solutions with fast decay at infinity. If $`G`$ is one of these subgroups, then we know that $`G`$ is either

* a subgroup of the complete symmetry group of a regular polyhedron, or
* a subgroup of the complete symmetry group of a prism (and hence isomorphic to a cyclic or a dihedral group).

As we will see in section 5, solutions which are invariant under the complete symmetry group of a prism (which is not a cube) in general do not decay faster than $`|x|^4`$ (the same remark applies for continuous subgroups of $`SO(3)`$ such as the complete direct symmetry group of the cylinder). On the other hand, flows with polyhedral symmetry decay much faster. As a byproduct of our constructions, we shall be able to provide examples of solutions $`u(x,t)`$ decaying at infinity as $`|x|^8`$ and $`t^4`$, thus improving the results of ,  and . The most interesting cases are described in the theorem below (see section 4 for the exaustive study of the asymptotic behavior of all the other finite groups of isometries in $`^3`$).

Let us denote by $`L_\gamma ^{\mathrm{}}(^d)`$ $`(\gamma 0)`$ the space of all measurable functions (or vector fields) $`f`$, defined on $`^d`$, and such that $`(1+|x|)^\gamma |f(x)|L^{\mathrm{}}(^d)`$. For any positive $`T`$, $`0<T\mathrm{}`$, we denote by $`C([0,T],L_\gamma ^{\mathrm{}}(^d))`$ the space of continuous and bounded $`L_\gamma ^{\mathrm{}}(^d)`$-valued functions, the continuity at $`t=0`$ being understood in the distibutional sense. Then we have the following:

###### Theorem 1.2

Let $`a=(a_1,a_2,a_3)`$ a divergence-free and rapidly decreasing vector field in $`^3`$: $`(1+|x|)^kaL^{\mathrm{}}(^3)`$, for all $`k=0,1,\mathrm{}`$. Then we know (, ) that there exists $`T`$ $`(0<T\mathrm{})`$ and a unique strong solution $`u`$ to the Navier-Stokes equations in $`^3`$, such that $`u(0)=a`$ and $`uC([0,T],L_4^{\mathrm{}}(^3))`$.

1. If $`a(x)`$ is invariant under the complete symmetry group of the tetrahedron, then $`uC([0,T],L_5^{\mathrm{}}(^3))`$.
2. If $`a(x)`$ is invariant under the complete symmetry group of the cube (or of the octahedron), then $`uC([0,T],L_6^{\mathrm{}}(^3))`$.
3. If $`a(x)`$ is invariant under the complete symmetry group of the dodecahedron (or of the icosahedron), then $`uC([0,T],L_8^{\mathrm{}}(^3))`$.

Furthermore, if we know that $`u(x,t)`$ is global ($`T=\mathrm{}`$), then $`u(t)_p`$ decays, respectively, at least as fast as $`t^{5/2+3/(2p)}`$, $`t^{3+3/(2p)}`$ and $`t^{4+3/(2p)}`$ as $`t\mathrm{}`$ $`(\frac{3}{2}<p\mathrm{})`$.

###### Remark 1.3

The result of Theorem 1.2 is sharp. Optimality of the above space decay rates should be understood in the following sense: if $`G`$ is one of the previous three groups and $`\gamma =5`$, $`6`$ or $`8`$ (respectively), then there exists a solution $`u(x,t)`$ to (NS) which is invariant under $`G`$ and localized at $`t=0`$, but which does not decay faster than $`|x|^\gamma `$, uniformely in any time interval $`[0,ϵ]`$ $`(ϵ>0)`$. For each group $`G`$ we shall provide examples of such flows.

We shall see in section 4 that, because of the symmetries imposed on the initial data, the velocity field has vanishing moments $`x^\alpha u(x,t)𝑑x`$ up the the order $`1`$, $`2`$ and $`4`$, for all $`t[0,T]`$, respectively in the case 1, 2 and 3 of Theorem 1.1. In particular, the fact that $`a(x)`$ has these cancelations allows us to see that the estimates in space-time obtained for $`u(x,t)`$ hold true also for the linear evolution $`e^{t\mathrm{\Delta }}a(x)`$ (here $`e^{t\mathrm{\Delta }}`$ denotes the heat semigroup).

Let us point out that the existence of a global strong solution is usually ensured by some smallness assumption on the initial data: a common suitable assumption is e.g. that $`a_3`$ is small enough (see ). However, for the flows treated in Theorem 1.2, the three equations contained in the first of (NS) reduce to a simpler single scalar equation on the first component $`u_1(x,t)`$. Thus, it would be an interesting problem to study the global solvability of those “symmetric” solutions in the case of “large” initial data.

There is an extensive literature on the asymptotic behavior of the Navier–Stokes equations (see e.g. , , , , ,  and the references therein contained), but not so much has been written on symmetry of viscous flows. See, however, ,  for applications of symmetries to the numerical simulation of turbulence and ,  for the construction of ansatzes to (NS). The connection between symmetry and space-time decay have been first noticed in  and subsequentely studied in , . The symmetries which are considered in these papers are only those corresponding to a subgroup of the group of the symmetries of the cube. Hence, the main results of , ,  are contained in the present paper as a particular case.

It is worth observing that recently Th. Gallay and C. E. Wayne were able to prove the existence of flows with a fixed, but arbitrarily large, time decay rate (see  and , respectively for $`d=2,3`$). Indeed, using the vorticity formulation of the Navier–Stokes equations, they showed in  and  that the class of solutions which decay faster than a given rate as $`t\mathrm{}`$ lies on an invariant manifold of finite codimension, in a suitable functional space. Their method, which is a combination of the spectral decomposition of the Fokker–Planck operator and the theory of dynamical systems, would be effective in any space dimension. However, this approach yields no explicit examples of initial data leading to such solutions with fast decay.

The rest of this paper is organized as follows. In section 2 we briefly recall the vorticity formulation of (NS) and a general result of the author on the space decay of solutions to the Navier–Stokes equations that we will use throughout this paper. As an application of this result to the two-dimensional case, in section 3 we will prove Theorem 1.1 in a slightly more general form. In section 4 we start recalling the complete list of the discrete subgroups of $`O(3)`$ and we subsequentely compute the space decay rates of flows invariant under the action of all these groups. There we will also discuss the closely related problem of the cancellations of the vorticity of such flows. In section 5 we will show by means of some examples the optimality of the decay rates that we obtain.

