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# The Three Dimensional Viscous Camassa–Holm Equations, and Their Relation to the Navier–Stokes Equations and Turbulence Theory

## 1. Introduction

Proving global regularity for the $`3D`$ Navier–Stokes equations (NSE) is one of the most challenging outstanding problems in nonlinear analysis. The main difficulty in establishing this result lies in controlling certain norms of vorticity. More specifically, the vorticity stretching term in the $`3D`$ vorticity equation forms the main obstacle to achieving this control.

In this paper we consider a similar partial differential equation, the so-called viscous Camassa–Holm, or Navier–Stokes-alpha (NS$`\alpha `$) equations. The inviscid NS$`\alpha `$ equations (Euler$`\alpha `$) were introduced in  as a natural mathematical generalization of the integrable inviscid $`1D`$ Camassa–Holm equation discovered in  through a variational formulation. Our studies in  indicated that there is a connection between the solutions of the NS$`\alpha `$ and turbulence. Specifically, the explicit steady analytical solution of the NS$`\alpha `$ equations were found to compare successfully with empirical and numerical experimental data for mean velocity and Reynolds stresses for turbulent flows in pipes and channels. These comparisons led us to identify the NS$`\alpha `$ equations with the Reynolds averaged Navier–Stokes equations. These comparisons also led us to suggest the NS$`\alpha `$ equations could be used as a closure model for the mean effects of subgrid excitations. Numerical tests that tend to justify this intuition were reported in .

An alternative more “physical” derivation for the inviscid NS$`\alpha `$ equations (Euler$`\alpha `$), was introduced in  and  (see also ). This alternative derivation was based on substituting in Hamilton’s principle the decomposition of the Lagrangian fluid-parcel trajectory into its mean and fluctuating components. This was followed by truncating a Taylor series approximation and averaging at constant Lagrangian coordinate, before taking variations. A variant of this approach was also elaborated considerably in . See also  for the geometry and analysis of the Euler$`\alpha `$ equations. For more information and a brief guide to the previous literature specifically about the NS$`\alpha `$ model, see paper . The latter paper also discusses connections to standard concepts and scaling laws in turbulence modeling, including the relationship of the NS$`\alpha `$ model to large eddy simulation (LES) models. Results interpreting the NS$`\alpha `$ model as an extension of scale similarity LES models of turbulence are reported in .

Equations similar to the NS$`\alpha `$ equation, but with different dissipative terms, were considered previously in the theory of second grade fluids  and were treated recently in the mathematical literature . Second grade fluid models are derived from continuum mechanical principles of objectivity and material frame indifference, after which thermodynamic principles such as the Clausius-Duhem relation and stability of stationary equilibrium states are imposed that restrict the allowed values of the parameters in these models. In contrast, as mentioned earlier, the NS$`\alpha `$ equation is derived by applying asymptotic expansions, Lagrangian means, and an assumption of isotropy of fluctuations in Hamilton’s principle for an ideal incompressible fluid. Their different derivations also provide the different interpretations of the parameter $`\alpha _1`$, namely, as a flow regime quantity for the NS$`\alpha `$ equation, and as a fixed material property for the second grade fluid.

The aim of this paper is to establish the global regularity of solutions of the NS$`\alpha `$, subject to periodic boundary conditions. We also provide estimates of the fractal and Hausdorff dimensions of their global attractors. In particular, we identify the dimension of the attractor with the number of degrees of freedom governing the permanent regime of these equations and find a remarkable compatibility between these estimates and the number of degrees of freedom in turbulence a la Landau and Lifshitz . This leads us to regard the NS$`\alpha `$ equations as a suitable closure model for turbulence, thought of as an averaged theory rather than an individual realization, cf. , , ,  and . Finally, we relate the solutions of the viscous Camassa–Holm (NS$`\alpha `$) equations to those of the $`3D`$ NSE as the length scale $`\alpha _1`$ tends to zero. Specifically, we prove that a subsequence of solutions to the NS$`\alpha `$ model converges as $`\alpha _10`$ to a weak solution of the $`3D`$ NSE.

## 2.  Functional setting and preliminaries

We consider the following viscous version of the three dimensional Camassa–Holm equations in the periodic box $`\mathrm{\Omega }=[0,L]^3`$:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{}{t}}(\alpha _0^2u\alpha _1^2\mathrm{\Delta }u)`$ $`\nu \mathrm{\Delta }(\alpha _0^2u\alpha _1^2\mathrm{\Delta }u)`$
$`u\times (\times (\alpha _0^2u\alpha _1^2\mathrm{\Delta }u))+{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\rho _0}}p=f,`$ (1a)
$`u`$ $`=0`$ (1b)
$`u(x,0)`$ $`=u^{in}(x),`$ (1c)
where $`{\displaystyle \frac{p}{\rho _0}}={\displaystyle \frac{\pi }{\rho _0}}+\alpha _0^2|u|^2\alpha _1^2(u\mathrm{\Delta }u)`$ is the modified pressure, while $`\pi `$ is the pressure, $`\nu >0`$ is the constant viscosity and $`\rho _0>0`$ is a constant density. The function $`f`$ is a given body forcing $`\alpha _0>0`$ and $`\alpha _10`$ are scale parameters. Notice $`\alpha _0`$ is dimensionless while $`\alpha _1`$ has units of length. Also observe that at the limit $`\alpha _0=1,\alpha _1=0`$ we obtain the three dimensional Navier–Stokes equations with periodic boundary conditions.

For simplicity we will assume the forcing term to be time independent, i.e. $`f(x,t)f(x)`$.

From (1) one can easily see, after integration by parts, that

$$\frac{d}{dt}_\mathrm{\Omega }(\alpha _0^2u\alpha _1^2\mathrm{\Delta }u)𝑑x=_\mathrm{\Omega }f𝑑x.$$

On the other hand, because of the spatial periodicity of the solution, we have $`_\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Delta }u𝑑x=0`$. As a result, we have $`\frac{d}{dt}_\mathrm{\Omega }u𝑑x=_\mathrm{\Omega }f𝑑x`$; that is, the mean of the solution is invariant provided the mean of the forcing term is zero. In this paper we will consider forcing terms and initial values with spatial means that are zero; i.e., we will assume $`_\mathrm{\Omega }u^{in}𝑑x=f𝑑x=0`$ and hence $`_\mathrm{\Omega }u𝑑x=0`$.

Next, let us introduce some notation and background.

1. Let $`X`$ be a linear subspace of integrable functions defined on the domain $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, we denote

$$\dot{X}:=\{\phi X:_\mathrm{\Omega }\phi (x)𝑑x=0\}.$$
2. We denote $`𝒱=\{\phi :\phi `$ is a vector valued trigonometric polynomial defined on $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$, such that $`\phi =0`$ and $`_\mathrm{\Omega }\phi (x)dx=0\}`$, and let $`H`$ and $`V`$ be the closures of $`𝒱`$ in $`L^2(\mathrm{\Omega })^3`$ and in $`H^1(\mathrm{\Omega })^3`$ respectively; observe that $`H^{}`$, the orthogonal complement of $`H`$ in $`L^2(\mathrm{\Omega })^3`$ is $`\{p:pH^1(\mathrm{\Omega })\}`$ (cf.  or ).
3. We denote $`P_\sigma :\dot{L}^2(\mathrm{\Omega })^3H`$ the $`L^2`$ orthogonal projection, usually referred as Leray projector, and by $`A=P_\sigma \mathrm{\Delta }`$ the Stokes operator with domain $`D(A)=(H^2(\mathrm{\Omega }))^3V`$. Notice that in the case of periodic boundary condition $`A=\mathrm{\Delta }|_{D(A)}`$ is a self-adjoint positive operator with compact inverse. Hence the space $`H`$ has an orthonormal basis $`\{w_j\}_{j=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$ of eigenfunctions of $`A`$, i.e. $`Aw_j=\lambda _jw_j`$, with $`0<\lambda _1\lambda _2\mathrm{}\lambda _j\mathrm{}`$; in fact these eigenvalues have the form $`|k|^2\frac{4\pi ^2}{L^2}`$ with $`k𝐙^3\backslash \{0\}`$.
4. We denote $`(,)`$ the $`L^2`$-inner product and by $`||`$ the corresponding $`L^2`$-norm. By virtue of Poincaré inequality one can show that there is a constant $`c>0`$ such that

$$c|Aw|w_{H^2}c^1|Aw|\text{for every}wD(A)$$

and that

$$c|A^{1/2}w|w_{H^1}c^1|A^{1/2}w|\text{for every}wV.$$

Moreover, one can show that $`V=D(A^{1/2})`$, (cf.  , and ). We denote $`((,))=(A^{1/2},A^{1/2})`$ and $`=|A^{1/2}|`$ the inner product and norm on $`V`$, respectively. Notice that, based on the above, the inner product $`((,))`$, restricted to $`V`$, is equivalent to the $`H^1`$ inner product

$$[u,v]=\alpha _0^2(u,v)+\alpha _1^2((u,v))\text{for}u,vV,$$
(2)
provided $`\alpha _1>0`$.

Hereafter $`c`$ will denote a generic scale invariant positive constant which is independent of the physical parameters in the equation.
5. Following the notation for the Navier–Stokes equations we denote $`B(u,v)=P_\sigma [(u)v]`$, and we set $`B(v)u=B(u,v)`$ for every $`u,vV`$. Notice that

$$(B(u,v),w)=(B(u,w),v)\text{ for every}u,v,wV$$
(3)
We also denote $`\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v)=P_\sigma (u\times (\times v))`$ for every $`u,vV`$. Using the identity

$$(b)a+\underset{j=1}{\overset{3}{}}a_jb_j=b\times (\times a)+(ab),$$

one can easily show that

$`(\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),w)`$ $`=(B(u,v),w)(B(w,v),u)`$
$`=(B(v)uB^{}(v)u,w),`$
for every $`u,v,wV`$. As a result we have

$$\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v)=(B(v)B^{}(v))u\text{ for every}u,vV.$$
(4)

In the next Lemma, we show that the bilinear operator $`\stackrel{~}{B}`$ can be extended continuously to a larger class of functions.