## 2 Decay of the velocity field and the vorticity

Throughout this paper we shall assume that the initial datum $`a`$ is a rapidly decreasing function in $`^d`$ $`(d2)`$. This requirement is not essential (the optimal assumptions should be expressed in terms of Besov and weak-Hardy spaces, as in ,  and ) but it considerably simplifies the presentations of our main results. Then we know that a necessary condition on the data, in order to avoid that the velocity field instantaneously “spreads out”, is that the components of $`a`$ are orthogonal with respect to the $`L^2`$ inner product (see ):

$$(a_ha_k)(x)dx=c\delta _{h,k},(h,k=1,\mathrm{},d)$$
(2)
($`\delta _{h,k}=1`$ if $`h=k`$ and $`\delta _{h,k}=0`$ if $`hk`$). More in general, using the Fourier transform it is not difficult to see that if we want that the solution $`u(t)`$ remains rapidly decreasing as $`|x|\mathrm{}`$, at least in a small time interval $`[0,T]`$ $`(T>0)`$, then for all $`m=0,1,\mathrm{}`$ the homogeneous polynomial $`P_m(a)`$, defined by

$$P_m(a)(\xi )\underset{h,k=1}{\overset{d}{}}\underset{|\alpha |=m}{}\left(\frac{1}{\alpha !}x^\alpha (a_ha_k)(x)𝑑x\right)\xi ^\alpha \xi _h\xi _k,$$
(3)
(here $`\xi =(\xi _1,\mathrm{},\xi _d)^d`$ and we adopted the usual notations for the multi-index $`\alpha =(\alpha _1,\mathrm{},\alpha _d)^d`$) must be divisible by $`\xi _1^2+\mathrm{}+\xi _d^2`$.

Conversely, if we assume that this last condition is satisfied at the beginning of the evolution and that it remains true during a time interval $`[0,T]`$, then the corresponding strong solution will be rapidly decreasing as $`|x|\mathrm{}`$ for all $`t`$ in such interval. More precisely, let us recall the following result of , which will be our main tool for our study of the spatial localization.

###### Proposition 2.1

Let $`M`$ be a fixed non-negative integer and $`a(x)`$ a divergence-free and rapidly decreasing vector field in $`^d`$. Let also $`u(x,t)`$ be the unique strong solution to (NS), defined in some time interval $`[0,T]`$ $`(0<T\mathrm{})`$ such that $`u(0)=a`$ and $`uC([0,T],L_{d+1}^{\mathrm{}}(^d))`$.

If the polynomials $`P_m(u(t))(\xi )`$, defined as in (3), are divisible by $`\xi _1^2+\mathrm{}+\xi _d^2`$ for all $`t[0,T]`$ and $`m=0,1,\mathrm{},M`$, then the spatial decay of $`u`$ is improved by $`uC([0,T^{}],L_{d+2+M}^{\mathrm{}}(^d))`$, for any $`T^{}^+`$ $`(0T^{}T)`$. Furthermore, if $`T=+\mathrm{}`$ and the moments of $`a`$ vanish up to the order $`1+M`$, then

$$uC([0,+\mathrm{}[,L_{d+2+M}^{\mathrm{}}(^d)),$$
(4)
The assumpion on the moments of $`a`$ ensures that, if the solution is globally defined, then the norm $`u(t)_{L_{d+2+M}^{\mathrm{}}}sup_x(1+|x|)^{d+2+M}|u(x,t)|`$ does not blow up as $`t\mathrm{}`$. Condition (4) does not ensures that the solution decay fast as $`t\mathrm{}`$. It can be shown, however, that if the moments of $`a`$ vanish up to the order $`1+M`$ and if the following identities hold true:

$`{\displaystyle \underset{h,k=1}{\overset{d}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{|\alpha |=m}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\alpha !}}{\displaystyle x^\alpha (u_hu_k)(x,t)𝑑x}\right)\xi ^\alpha \xi _j\xi _h\xi _k`$
$`{\displaystyle \underset{h=1}{\overset{d}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{|\alpha |=m}{}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\alpha !}}{\displaystyle x^\alpha (u_hu_j)(x,t)𝑑x}\right)\xi ^\alpha \xi _h(\xi _1^2+\mathrm{}+\xi _d^2),(j=1,\mathrm{},d)`$
for all $`\xi ^d`$, $`t0`$ and $`m=0,1,\mathrm{},M`$, then

$$\underset{x^d,t0}{sup}(1+|x|)^\gamma (1+t)^{(d+2+M\gamma )/2}|u(x,t)|<\mathrm{}(0\gamma d+2+M).$$
(6)
We refer to  for a proof of this claim and examples of flows satisfying (2) for $`m=0,1`$. See also , ,  for related results. Condition (2), however, is difficult to check for large $`m`$. To construct examples of flows with fast decay in space-time we shall rather make use of the vorticity formulation of the Navier–Stokes equations. This allows us to give a much more natural sufficient condition which ensures (6).

From now on we shall work only in two or three space dimension. We recall that the vorticity is defined by

$$\omega =_1u_2_2u_1\text{(}d=2\text{)}$$

or,

$$\mathrm{\Omega }=\times u=(_2u_3_3u_2,_3u_1_1u_3,_1u_2_2u_1)(d=3).$$

Note that the vorticity is a scalar function when $`d=2`$ and a soleinoidal vector field if $`d=3`$. Then the vorticity verifies the integro-differential equations

$$_t\omega +(u)\omega =\mathrm{\Delta }\omega (d=2)$$
(7)
or,

$$_t\mathrm{\Omega }+(u)\mathrm{\Omega }(\mathrm{\Omega })u=\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Omega },\mathrm{\Omega }=0(d=3).$$
(8)
Here, the velocity field $`u`$ has to be expressed in terms of its vorticity via the Biot–Savart laws:

$`u(x,t)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{2\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{(xy)^{}}{|xy|^2}\omega (y,t)𝑑y},(d=2),`$ (9)
$`u(x,t)={\displaystyle \frac{1}{4\pi }}{\displaystyle \frac{xy}{|xy|^3}\times \mathrm{\Omega }(y,t)𝑑y}(d=3),`$ (10)
where we denoted $`(x_1,x_2)^{}=(x_2,x_1)`$ in (9).

We collect in the following proposition several known facts on the vorticity equation:

###### Proposition 2.2

1. Let $`n`$ be a positive integer, $`\omega _0`$ a rapidly decreasing function in $`^2`$ with vanishing moments up to the order $`n1`$ and $`\omega (x,t)`$ the unique global strong solution of (7)-(9), such that $`\omega (0)=\omega _0`$. If we know that the moments of $`\omega (t)`$ vanish up to the order $`n1`$, for all $`t0`$, then we have

$$\underset{x,t}{sup}(1+|x|)^\gamma (1+t)^{(2+n\gamma )/2}|\omega (x,t)|<\mathrm{}$$
(11)
for all $`\gamma 0`$ and

$$\omega (t)_pC(1+t)^{(2+n)/2+1/p}(1p\mathrm{}).$$
(12)
2. Let $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ be a rapidly decreasing and divergence-free vector field in $`^3`$, with vanishing moments up to the order $`n1`$. If $`sup_x|x|^2|\mathrm{\Omega }_0(x)|`$ is small, then there exists a unique strong solution $`\mathrm{\Omega }(x,t)`$ of (8)-(10), such that $`\mathrm{\Omega }(0)=\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }C([0,\mathrm{}[,L_2^{\mathrm{}}(^3))`$. If we know that the moments of $`\mathrm{\Omega }(t)`$ vanish up to the order $`n1`$, for all $`t0`$, then we have

$$\underset{x,t}{sup}(1+|x|)^\gamma (1+t)^{(3+n\gamma )/2}|\mathrm{\Omega }(x,t)|<\mathrm{}$$
(13)
for all $`\gamma 0`$ and

$$\mathrm{\Omega }(t)_pC(1+t)^{(3+n)/2+3/(2p)}(1p\mathrm{}).$$
(14)

###### Remark 2.3

We refer to  and  for the study of the well-posedness of the Cauchy problem for equations (7) and (8). In particular, it is well known that (7)-(9) can be uniquely solved e.g. in $`C([0,\mathrm{}),L^1(^2))C(]0,\mathrm{}),L^{\mathrm{}}(^2))`$. In the three dimensional case (and in the case of small initial data), the fact that (7)-(9) can be uniquely solved in $`C([0,\mathrm{}[,L_2^{\mathrm{}}(^3))`$ is easily seen, see .