###### Lemma 1.

1. The operator $`A`$ can be extended continuously to be defined on $`V=D(A^{1/2})`$ with values in $`V{}_{}{}^{}H^1`$ such that

$$Au,v_V^{}=(A^{1/2}u,A^{1/2}v)=_\mathrm{\Omega }(u:v)dx$$

for every $`u,vV`$.
2. Similarly, the operator $`A^2`$ can be extended continuously to be defined on $`D(A)`$ with values in $`D(A)^{}`$ such that

$$A^2u,v_{D(A)^{}}=(Au,Av),\text{for every}u,vD(A).$$
3. The operator $`\stackrel{~}{B}`$ can be extended continuously from $`V\times V`$ with values in $`V^{}`$, and in particular it satisfies

$`|\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),w_V^{}|`$ $``$ $`c|u|^{1/2}u^{1/2}vw`$
$`|\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),w_V^{}|`$ $``$ $`cuv|w|^{1/2}w^{1/2},`$
for every $`u,v,wV`$. Moreover,

$$\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),w_V^{}=\stackrel{~}{B}(w,v),u_V^{},\text{for every}u,v,wV,$$

and in particular,

$$\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),u_V^{}0\text{for every}u,vV.$$
4. Furthermore, we have

$$\left|\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),w_{D(A)^{}}\right|c|u|vw^{1/2}|Aw|^{1/2},$$

for every $`uH,vV\text{and}wD(A)`$, and by symmetry we have

$$\left|(\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),w)\right|cu^{1/2}|Au|^{1/2}v|w|$$

for every $`uD(A),vV\text{and}wH.`$
5. Also,

$$\left|\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),w_{D(A)^{}}\right|c\left(|u|^{1/2}u^{1/2}|v||Aw|+|v|uw^{1/2}|Aw|^{1/2}\right),$$

for every $`uV,vH,wD(A).`$
6. In addition,

$$\left|\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),w_V^{}\right|c\left(u^{1/2}Au^{1/2}|v|w+|Au||v||w|^{1/2}w^{1/2}\right),$$

for every $`uD(A),vH,wV.`$

###### Proof.

The proof of (i) can be found in  or in . The proof of (ii) is a straight forward extension of that of (i).

To prove (iii), let us first consider the case when $`u,v,w𝒱`$. Then we have

$`|\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),w_V^{}|`$ $`=`$ $`|{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}u\times (\times v)w𝑑x|`$
$``$ $`cu_{L^3}v_{L^2}w_{L^6}.`$
Recall the following Sobolev inequalities in $`𝐑^3`$

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \phi _{L^4}& c\phi _{L^2}^{1/4}\phi _{H^1}^{3/4},\hfill \\ \hfill \phi _{L^3}& c\phi _{L^2}^{1/2}\phi _{H^1}^{1/2},\text{and}\hfill \\ \hfill \phi _{L^6}& \phi _{H^1},\text{for every}\phi H^1(\mathrm{\Omega }).\hfill \end{array}$$
(5a)
Then by the above inequalities we have:

$$|\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),w_V^{}|c|u|^{1/2}u^{1/2}vw.$$

Moreover, it is clear that for $`u,v,w𝒱`$

$$\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),w_V^{}=\stackrel{~}{B}(w,v),u_V^{}.$$

Since $`𝒱`$ is dense in $`V`$ we conclude the proof of (iii).

Let us now prove (iv). Again we consider first the case where $`u,v,w𝒱`$

$`|\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),w_{D(A)^{}}|`$ $`=|{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}[u\times (\times v)]w𝑑x|`$
$`cu_{L^2}v_{L^2}w_L^{\mathrm{}}.`$
Recall Agmon’s inequality in $`𝐑^3`$:

$$\phi _L^{\mathrm{}}c\phi _{H^1}^{1/2}\phi _{H^2}^{1/2}.$$
(6)
The above gives

$$|\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),w_{D(A)^{}}|c|u|vw^{1/2}Aw^{1/2}.$$

To prove ( v) we again take $`u,v,w𝒱`$ and we use ((v)) to find

$`|\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),w_{D(A)^{}}|`$ $``$ $`|{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}((u)v)w𝑑x|+|{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}((w)u)v𝑑x|`$
$``$ $`|{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}((u)wv)𝑑x|+v_{L^2}u_{L^2}w_L^{\mathrm{}}`$
$``$ $`cu_{L^3}w_{L^6}|v|+c|v|uw_L^{\mathrm{}}.`$
By (5b-c) and (6) inequalities we finish our proof.

The proof of (vi) is similar to (v). From ((v)) we have

$`|\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v),w_V^{}|`$ $``$ $`|{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}((u)v)w𝑑x|+|{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}((w)u)v𝑑x|`$
$``$ $`|{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}((u)w)v𝑑x|+cw_{L^3}u_{L^6}|v|`$
$``$ $`c(u_L^{\mathrm{}}w|v|+w_{L^3}u_{L^6}|v|).`$
By (5a) and (6) inequalities we finish our proof.

We apply $`P_\sigma `$ to (1) and use the above notation to obtain the equivalent system of equations

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}}(\alpha _0^2u+\alpha _1^2Au)`$ $`+\nu A(\alpha _0^2+\alpha _1^2A)u+`$
$`+\stackrel{~}{B}(u,\alpha _0^2u+\alpha _1^2Au)=P_\sigma f,`$ (7a)
$`u(0)`$ $`=u^{in}.`$ (7b)
Alternatively, if we denote

$$v=\alpha _0^2u+\alpha _1^2Au$$
(8)
the system (7) can be written as

$$\begin{array}{cc}\hfill \frac{dv}{dt}+\nu Av& +B(v)uB^{}(v)u=P_\sigma f,\hfill \\ \hfill u(0)& =u^{in}.\hfill \end{array}$$
(9a)
We will assume that $`P_\sigma f=f`$, otherwise we add the gradient part of $`f`$ to the modified pressure and rename $`P_\sigma f`$ by $`f`$.

###### Definition 2 (Regular Solution).

Let $`fH`$, and let $`T>0`$. A function $`uC([0,T);V)L^2([0,T);D(A))`$ with $`\frac{du}{dt}L^2([0,T);H)`$ is said to be a regular solution to (7) in the interval $`[0,T)`$ if it satisfies

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}}(\alpha _0^2u+\alpha _1^2Au),w_{D(A)^{}}+\nu A(\alpha _0^2u+\alpha _1^2Au),`$ $`w_{D(A)^{}}`$
$`+\stackrel{~}{B}(u,\alpha _0^2u+\alpha _1^2Au),w_{D(A)^{}}=`$ $`(f,w),`$
for every $`wD(A)`$ and for almost every $`t[0,T)`$. Moreover, $`u(0)=u^{in}`$ in $`V`$. Here, the equation (2) is understood in the following sense:

For every $`t_0,t[0,T)`$ we have

$`(\alpha _0^2u(t)+\alpha _1^2Au(t),w)+\nu {\displaystyle _{t_0}^t}(\alpha _0^2u(s)+\alpha _1^2Au(s),w)𝑑s+`$
$`+{\displaystyle _{t_0}^t}\stackrel{~}{B}(u(s),\alpha _0^2u(s)+\alpha _1^2Au(s)),w_{D(A)^{}}𝑑s`$ $`={\displaystyle _{t_0}^t}(f,w)𝑑s.`$
## 3. Global existence and uniqueness

In this section we prove global existence and uniqueness of regular solutions to equation (7).

###### Theorem 3 (Global existence and uniqueness).

Let $`fH`$ and $`u^{in}V`$. Then for any $`T>0`$ the equation (7) has a unique regular solution $`u`$ on $`[0,T)`$. Moreover, this solution satisfies:

1. $`uL_{\mathrm{loc}}^{\mathrm{}}((0,T];H^3(\mathrm{\Omega }))`$.
2. There are constants $`R_k`$, for $`k=0,1,2,3`$, which depend only on $`\nu ,\alpha _0,\alpha _1`$ and $`f`$, but not on $`u^{in}`$, such that

$$\underset{t\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}\left(\alpha _0^2|A^{\frac{k}{2}}u|^2+\alpha _1^2|A^{\frac{k+1}{2}}u|^2\right)=R_k^2,$$

for $`k=0,1,2,3`$. In particular, we have

$$R_0^2=\frac{1}{\nu \lambda _1}\mathrm{min}\{\frac{|A^{1/2}f|^2}{\nu \alpha _0^2},\frac{|A^{1/2}f|^2}{\nu \alpha _1^2}\}\mathrm{min}\{\frac{|f|^2}{\nu ^2\lambda _1^2\alpha _0^2},\frac{|f|^2}{\nu ^2\lambda _1^3\alpha _1^2}\},$$
(10)
that is:

$$R_0^2\frac{G^2\nu ^2}{\lambda _1^{1/2}}\mathrm{min}\{\frac{1}{\alpha _0^2},\frac{1}{\alpha _1^2\lambda _1}\}=\frac{G^2\nu ^2}{\gamma \lambda _1^{1/2}},$$

where $`G=\frac{|f|}{\nu ^2\lambda _1^{3/4}}`$ is the Grashoff number, and $`\gamma ^1=\mathrm{min}\{\frac{1}{\alpha _0^2},\frac{1}{\alpha _1^2\lambda _1}\}.`$ Furthermore,

$$\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}\frac{\nu }{T}_t^{t+T}(\alpha _0^2u(s)^2+\alpha _1^2|Au(s)|^2)𝑑s\nu \lambda _1R_0^2\frac{G^2\nu ^3\lambda _1^{1/2}}{\gamma },$$
(11)
for all $`t0`$.

###### Proof.

We use the Galerkin procedure to prove global existence and to establish the necessary a priori estimates.

Let $`\{w_j\}_{j=1}^{\mathrm{}}`$ be an orthonormal basis of $`H`$ consisting of eigenfunctions of the operator $`A`$. Denote $`H_m=\mathrm{span}\{w_1,\mathrm{},w_m\}`$ and let $`P_m`$ be the $`L^2`$-orthogonal projection from $`H`$ onto $`H_m`$. The Galerkin procedure for the equation (7) is the ordinary differential system.