Note that the decay profiles of $`\omega `$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ are the same which can be obtained for the solutions of the homogeneous heat equations $`e^{t\mathrm{\Delta }}\omega _0(x)`$ and $`e^{t\mathrm{\Delta }}\mathrm{\Omega }_0(x)`$, respectively. We refer to  for a proof of (13) (the proof of (11) is identical). The decay of the vorticity in the $`L^p`$-norm are formally a consequence of (11) and (13), respectively if $`d=2`$ or $`3`$. Estimates (12) and (14), however, can be proved with straightforward adaptations of the arguments of -, or - (see also ).

We would like to stress the fact that, since the moments of the vorticity are not invariant during the time evolution (excepted for the integral and the first order moments), profiles (11) and (13) will hold true only for $`n=0,1,2`$ even if the vorticity has many cancelations at time $`t=0`$. This reflects the fact that, in general, the velocity field does not decay faster than $`|x|^{(d+1)}`$. We will show, however, that for the special flows described in Theorem 1.1 and Theorem 1.2 the vorticity has a large number of vanishing moments for all time (in particular, we shall be able to prove that the assumptions of the second part of Proposition 2.2 are non-vacuous for $`n=0,\mathrm{},6`$).

We will finish this section stating another simple result which allows us to deduce time decay estimates for the velocity field from (11)-(13).

###### Lemma 2.4

Let $`\omega (x,t)`$ ($`d=2`$), or $`\mathrm{\Omega }(x,t)`$ $`(d=3)`$, as in Proposition 2.2, and let $`u(x,t)`$ be the corresponding velocity field obtained via the Biot–Savart law (9) (resp. (10)). Then we have,

$$u(t)_pC(1+t)^{(n+1)/2+1/p},2<p\mathrm{}(d=2),$$
(15)
or

$$u(t)_pC(1+t)^{(n+2)/2+3/(2p)},3/2<p\mathrm{}(d=3)$$
(16)
and the spatial moments of $`u(x,t)`$ exist and vanish up to the order $`n2`$.

Proof. Note that the Biot–Savart kernels $`x^{}/|x|^2`$ $`(d=2)`$ and $`x/|x|^3`$ $`(d=3)`$ belong respectively to the the weak-Lebesgue spaces $`L^{2,\mathrm{}}(^2)`$ and $`L^{3/2,\mathrm{}}(^3)`$. Bounds (15) and (16) then immediately follow from the Biot–Savart laws (9) and (10), the corresponding bounds for the vorticity and elementary results on convolution and interpolation of Lorentz spaces (see ). The condition on the moments of $`u`$ is easily seen via the Fourier transform and the Taylor formula (see e.g.  and  for this type of calculation). $``$

## 3 Space-time decay of two-dimensional flows

Let us recall that all finite subgroups of the orthogonal group $`O(2)`$, are of two types: cyclic groups (which are indeed subgroups of the special orthogonal group $`SO(2)`$ of proper rotations), and dihedral groups. We shall denote by $`C_n`$ the cyclic group of order $`n`$ and by $`D_n`$ the dihedral group of order $`2n`$. This group contains $`C_n`$ and its presentation is given by two generators $`R`$ and $`\tau `$, together with the relations $`R^n=\mathrm{𝟏}`$, $`\tau ^2=\mathrm{𝟏}`$ and $`\tau R=R^1\tau `$ ($`R`$ corresponds to a rotation of $`2\pi /n`$ around the origin and $`\tau `$ to a reflection with respect to a straght line passing through the origin).

Divergence-free vector fields, which are rapidly decreasing as $`|x|\mathrm{}`$ and which are left invariant under the actions of $`C_n`$ or $`D_n`$ are easily constructed by means of the vorticity. Indeed, in general, if $`PO(2)`$, $`u(Px)=Pu(x)`$ for all $`x^2`$ and $`\omega =_1u_2_2u_1`$, then $`\omega (x)=det(P)\omega (Px)`$ (in the distributional sense). Conversely, if $`\omega (x)=det(P)\omega (Px)`$ for all $`x`$ and $`u`$ is given by the Biot–Savart law, then $`u(Px)=Pu(x)`$, whenever the singuar integral (9) makes sense.

Assume now that the initial datum $`a=u(0)`$ is rapidly decreasing as $`|x|\mathrm{}`$ and that it is invariant under the cyclic group of order $`n`$ $`(n3)`$. Since we know that strong solutions of the two dimensional Navier–Stokes equations are globally defined, we have $`u(Rx,t)=Ru(x,t)`$, for all $`x^2`$ and $`t0`$. We now apply to $`u`$ Proposition 2.1: let us show that the polynomial

$$P_m(u)(\xi )\underset{h,k=1}{\overset{2}{}}\underset{|\alpha |=m}{}\left(\frac{1}{\alpha !}x^\alpha (u_hu_k)(x,t)𝑑x\right)\xi ^\alpha \xi _h\xi _k,$$
(17)
is divisible by $`\xi _1^2+\xi _2^2`$, for all $`t0`$ and the first values of $`m`$.

But this is easily checked, since $`P_m(u)(\xi )=P_m(u)(R\xi )`$ for all $`\xi ^2`$. Passing to polar cordinates, we write $`P_m(u)(\xi _1,\xi _2)\stackrel{~}{P}_m(\rho ,\theta )`$, with $`\xi _1=\rho \mathrm{cos}\theta `$ and $`\xi _2=\rho \mathrm{sin}\theta `$ and observe that for each fixed $`\rho >0`$, the trigonometric polynomial $`\stackrel{~}{P}_m(\rho ,\theta )`$ has degree smaller or equal than $`m+2`$ and period $`2\pi /n`$. If $`mn3`$, it follows that $`\stackrel{~}{P}_m(\rho ,\theta )\stackrel{~}{P}_m(\rho ,0)`$ for all $`\theta `$, i.e. $`P_m(u)(\xi )`$ is radial. This implies that $`P_m(u)(\xi )`$ identically vanishes for odd $`m`$ and, for even $`m`$, that $`P_m(u)(\xi )`$ has the form $`c_m(t)(\xi _1^2+\xi _2^2)^{m/2}`$ for some constant $`c_m(t)`$: in any case, $`P_m(u)(\xi )`$ is divisible by $`\xi _1^2+\xi _2^2`$ for $`m=0,\mathrm{},n3`$.