$`{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}}(\alpha _0^2u_m+\alpha _1^2Au_m)`$ $`+\nu A(\alpha _0^2u_m+\alpha _1^2Au_m)+`$
$`+P_m\stackrel{~}{B}(u_m,\alpha _0^2u_m+\alpha _1^2Au_m)=P_mf,`$ (12a)
$`u_m(0)=P_mu^{in}.`$ (12b)
Since the nonlinear term is quadratic in $`u_m`$, then by the classical theory of ordinary differential equations, the system (12) has a unique solution for a short interval of time $`(\tau _m,T_m)`$. Our goal is to show that the solutions of (12) remains finite for all positive times which implies that $`T_m=\mathrm{}`$.

$`H^1`$-estimates

We take the inner product of (12) with $`u_m`$ and use ((v)) to obtain

$$\frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{dt}(\alpha _0^2|u_m|^2+\alpha _1^2u_m^2)+\nu (\alpha _0^2u_m^2+\alpha _1^2|Au_m|^2)=(P_mf,u_m).$$

Notice that

$$|(P_mf,u_m)|\{\begin{array}{c}|A^1f||Au_m|\hfill \\ |A^{1/2}f|u_m,\hfill \end{array}$$

and by Young’s inequality we have

$$|(P_mf,u_m)|\{\begin{array}{c}\frac{|A^1f|^2}{2\nu \alpha _1^2}+\frac{\nu }{2}\alpha _1^2|Au_m|^2\hfill \\ \frac{|A^{1/2}f|^2}{2\nu \alpha _0^2}+\frac{\nu }{2}\alpha _0^2u_m^2.\hfill \end{array}$$

Denoting by $`K_1=\mathrm{min}\{{\displaystyle \frac{|A^{1/2}f|^2}{\nu \alpha _0^2}},{\displaystyle \frac{|A^1f|^2}{\nu \alpha _1^2}}\}`$, from the above inequalities we get:

$$\frac{d}{dt}(\alpha _0^2|u_m|^2+\alpha _1^2u_m^2)+\nu (\alpha _0^2u_m^2+\alpha _1^2|Au_m|^2)K_1.$$
(13)
By Poincaré’s inequality we obtain

$$\frac{d}{dt}(\alpha _0^2|u_m|^2+\alpha _1^2u_m^2)+\nu \lambda _1(\alpha _0^2|u_m|^2+\alpha _1^2u_m^2)K_1$$

and then by Gronwall’s inequality we reach

$`\alpha _0^2|u_m(t)|^2+\alpha _1^2u_m(t)^2`$ $``$ $`e^{\nu \lambda _1t}(\alpha _0^2|u_m(0)|^2+\alpha _1^2u_m(0)^2)+`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{K_1}{\nu \lambda _1}}(1e^{\nu \lambda _1t}).`$
That is

$$\alpha _0^2|u_m(t)|^2+\alpha _1^2u_m(t)^2k_1:=\alpha _0^2|u^{in}|^2+\alpha _1^2u^{in}^2+\frac{K_1}{\nu \lambda _1}.$$
(14)
$`H^2`$-estimates

Integrating (13) over the interval $`(t,t+\tau )`$

$`\nu {\displaystyle _t^{t+\tau }}(\alpha _0^2u_m(s)^2+\alpha _1^2|Au_m(s)|^2)𝑑s`$ $`\tau K_1+(\alpha _0^2|u_m(t)|^2+\alpha _1^2u_m(t)^2)`$
$`\tau K_1+k_1=:\overline{k}_2(\tau ).`$
Now, take the inner product of (12) with $`Au_m`$ to obtain

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}}(\alpha _0^2u_m^2+\alpha _1^2|Au_m|^2)`$ $`+\nu (\alpha _0^2|Au_m|^2+\alpha _1^2|A^{3/2}u_m|^2)+`$
$`+(\stackrel{~}{B}(u_m,\alpha _0^2u_m+\alpha _1^2Au_m),Au_m)=(P_mf,Au_m).`$
Notice that

$$|(P_mf,Au_m)|\{\begin{array}{c}|A^{1/2}f||A^{3/2}u_m|\hfill \\ |f||Au_m|\hfill \end{array}\{\begin{array}{c}\frac{|A^{1/2}f|^2}{\nu \alpha _1^2}+\frac{\nu }{4}\alpha _1^2|A^{3/2}u_m|^2\hfill \\ \frac{|f|^2}{\nu \alpha _0^2}+\frac{\nu }{4}\alpha _0^2|Au_m|^2.\hfill \end{array}$$

We denote $`K_2=\mathrm{min}\{\frac{|A^{1/2}f|^2}{\nu \alpha _1^2},\frac{|f|^2}{\nu \alpha _0^2}\}`$. Then we have

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}}(\alpha _0^2u_m^2+\alpha _1^2|Au_m|^2)`$ $`+{\displaystyle \frac{3\nu }{4}}(\alpha _0^2|Au_m|^2+\alpha _1^2|A^{3/4}u_m|^2)+`$
$`+(\stackrel{~}{B}(u_m,\alpha _0^2u_m+\alpha _1^2Au_m),Au_m)K_2.`$
We use part (iii) of Lemma (1) to obtain

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}}(\alpha _0^2`$ $`u_m^2+\alpha _1^2|Au_m|^2)+{\displaystyle \frac{3}{4}}\nu (\alpha _0^2|Au_m|^2+\alpha _1^2|A^{3/2}u_m|^2)`$
$`cu_m(\alpha _0^2u_m+\alpha _1^2|A^{3/2}u_m|)|Au_m|^{1/2}|A^{3/2}u_m|^{1/2}+K_2`$
$`cu_m(\alpha _0^2\lambda _1^1+\alpha _1^2)|A^{3/2}u_m|^{3/2}|Au_m|^{1/2}+K_2.`$
By Young’s inequality we have

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}}(\alpha _0^2u_m^2`$ $`+\alpha _1^2|Au_m|^2)+{\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{2}}(\alpha _0^2|Au_m|^2+\alpha _1^2|A^{3/2}u_m|^2)`$
$`cu_m^4(\alpha _0^2\lambda _1^1+\alpha _1^2)^4(\nu \alpha _1^2)^3|Au_m|^2+K_2.`$
We integrate the above equation over $`(s,t)`$ and use (14) and (3) to obtain:

$`\alpha _0^2u_m(t)^2`$ $`+\alpha _1^2|Au_m(t)|^2\alpha _0^2u_m(s)^2+\alpha _1^2|Au_m(s)|^2+`$
$`+2(ts)K_2+{\displaystyle \frac{2ck_12}{(\nu \alpha _1^2)^4\alpha _1^4}}(\alpha _0^2\lambda _1^1+\alpha _1^2)^4[(ts)K_1+k_1]`$
Now, we integrate with respect to $`s`$ over $`(0,t)`$ and use (3) to get

$`t(\alpha _0^2u_m(t)^2`$ $`+\alpha _1^2|Au_m(t)|^2){\displaystyle \frac{1}{\nu }}(tK_1+k_1)+t^2K_2+`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{2ck_1^2}{(\nu \alpha _1^2)^4\alpha _1^4}}(\alpha _0^2\lambda _1^1+\alpha _1^2)^4[{\displaystyle \frac{t^2K_1}{2}}+tk_1],`$
for all $`t0`$.

For $`t\frac{1}{\nu \lambda _1}`$ we integrate with respect to $`s`$ over the interval $`(t\frac{1}{\nu \lambda _1},t)`$

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{\nu \lambda _1}}(\alpha _0^2u_m(t)^2`$ $`+\alpha _1^2|Au_m(t)|^2){\displaystyle \frac{1}{\nu }}({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\nu \lambda _1}}K_1+k_1)+({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\nu \lambda _1}})^2K_2+`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{2ck_1^2}{(\nu \alpha _1^2)^4\alpha _1^4}}(\alpha _0^2\lambda _1^1+\alpha _1^2)^4\left[({\displaystyle \frac{1}{\nu \lambda _1}})^2{\displaystyle \frac{K_1}{2}}+{\displaystyle \frac{k_1}{\nu \lambda _1}}\right].`$
From (3) and (3) we conclude:

$$\alpha _0^2u_m(t)^2+\alpha _1^2|Au_m(t)|^2k_2(t)$$
(15)
for all $`t>0`$, where $`k_2(t)`$ enjoys the following properties:

1. $`k_2(t)`$ is finite for all $`t>0`$ .
2. $`k_2(t)`$ is independent of $`m`$ .
3. If $`u^{in}V`$, but $`u^{in}D(A)`$, then $`k_2(t)`$ depends on $`\nu ,f,\alpha _0`$ and $`\alpha _1`$. Moreover, in this case $`lim_{t0^+}k_2(t)=\mathrm{}`$ .
4. $`lim\; sup_t\mathrm{}k_2(t)=R_2^2<\mathrm{}`$.

Returning to (3) and integrating over the interval $`(t,t+\tau )`$, for $`t>0`$ and $`\tau 0`$ and using (15) we get

$$_t^{t+\tau }(\alpha _0^2|Au_m(s)|^2+\alpha _1^2|A^{3/2}u_m(s)|^2)𝑑s\overline{k}_3(t,\tau )$$
(16)
where $`\overline{k}_3(t,\tau )`$ as a function of $`t`$ satisfies properties (i)-(iii) as $`k_2(t)`$ above. Also, there exists $`T_1`$ large enough, depends on $`(\alpha _0^2|u^{in}|^2+\alpha _1^2u^{in}^2)`$, but independent of $`m`$, such that

$$\frac{1}{t}_0^t(\alpha _0^2|Au_m(s)|^2+\alpha _1^2|A^{3/2}u_m(s)|^2)𝑑s2R_2^2\text{for all}t>T_1.$$

$`H^3`$ estimate (via the vorticity)