If $`n3`$, then Proposition 2.1 applies with $`M=n3`$ and we deduce that, for all $`T0`$, $`uC([0,T],L_{n+1}^{\mathrm{}}(^2))`$.

Solutions that are invariant just under the group $`C_n`$, in general, decay slowly as $`t\mathrm{}`$. To obtain solutions with large decay rates in space-time we will put more symmetries on the data and make use of the vorticity formulation. Assume now that the flow is invariant under the dihedral group $`D_n`$ at the beginning of the evolution: $`a(Rx)=Ra(x)`$, $`a(\tau x)=\tau a(x)`$, and that $`\omega _0=_1a_2_2a_1`$ is rapidly decreasing as $`|x|\mathrm{}`$. If $`\omega (x,t)`$ is the unique solution to the two-dimensional vorticity equation starting from $`\omega _0`$, then $`\omega (x,t)=\omega (Rx,t)=\omega (\tau x,t)`$, for all $`x^2`$ and $`t0`$ and, by Proposition 2.2, $`\omega (x,t)`$ is rapidly decreasing as $`|x|\mathrm{}`$ for all fixed $`t0`$. It now remains to compute the number of vanishing moments of $`\omega (x,t)`$:

###### Lemma 3.1

If $`\omega (x,t)`$ is as above, then the moments $`x^\alpha \omega (x,t)𝑑x`$ vanish for all $`t0`$, and all double-index $`\alpha =(\alpha _1,\alpha _2)`$ such that $`|\alpha |=\alpha _1+\alpha _2n1`$

Proof. Taking the Fourier transform in the space variables, we see that $`\widehat{\omega }(\xi ,t)C^{\mathrm{}}(^2)`$ for all $`t0`$ and $`\widehat{\omega }(\xi ,t)=\widehat{\omega }(R\xi ,t)`$, $`\widehat{\omega }(\xi ,t)=\widehat{\omega }(\tau \xi ,t)`$. In particular, $`\widehat{\omega }(\xi ,t)`$ identically vanishes on $`n`$ different straight lines passing through $`\xi =0`$. The Taylor formula then implies that $`_\xi ^\alpha \widehat{\omega }(0,t)=0`$ for all $`\alpha `$ such that $`|\alpha |n1`$ and Lemma 3.1 follows. $``$

We can summarize the results of this section in the following theorem, which sharpen the conclusion of Theorem 1.1.

###### Theorem 3.2

Let $`a=(a_1,a_2)`$ be a rapidly decreasing and divercence-free vector field in $`^2`$. If $`a`$ is invariant under the cyclic group $`C_n`$ (n=3,4…) then the strong solution $`u(x,t)`$ to (NS) such that $`u(0)=a`$ satisfies $`u(x,t)=O(|x|^{(n+1)})`$ as $`|x|\mathrm{}`$ for all $`t0`$.

If, in addition, $`a`$ is invariant under the dihedral group $`D_n`$ and $`\omega _0=_1a_2_2a_1`$ is also rapidly decreasing in $`^2`$, then the moments of the vorticity $`\omega (x,t)`$ of the flow vanish up to the order $`n1`$ for all $`t0`$, $`sup_{t0}|u(x,t)|C(1+|x|)^{(n+1)}`$ and (11)-(12) and (15) hold true.

###### Remark 3.3

In the case $`n=4`$, the symmetries described in the second part of Theorem 3.2, are the same as those studied in : indeed the fact that the flow is invariant under the dihedral group $`D_4`$, can be written as follows: $`u_1(x_1,x_2,t)=u_1(x_1,x_2,t)`$, $`u_1(x_1,x_2,t)=u_1(x_1,x_2,t)`$ and $`u_1(x_1,x_2,t)=u_2(x_2,x_1,t)`$, which are exactly the conditions of  in the two dimensional case.

## 4 The three dimensional case

We now study the class of flows which are invariant under finite subgroups of the group of all the isometries of the space. We shall identify two of such groups $`G`$ and $`G^{}`$ if they are conjugate in $`O(3)`$ (i.e. $`GG^{}`$ if there exists an orthogonal matrix $`T`$ such that $`G^{}=TGT^1`$). Note that two flows that that are invariant under groups which are isomorphic, but not conjugate, may behave quite differently and this is why will not identify groups which are simply isomorphic in what follows.

### 4.1 Finite subgroups of $`O(3)`$

#### Finite groups of proper rotations

The material of this section is very classical, but we present it to fix some notations. We start recalling the well known classification of all finite subgroups of the special orthogonal group $`SO(3)`$. We closely follows the presentation given in . If $`𝒮`$ is any subset of $`^3`$, the group $`G(𝒮)`$ of all $`PSO(3)`$ such that $`P`$ leaves $`𝒮`$ globally invariant is called the complete direct symmetry group of $`𝒮`$. For different choices of $`𝒮`$ we obtain in this way only five different types of groups that are listed below: For each group we shall indicate a set of matrices generating $`G(𝒮)`$ since we will need these generators in our subsequent calculations.

1. If $`𝒮`$ is a $`n`$-pyramid, $`n=1,2,\mathrm{}`$ (i.e. a right piramid with base a $`n`$-sided regular polygon such that the distance from the vertex of the pyramid to a vertex of the base is not equal to one side of the polygon, with an obvious modification if $`n=1,2`$), then $`G(𝒮)`$ is the cyclic group $`C_n`$ of order $`n`$. A generator of this group is e.g.

$$R_n=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{cos}(2\pi /n)& \mathrm{sin}(2\pi /n)& 0\\ \mathrm{sin}(2\pi /n)& \mathrm{cos}(2\pi /n)& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right).$$
(18)
2. If $`𝒮`$ is a $`n`$-prism, $`n=2,3,\mathrm{}`$ (i.e. a right cylinder with base a $`n`$-sided regular polygon and height not equal to one side of the polygon, modification if $`n=2`$), then $`G(𝒮)`$ is the dihedral group $`D_n`$ of order $`2n`$. This group is generated by $`R_n`$ and by

$$U=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right).$$
(19)
3. If $`𝒮`$ is a tetrahedron, then $`G(𝒮)=𝐓`$ (the tetrahedral group). This group has order $`12`$, is isomophic to the alterning group $`A_4`$ and it is generated by a rotation by $`2\pi /3`$ around an axis passing through a vertex and the center of $`𝒮`$ and by a rotation by $`\pi `$ around an axis passing through the midpoints of two opposite edges. If $`(1,1,1)`$, $`(1,1,1)`$, $`(1,1,1)`$ and $`(1,1,1)`$ are the vertices of $`𝒮`$, then we see that two generators of $`𝐓`$ are $`U`$ and

$$S=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}0& 0& 1\\ 1& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\end{array}\right).$$
(20)
4. If $`𝒮`$ is a cube (or an octahedron) then $`G(𝒮)=𝐎`$ (the octahedral group). This group has order $`24`$ and is isomorphic to the symmetric group $`S_4`$. If $`(ϵ_1,ϵ_2,ϵ_3)`$, ($`ϵ_j=1`$ or $`1`$, $`j=1,2,3`$) are the vertices of the cube, then we see that $`𝐎`$ is generated by $`U`$, $`S`$ and a rotation $`V`$ by $`\pi `$ around an axis passing through the midpoints of two opposite edges of the cube. We may choose

$$V=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}0& 1& 0\\ 1& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right).$$
(21)
We finally observe that $`𝐓`$ is a subgroup of index $`2`$ in $`𝐎`$.
5. If $`𝒮`$ is an icosahedron (or a dodecahedron) then $`G(𝒮)=𝐘`$ (the icosahedral group). This group has order $`60`$, is isomorphic to the alterning group $`A_5`$, it is generated by a rotation by $`2\pi /5`$ around an axis passing through two opposite vertices of the icosahedron and a rotation by $`2\pi /3`$ around an axis passing through the center of two opposite faces.

If $`(\pm \varphi ,0,\pm 1)`$, $`(0,\pm 1,\pm \varphi )`$ and $`(\pm 1,\pm \varphi ,0)`$ are the $`12`$ vertices of $`𝒮`$ (here $`\varphi =(\sqrt{5}1)/2`$ is the gold number) then we see that $`𝐘`$ is generated by $`S`$ and

$$J=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\frac{1}{2}& \frac{\sqrt{5}+1}{4}& \frac{\sqrt{5}1}{4}\\ \frac{\sqrt{5}+1}{4}& \frac{\sqrt{5}1}{4}& \frac{1}{2}\\ \frac{\sqrt{5}1}{4}& \frac{1}{2}& \frac{\sqrt{5}+1}{4}\end{array}\right).$$
(22)
It also easily seen that $`𝐘`$ contains $`𝐓`$. Indeed, the transfomation $`U`$ corresponds now to a rotation by $`\pi `$ around an axis passing through the midpoints of to opposite edges of the icosahedron.

###### Remark 4.1

A classical result states that if $`G`$ is a finite subgroup of $`SO(3)`$ then $`G`$ is conjugate to one the preceding five groups. For more details on those groups we refer e.g. to .

#### Other finite groups of isometries.

It $`𝒮`$ is a subset of $`^3`$, then the complete symmetry group of $`𝒮`$ si defined as the group of all orthogonal transformations which leave $`𝒮`$ globally invariant. Let us recall that if $`G`$ is a finite subgroup of $`O(3)\backslash SO(3)`$, such that the inversion $`I`$ (the symmetry with respect to the origin) belongs to $`G`$, then $`G=G_1IG_1`$, where $`G_1=GSO(3)`$ is one of the five groups of proper rotation considered in the preceding paragraph. In this case $`G`$ is obtained as direct product of $`G_1`$ and a cyclic group of order 2, and the generators of $`G`$ are the same of $`G_1`$, together with

$$I=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right).$$
(23)
On the other hand, if $`G`$ is a finite subgroup of $`O(3)\backslash SO(3)`$, but $`I`$ does not belong to $`G`$, then $`G^+G_1\{Ig:gG\backslash G_1\}`$ is a finite subgroup of $`SO(3)`$, which contains a finite subgroup $`G_1`$ of index $`2`$. Further, $`G^+`$ is isomorphic (but not conjugate) to $`G`$. The group $`G`$ is usually noted $`G^+G_1`$ in the literature of point groups. We thus can form four more types of group in this way, namely $`C_{2n}C_n`$, $`D_nC_n`$, $`D_{2n}D_n`$ and $`\mathrm{𝐎𝐓}`$.

We now follow the classical classification of Schöenflies (see also , ), starting with the complete symmetry groups of suitably modified prisms.

1. we lump togheter the groups $`C_nIC_n`$ for odd $`n`$ with the groups $`C_{2n}C_n`$ for even $`n`$, to form the cyclic group $`𝐒_{2n}`$ of order $`2n`$ (the complete symmetry group of an alternating $`2q`$-prism, see  for a plot). This group is generated by a rotation-inversion by $`\pi /n`$ (a rotation of $`\pi /n`$ around an axis followed by a reflection with respect to a plane perpendicular to the axis):

$$\stackrel{~}{R}_{n/2}=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}\mathrm{cos}(\pi /n)& \mathrm{sin}(\pi /n)& 0\\ \mathrm{sin}(\pi /n)& \mathrm{cos}(\pi /n)& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right).$$
(24)
2. Lumping together the groups $`C_nIC_n`$ for even $`n`$ with the groups $`C_{2n}C_n`$ for odd $`n`$, we form an abelian group  of order $`2n`$, denoted by $`𝐂_{nh}`$ (the complete symmetry group of a shaved $`q`$-prism). This group is generated by a rotation-inversion $`\stackrel{~}{R}_n`$ by $`2\pi /n`$ and a rotation $`R_n`$ by $`2\pi /n`$ around the same axis. Note that $`𝐂_{nh}`$ turns out to be a cyclic group if $`n`$ is odd, but this group is not conjugate to $`𝐒_{2n}`$.
3. The group $`D_nC_n`$ has order $`2n`$ and is usually denoted by $`𝐂_{nv}`$. This is the complete symmetry group of a $`n`$-pyramid and is formed by $`n`$ rotations by multiples of $`2\pi /n`$ around the axis of the pyramid and $`n`$ reflections in $`n`$ vertical planes passing through this axis. A system of generators of $`𝐂_{nv}`$ is $`R_n`$ and

$$W_2=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right).$$
(25)
4. Combining $`D_{2n}D_n`$ for odd $`n`$ with $`D_nID_n`$ for even $`n`$ forms the complete group of symmetry of a $`n`$-prism, which is denoted by $`𝐃_{nh}`$. This group has order $`4n`$, and it is generated by $`R_n`$, $`W_2`$ and by

$$W_3=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right).$$
(26)
5. Combining $`D_{2n}D_n`$ for even $`n`$ with $`D_nID_n`$ for odd $`n`$ forms the group $`𝐃_{nd}`$, which is the complete symmetry group of a twisted $`n`$-prism (the solid obtained pasting two $`n`$-prisms at their basis, in a such way that the prisms are rotated by $`\pi /n`$). This group has order $`4n`$ and is generated by $`\stackrel{~}{R}_{n/2}`$ and $`W_2`$.
6. The group $`𝐓I𝐓`$ is denoted by $`𝐓_h`$. This group has order $`24`$, is isomorphic to $`A_4\times /2`$ and is generated by $`S`$, $`U`$ and $`I`$ (or simply by $`S`$ and $`W_2`$).<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1 The “symmetric solutions” $`u(x,t)`$ introduced in  are precisely the flows which are invariant under the group $`𝐓_h`$. These solutions have been later considered in , , ,  and , but the connection with the group $`𝐓_h`$ does not seem to have been noticed.  The group $`𝐓_h`$ corresponds to the complete symmetry group of a solid obtained from a cube shaving off the eight vertices (this solid is often called modified cube, see ).
7. The group $`\mathrm{𝐎𝐓}`$ is denoted by $`𝐓_d`$. This is the complete symmetry group of a tetrahedron, it has order $`24`$, is isomorphic to $`𝐎`$ (hence to $`S_4`$), but $`𝐓_d`$ and $`𝐎`$ are not conjugate. This group is generated by the two generators $`S`$ and $`U`$ of $`𝐓`$, together with a reflection $`Z`$ with respect to a plane passing through the midpoint of an edge and containing the opposite edge of the tetrahedron:

$$Z=\left(\begin{array}{ccc}0& 1& 0\\ 1& 0& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right).$$
(27)
8. The group $`𝐎I𝐎`$, denoted by $`𝐎_h`$, is the complete groupe of symmetry of a cube (and of an octahedron).<sup>2</sup><sup>2</sup>2It was pointed out by Kida  that it is possible to construct solutions that are both invariant under $`𝐎_h`$ and $`2\pi `$-periodic in any direction.  This group is isomorphic to $`S_4\times /2`$ and contains the $`48`$ orthogonal matrices formed by $`0`$, $`1`$ and $`1`$. A system of generators for $`𝐎_h`$ is e.g. $`S`$, $`V`$ and $`I`$.
9. The group $`𝐘I𝐘`$ is denoted by $`𝐘_h`$, and it is the complete groupe of symmetry of an icosahedron (and of a dodecahedron). This group has order $`120`$, is isomorphic to $`A_5\times /2`$ and is generated by $`S`$, $`J`$ and $`I`$.

### 4.2 Application to the Navier–Stokes equations

#### Space decay

This paragraph is devoted to the computation of the space decay rates of flows $`u(x,t)`$ which are invariant under a discrete subgroup of $`O(3)`$ and such that $`u(x,0)`$ is localized. We will not consider here all the possible groups $`G`$ listed in the preceding section, but we will just treat the case in which $`G`$ is either $`𝐓`$, $`𝐓_h`$, $`𝐎`$ or $`𝐘`$. Combining the results of this paragraph with the examples of section 5, however, will immediately give the optimal space decay rates for all groups.

We need the following lemma.

###### Lemma 4.2

Let $`P_m(\xi )`$, where $`\xi =(\xi _1,\xi _2,\xi _3)^3`$, be a homogenous polynomial of degree $`m+2`$ ($`m=0,1,\mathrm{}`$).

1. If $`P_0`$ is invariant under the transformations of the tetrahedral group $`𝐓`$, then $`P_0(\xi )c_0(\xi _1^2+\xi _2^2+\xi _3^2)`$.
2. If $`P_1`$ is invariant under the transformations of either $`𝐎`$, $`𝐓_h`$ or $`𝐘`$, then $`P_1(\xi )0`$.
3. If $`P_2`$ and $`P_3`$ are invariant under $`𝐘`$, then $`P_2(\xi )c_2(\xi _1^2+\xi _2^2+\xi _3^2)^2`$ and $`P_3(\xi )0`$.

Proof. The proof follows by imposing $`P_m(\xi )P_m(Q\xi )`$ where, in the first case $`Q=S,U`$; in the second case we take, respectively, $`Q=S,U,V`$, $`Q=S,W_2`$, or $`Q=S,J`$; in the third case we choose $`Q=S,J`$. We thus obtain linear systems where the unknowns are the coefficients of $`P_m(\xi )`$. Conclusion of Lemma 4.2 then immediately follows from lengthy but elementary calculations. $``$

Applying Proposition 2.1 we immediately get the following

###### Corollary 4.3

Let $`a=(a_1,a_2,a_3)`$ be a soleinoidal and rapidly decreasing vector field in $`^3`$ and $`u(x,t)`$ the strong solution to (NS), which is defined in some time interval $`[0,T]`$ ($`T>0`$) , such that $`u(0)=a`$. If $`a`$ is invariant under the transformations of $`𝐓`$, then $`u(x,t)=O(|x|^5)`$ as $`x\mathrm{}`$ uniformely in $`t[0,T]`$. Such decay rate is improved up to $`u(x,t)=O(|x|^6)`$, if $`a`$ is invariant under either $`𝐎`$ or $`𝐓_h`$, and up to $`u(x,t)=O(|x|^8)`$ if $`a`$ is invariant under $`𝐘`$.

###### Remark 4.4

Note that the homogeneous polynomial $`P_1(\xi )\xi _1\xi _2\xi _3`$ satisfies $`P_1(\xi )=P_1(S\xi )=P_1(U\xi )`$ for all $`\xi `$. This polynomial is then invariant under $`𝐓`$, but it is not divisible by $`\xi _1^2+\xi _2^2+\xi _3^2`$. On the other hand, the polynomial $`P_2(\xi )\xi _1^4+\xi _2^4+\xi _3^4`$ is invariant under both $`𝐎`$ and $`𝐓_h`$, but it is not divisible by $`\xi _1^2+\xi _2^2+\xi _3^2`$. At the same way, it is not difficult to construct a homogeneous polynomial of degree $`6`$, which is invariant under $`𝐘`$ and is not divisible by $`\xi _1^2+\xi _2^2+\xi _3^2`$: we may take e.g. $`P_4(\xi )\xi _1^6+\xi _2^6+\xi _3^6+\frac{3}{4}(5+\sqrt{5})(\xi _1^4\xi _2^2+\xi _2^4\xi _3^2+\xi _3^2\xi _2^2)+\frac{3}{4}(5\sqrt{5})(\xi _1^4\xi _3^2+\xi _2^4\xi _1^2+\xi _3^2\xi _2^2)`$.

These considerations show that the decay rates computed in Corollary 4.3 seem to be optimal for generic flows invariant under one of the four preceding groups. We will see by means of the examples of section 5 that (a) the decay $`|x|^5`$ is indeed optimal, in general, for flows which are invariant under the group $`𝐓_d`$, which contains $`𝐓`$, (b) the decay $`|x|^6`$ is optimal inside the group $`𝐎_h`$ which contains both $`𝐎`$ and $`𝐓_h`$, (c) the decay $`|x|^8`$ is optimal inside the group $`𝐘_h`$ which contains $`𝐘`$. Finally, we will see that flows which are invariant under the complete group of symmetries $`D_{2nh}`$ of a $`2n`$-prism (which contains all the other groups $`C_n`$, $`S_{2n}`$, $`D_n`$, $`C_{nh}`$, $`C_{nv}`$, $`D_{nd}`$ and $`D_{nh}`$), in general, do not decay faster than $`|x|^4`$. This provides a complete answer to the space decay problem of flows with this kind of symmetries.

#### Time decay

We now compute the time decay rate of flows invariant under the complete symmetry group of the solids listed in the preceding section. We will detailed arguments only for the group of the icosahedron $`𝐘_h`$, since this group provides the largest decay rates. Of course similar (but simpler!) considerations can be repeated for the other groups.