Let us denote $`v_m=\alpha _0u_m+\alpha _1Au_m`$ and $`q_m=\times v_m`$. The Galerkin system (12) is equivalent to

$$\frac{dv_m}{dt}+\nu Av_mP_m(u_m\times q_m)=P_mf.$$

Let us take Curl of the above equation, keeping in mind that we have periodic boundary conditions, to obtain

$$\frac{dq_m}{dt}+\nu Aq_m\times (P_m(u_m\times q_m))=\times P_mf.$$

Notice that $`q_m=0`$ and that $`P_mq_m=q_m`$. Let us take the inner product of the above equation with $`q_m`$

$$\frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{dt}|q_m|^2+\nu q_m^2(\times (P_m(u_m\times q_m)),q_m)=(\times P_mf,q_m).$$

We use the identity

$$_\mathrm{\Omega }(\times \varphi )\psi 𝑑x=_\mathrm{\Omega }\varphi (\times \psi )𝑑x,$$
(17)
to reach

$$\frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{dt}|q_m|^2+\nu q_m^2(P_m(u_m\times q_m),\times q_m)=(P_mf,\times q_m).$$

Notice that $`P_m(\times q_m)=\times q_m`$, therefore

$$\frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{dt}|q_m|^2+\nu q_m^2=(u_m\times q_m,\times q_m)+(f,\times q_m),$$

and upon applying (17)

$$\frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{dt}|q_m|^2+\nu q_m^2=(\times (u_m\times q_m),q_m)+(f,\times q_m).$$

For every divergence-free function $`\varphi `$, and for every $`\psi `$ we have the identity

$$\times (\varphi \times \psi )=(\varphi )\psi +(\psi )\varphi .$$

As a result, we have

$$\frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{dt}|q_m|^2+\nu q_m^2=((u_m)q_m,q_m)+(q_mu_m,q_m)+(f,\times q_m).$$

Thanks to the identity (3) we have $`((u_m)q_m,q_m)=0`$. Now, we estimate the right hand side of the above to get:

$$\frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{dt}|q_m|^2+\nu q_m^2cq_m_{L^4}u_m+|f|q_m.$$

We use the Sobolev inequality (5a) and Young’s inequality to find

$$\frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{dt}|q_m|^2+\nu q_m^2cq_m^{3/4}|q_m|^{1/4}u_m+\frac{1}{\nu }|f|^2+\frac{\nu }{4}q_m^2,$$

and we use Young’s inequality again to obtain

$$\frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{dt}|q_m|^2+\frac{\nu }{2}q_m^2\frac{c}{\nu ^3}|q_m|^2u_m^4+\frac{1}{\nu }|f|^2.$$

Let us denote $`z_m(t)=\nu ^2\lambda _1^{1/2}+|q_m(t)|^2`$, then

$$\frac{dz_m}{dt}z_m(t)\left(\frac{cu_m(t)^4}{\nu ^3}+\frac{|f|^2}{\nu ^3\lambda _1^{1/2}}\right).$$

We use (14) to obtain

$$z_m(t)z_m(s)e^{{\displaystyle _0^t}\left({\displaystyle \frac{ck_1^2}{\nu ^3\alpha _1^4}}+{\displaystyle \frac{|f|^2}{\nu ^3\lambda _1^{1/2}}}\right)𝑑\tau }$$

for every $`0,st`$. From the definition of $`z_m`$ we observe

$$z_m(s)c(\alpha _0^2|Au_m(s)|^2+\alpha _1^2|A^{3/2}u_m(s)|^2+\nu ^2\lambda _1^{1/2}).$$

Now, we integrate with respect to $`s`$ over $`(\frac{t}{2},t)`$ and use (16) to get

$$z_m(t)[\frac{2}{t}\overline{k}_3(\frac{t}{2},\frac{t}{2})+\nu ^2\lambda _1^{1/2}]e^{{\displaystyle _0^t}\left({\displaystyle \frac{ck_1^2}{\nu ^3\alpha _1^4}}+{\displaystyle \frac{|f|^2}{\nu ^3\lambda _1^{1/2}}}\right)𝑑\tau }=:k_3(t).$$
(18)
Here again $`k_3(t)`$ enjoys the properties (i)-(iii) of $`k_2(t)`$, mentioned above.

###### Remark 1.

Notice that by establishing the estimate (18) for $`|q_m|`$ one indeed is providing an upper bound for the $`H^3`$-norm of $`u_m`$. Similar estimates for the $`H^3`$-norm of $`u_m`$ can be also obtained by considering first the Galerkin system (12)

$$\frac{dv_m}{dt}+\nu Av_m+P_m\stackrel{~}{B}(u_m,v_m)=P_mf,$$

taking the inner product with $`Av_m`$, and then following a sequence of inequalities and estimates to achieve an upper bound for $`v_m`$.

Let us now summarize our estimates. For any $`T>0`$ we have

1. From (14):

$$u_m_{L^{\mathrm{}}([0,T];V)}^2\frac{k_1}{\alpha _1^2}\text{or}v_m_{L^{\mathrm{}}([0,T];V{}_{}{}^{})}^2k_1$$
2. From (3) we have

$$u_m_{L^2([0,T];D(A))}^2\frac{\overline{k}_2(T)}{\nu \alpha _1^2}\text{or}v_m_{L^2([0,T],H)}^2\frac{\overline{k}_2(T)}{\nu }.$$
3. From (15)

$$u_m_{L^{\mathrm{}}([\tau ,T];D(A))}^2\frac{\stackrel{~}{k}_2(\tau )}{\alpha _1^2}\text{or}v_m_{L^{\mathrm{}}([\tau ,T];H)}^2\stackrel{~}{k}_2(\tau ),$$

for any $`\tau (0,T]`$, where $`\stackrel{~}{k}_2(\tau )\mathrm{}`$ as $`\tau 0^+`$.