As in the two-dimensional case, we shall make use of the vorticity formulation. We start observing that requiring the condition $`Pu(x,t)u(Px,t)`$, for a given $`PO(3)`$, is equivalent, at least when the singular integral (10) makes sense, to requiring that

$$P\mathrm{\Omega }(x,t)=det(P)\mathrm{\Omega }(Px,t)$$
(28)
for all $`x^n`$ and $`t0`$. A simple way to prove the equivalence between (1) and (28) is to use the Fourier transform and the identity $`(Pv)\times (Pw)=det(P)P(v\times w)`$, which holds for all $`v,w^3`$ and $`PO(3)`$.

From now on we shall assume that $`a(x)`$ is invariant under the group $`𝐘_h`$ and that the initial vorticity $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0=\times a`$ is a rapidly decreasing vector field as $`|x|\mathrm{}`$. Then we have the following.

###### Lemma 4.5

Let $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ be a rapidly decreasing vector field in $`^3`$, such that $`P\mathrm{\Omega }(x)det(P)\mathrm{\Omega }(Px)`$ for all transformations $`P`$ belonging to the complete symmetry group of the icosahedron. Then the moments of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ vanish up to the order $`5`$.

Proof. Let us denote by $`P_j𝐘_hO(3)`$ the reflection with respect to a plane $`\pi _j`$ of symmetry of the icosahedron $`(j=1,\mathrm{},15)`$. Note that each of the six axes passing through two opposite vertices of the icosahedron belongs exactly to five distinct planes. Let $`𝐞_1,\mathrm{},𝐞_6`$ be six unit vectors corresponding to these axes and such that $`\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(𝐞_1+𝐞_2)=(1,0,0)`$, $`\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(𝐞_3+𝐞_4)=(0,1,0)`$ and $`\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(𝐞_5+𝐞_6)=(0,0,1)`$ (this is possible if we choose the vertices of the icosahedron as in the preceding section). If we show that $`x^\alpha \mathrm{\Omega }(x),𝐞_k=0`$ for $`k=1,\mathrm{},6`$, and some $`\alpha ^3`$ (where $`,`$ denotes the scalar product in $`^3`$), then it will follow that $`x^\alpha \mathrm{\Omega }(x)𝑑x=0`$.

Condition $`P_j\mathrm{\Omega }(x)\mathrm{\Omega }(P_jx)`$ implies that $`\mathrm{\Omega }(x)`$ is orthogonal to $`\pi _j`$, for all $`x\pi _j`$. In the same way, passing to the Fourier transform we see that $`\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}(\xi )`$ is orthogonal to $`\pi _j`$ for all $`\xi \pi _j`$. In particular, for each $`k=1,\mathrm{},6`$ there exist five planes containing the axis generated by $`𝐞_k`$, on which the function $`f_k(\xi )\widehat{\mathrm{\Omega }}(\xi ),𝐞_k`$ identically vanish.

Now we use the general fact that if $`g(\xi )C^{\mathrm{}}(^3)`$ identically vanishes on $`n`$ distinct planes passing through a given axis, then $`g`$ has vanishing derivatives on this axis up to the order $`n1`$ (this simple fact can be seen using the same argument as in Lemma 3.1).

Since $`f_k`$ is a smooth function, it follows that the derivatives of $`f_k`$ identically vanish up to the order $`4`$ on the $`k`$-th axis. This shows that the moments of $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ vanish up to the order $`4`$.

But the group $`𝐘_h`$ contains the three reflections with respect to the planes $`x_1=0`$, $`x_2=0`$ and $`x_3=0`$ (assuming that the icosahedron is orientated as above). Therefore $`\mathrm{\Omega }_i(x_1,x_2,x_3)`$ is an even function with respect to $`x_i`$ and an odd function with respect to $`x_h`$ ($`i,h=1,2,3`$ and $`ih`$). It then follows that for any $`\alpha ^3`$, such that $`\alpha _1+\alpha _2+\alpha _3`$ is an odd integer, $`x^\alpha \mathrm{\Omega }_i(x)𝑑x=0`$ $`(i=1,2,3)`$. Lemma 4.5 is thus proved. $``$

Combining this result with Proposition 2.1 and Lemma 2.4 implies the following:

###### Corollary 4.6

Let $`\mathrm{\Omega }_0`$ be a divergence-free and rapidly decreasing vector field, such that $`P\mathrm{\Omega }_0(x)=det(P)\mathrm{\Omega }_0(Px)`$ for all $`P𝐘_h`$. If $`sup_x|x|^2|\mathrm{\Omega }_0(x)|`$ is small, then the solution $`\mathrm{\Omega }(x,t)`$ of Proposition 2.2 satisfies (13)-(14) with $`n=6`$. Furthermore, the corresponding velocity field belongs to $`C([0,+\mathrm{}[,L_8^{\mathrm{}}(^3))`$ and satisfies (16) (with $`n=6`$).

These arguments apply also to the simpler case of flows invariant to complete symmetry group of the tetrahedron and the complete symmetry group of the cube (and, with slight modification, to their subgroups). This yields e.g. that (16) holds true with $`n=3`$ in the case of flows invariant under $`𝐓_d`$, and with $`n=4`$ in the case of flows invariant under $`𝐎_h`$. We leave the corresponding computations to the reader. Theorem 1.2 then follows.

## 5 Examples of localized flows

In this section we provide explicit examples of initial data leading to flows invariant under the groups considered in the preceding section. These examples also shows that the space decay rates previously computed are sharp. The proof of the optimality is based on the following fact: if $`a(x)`$ is a rapidly decreasing divergence-free vector field in $`^d`$ $`(d2)`$, such that the homogeneous polynomial $`P_m(a)(\xi )`$, $`\xi =(\xi _1,\mathrm{},\xi _d)^d`$, defined by (3) is not divisible by $`\xi _1^2+\mathrm{}+\xi _d^2`$, then there exists a decreasing sequence $`t_k0`$ such that

$$\underset{R\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}R^{1+m}_{R|x|2R}|u(x,t_k)|𝑑x>0\text{for all }k=1,2,\mathrm{},$$
(29)
where $`u(x,t)`$ is the strong (local) solution to (NS) starting from $`a`$ (see ). Condition (29) implies that $`u`$ cannot decay faster than $`|x|^{(d+1+m)}`$ uniformely in any time interval $`[0,T]`$ $`(T>0)`$.

From now on we shall assume $`d=3`$. To give examples of soleinodal vector fields $`a`$ which are invariant under an orthogonal transformation $`P`$, it will be often convenient first to construct a potential vector field $`b`$, such that $`b(Px)=det(P)Pb(x)`$ and then to define $`a=\times b`$.

Let $`G`$ be a finite subgroup of $`O(3)`$ which is not of polihedral type (i.e. $`G`$ does not contain $`𝐓`$). If $`G`$ has order $`n`$ then it is contained in either $`D_{nd}`$ or in $`D_{nh}`$. These two groups are in turn both contained in the complete symmetry group of a $`2n`$-prism $`D_{2nh}`$, which is of order $`8n`$. Let us show that generic flows which are invariant under $`D_{2nh}`$ do not decay faster than $`|x|^4`$. This is immediate: we can take e.g. a vector field of the form

$$a(x)=(_2\mu (x),_1\mu (x),0),$$
(30)
where $`\mu 𝒮(^3)`$ is a non-trivial function such that $`\mu (x_1,x_2,x_3)=\mu (x_1,x_2,x_3)=\mu (x_1,x_2,x_3)`$ and $`\mu `$ is invariant under a rotation of $`\pi /n`$ around the vertical axis. Then $`a`$ is invariant under $`D_{2nh}`$, but $`a_1^2(x)𝑑xa_3(x)^2𝑑x`$, hence (29) holds true with $`m=0`$. A slight modification of the choice of $`\mu `$ would show, in the same way, that flows invariant under the complete group of direct symmetry of the cylinder do not decay faster than $`|x|^4`$, in general.

A very simple example of a vector field which is invariant under the complete symmetry group $`𝐓_d`$ of a tetrahedron is obtained choosing e.g. the potential vector $`\overline{b}_1(x_1,x_2,x_3)=x_1(x_2^2x_3^2)e^{|x|^2}`$, $`\overline{b}_2(x_1,x_2,x_3)=\overline{b}_1(x_2,x_3,x_1)`$ and $`\overline{b}_3(x_1,x_2,x_3)=\overline{b}_1(x_3,x_1,x_2)`$. Another possible simple choice for the first component of the potential vector would be $`\stackrel{~}{b}_1(x_1,x_2,x_3)=x_2x_3(x_2^2x_3^2)e^{|x|^2}`$ These two choices give, respectively,

$$\overline{a}(x)=\left(\begin{array}{c}2x_2x_3(2+2x_1^2x_2^2x_3^2)e^{|x|^2}\\ 2x_3x_1(2+2x_2^2x_3^2x_1^2)e^{|x|^2}\\ 2x_1x_2(2+2x_3^2x_1^2x_2^2)e^{|x|^2}\end{array}\right)$$
(31)
and

$$\stackrel{~}{a}(x)=\left(\begin{array}{c}x_1(2x_1^23x_2^22x_1^2x_2^2+2x_2^43x_3^2+2x_3^42x_1^2x_3^2)e^{|x|^2}\\ x_2(2x_2^23x_3^22x_2^2x_3^2+2x_3^43x_1^2+2x_1^42x_2^2x_1^2)e^{|x|^2}\\ x_3(2x_3^23x_1^22x_3^2x_1^2+2x_1^43x_2^2+2x_2^42x_3^2x_2^2)e^{|x|^2}\end{array}\right)$$
(32)
Accordingly with Lemma 3.1, the two polynomials $`P_0(\overline{a})(\xi )`$ and $`P_0(\stackrel{~}{a})(\xi )`$ are divisible by $`\xi _1^2+\xi _2^2+\xi _3^3`$. Hence the solutions $`\overline{u}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{u}`$ starting from $`\overline{a}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{a}`$ decay at least as fast as $`|x|^5`$, at the beginnning of their evolution. However, a direct calculation shows that both $`P_1(\overline{a})(\xi )`$ and $`P_1(\stackrel{~}{a})(\xi )`$ identically vanish. This means that $`\overline{u}`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{u}`$ may decay faster than expected for generic flows invariant under the group $`𝐓_d`$. However, one easily checks that $`P_1(\overline{a}+\stackrel{~}{a})(\xi )c\xi _1\xi _2\xi _3`$ for some constant $`c0`$. Hence, the flow starting from $`(\overline{a}+\stackrel{~}{a})(x)`$, which is also invariant under $`𝐓_d`$ (and, in particular, under $`𝐓`$), cannot decay faster than $`|x|^5`$. This decay rate is thus sharp, in general, for the groups $`𝐓`$ and $`𝐓_d`$.

Note that the field $`\stackrel{~}{a}(x)`$ turns out to be invariant under the transformation of the larger group $`𝐎_h`$. Now, it is not difficult to check that the homogeneous polynomial $`P_2(\stackrel{~}{a})(\xi )`$ is not divisible by $`\xi _1^2+\xi _2^2+\xi _3^2`$. Indeed, a necessary condition on the coefficients of $`P_2(\stackrel{~}{a})(\xi )`$, to obtain a polynomial which is divisible by $`\xi _1^2+\xi _2^2+\xi _3^2`$, would be $`4x_1x_2\stackrel{~}{a}_1\stackrel{~}{a}_2(x)𝑑x=(x_1^2x_2^2)(\stackrel{~}{a}_1^2\stackrel{~}{a}_2^2)(x)𝑑x`$. But the left hand side equals $`\frac{57}{512}\pi ^{3/2}\sqrt{2}`$ and the right-hand side equals $`\frac{15}{64}\pi ^{3/2}\sqrt{2}`$. Then, the decay rate $`|x|^6`$ is optimal for generic flows invariant under the complete symmetry group of a cube (hence, also for the groups $`𝐎`$ and $`𝐓_h`$ which are both contained in $`𝐎_h`$).

We do not give explicit examples of localized and soleinoidal vector fields invariant under the complete symmetry group of the icosahedron, since they have a quite complicated expression. Their existence, however, is obvious: indeed, the fiveteen planes of symmetry of the icosahedron divide $`^3`$ into $`120`$ congruent pyramidal regions (each of them is the convex hull of three half straight lines arising from the origin). If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is one of these regions, it is then sufficient to construct a vector field $`a`$ which is localized and divergence-free in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and such that $`a(x),𝐧=0`$ on the boundary of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ ($`𝐧`$ denotes here the exterior normal). The extension of such field by subsequent reflections with respect to the fiveteen planes is then invariant under the transformations of $`𝐘_h`$. Note that the condition on the boundary of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is conserved by the Navier–Stokes evolution: this means that the fluid particles will remain in the same region $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ for all time.

It now remains to show that the decay $`|x|^8`$ is optimal for flows invariant under the group $`𝐘_h`$ (hence, also for $`𝐘`$). We shall only outline the proof: one first observes that the set of all homogeneous polynomials of degree $`6`$ which are invariant under $`𝐘_h`$ form a linear space $`H_6`$ of dimension $`2`$ and that the polynomials of $`H_6`$ which are divisible by $`\xi _1^2+\xi _2^2+\xi _3^2`$ form a subspace of dimension $`1`$. But it is not difficult to construct (as indicated above) two different localized initial data $`a(x)`$ and $`a^{}(x)`$, both invariant under $`𝐘_h`$ and such that the two polynomials $`P_4(a)(\xi )`$ and $`P_4(a^{})(\xi )`$ are linearily independent. It then follows that at least one of them is not divisible by $`\xi _1^2+\xi _2^2+\xi _3^2`$. Condition (29) is then satisfied with $`m=4`$ and our claim is thus proven.

#### Acknowledgements

The author would like to express his gratitude to Y. Colin de Verdière and Th. Gallay for suggesting him to study the problem treated in this paper and for their many useful remarks. He is especially indebted to the former, for suggesting the statement of Lemma 4.2 which was the starting point of this work.