Next, we establish uniform estimates, in $`m`$, for $`\frac{du_m}{dt}`$ and $`\frac{dv_m}{dt}`$.

Recall (12)

$$\frac{d}{dt}v_m(t)=P_m\stackrel{~}{B}(u_m,v_m)\nu Av_m+P_mf.$$

From the above estimates and part (v) of Lemma 1 we have

$$Av_m_{L^2([0,T],D(A){}_{}{}^{})}^2\frac{c\overline{k}_2(T)}{\nu },$$

and

$$P_m\stackrel{~}{B}(u_m,v_m)_{D(A)^{}}c|u_m|^{1/2}u_m^{1/2}|v_m|+\frac{c}{\lambda _1^{1/4}}|v_m|u_m.$$

Consequently

$$P_m\stackrel{~}{B}(u_m,v_m)_{L^2([0,T],D(A){}_{}{}^{})}^2\frac{ck_1\overline{k}_2(T)}{\nu \lambda _1^{1/2}\alpha _1^2}.$$

Therefore

$$\frac{dv_m}{dt}_{L^2([0,T];D(A){}_{}{}^{})}^2\stackrel{~}{k}(T),$$

and in particular

$$\frac{du_m}{dt}_{L^2([0,T],H)}^2\frac{\stackrel{~}{k}(T)}{\alpha _1^2},$$

where $`\stackrel{~}{k}(T)`$ is a constant which depends on $`\nu ,\lambda _1,f,\alpha _0,\alpha _1`$ and $`T`$.

By Aubin’s Compactness Theorem (see, e.g., Constantin and Foias  and Lions ) we conclude that there is a subsequence $`u_m^{}(t)`$ such that

$`u_m^{}u(t)\text{ weakly in}L^2([0,T],D(A)),`$

$`u_m^{}u(t)\text{strongly in}L^2([0,T],V),\text{and}`$

$`u_m^{}u\text{in}C([0,T],H);`$

or equivalently

$`v_m^{}v\text{weakly in}L^2([0,T],H),`$

$`v_m^{}v\text{strongly in}L^2([0,T],V{}_{}{}^{}),\text{ and}`$

$`v_m^{}v\text{in}C([0,T],D(A){}_{}{}^{}),`$

where $`v`$ is given in (8).

Let us relabel $`u_m^{}`$ and $`v_m^{}`$ by $`u_m`$ and $`v_m`$ respectively. Let $`wD(A)`$, then from (12) we have

$`(v_m(t),w)+\nu {\displaystyle _{t_0}^t}(v_m(s),Aw)𝑑s+`$ $`{\displaystyle _{t_0}^t}(\stackrel{~}{B}(u_m(s),v_m(s),P_mw)ds=`$
$`(v_m(t_0),w)+(f,P_mw)(tt_0),`$
for all $`t_0,t[0,T]`$. Since $`v_mv`$ weakly in $`L^2([0,T];H)`$ then $`v_m(s)v(s)`$ weakly in $`H`$, for every $`s[0,T]\backslash E`$, where $`|E|=0`$. In particular, there is a subsequence of $`v_m`$, which we will also denote $`v_m`$, such that $`v_m(s)v(s)`$ strongly in $`V^{}`$ and $`D(A)^{}`$ for every $`sE`$.

Now, it is clear that

$$\underset{m\mathrm{}}{lim}_{t_0}^t(v_m(s),Aw)𝑑s=_{t_0}^t(v(s),Aw)𝑑s,$$

also that $`\underset{m\mathrm{}}{lim}|P_mAwAw|=\underset{m\mathrm{}}{lim}|ww_m|=0`$. On the other hand

$$|_{t_0}^t(\stackrel{~}{B}(u_m(s),v_m(s)),P_mw)\stackrel{~}{B}(u(s),v(s),w(s)_{D(A)^{}}ds|I_m^{(1)}+I_m^{(2)}+I_m^{(3)}.$$

$$I_m^{(1)}=|_{t_0}^t\stackrel{~}{B}(u_m(s),v_m(s)),P_mw(s)w(s)_{D(A)^{}}𝑑s|$$

by part (v) of Lemma 1 we have

$$I_m^{(1)}\frac{c}{\lambda _1^{1/4}}_{t_0}^t(u_m(s)|v_m(s)||P_mAwAw|)𝑑s,$$

applying Cauchy–Schwarz inequality

$$I_m^{(1)}\frac{c}{\lambda _1^{1/4}}\left(_0^Tu_m(s)^2𝑑s\right)^{1/2}\left(_0^Tv_m(s)^2𝑑s\right)^{1/2}|P_mAwAw|,$$

and hence $`\underset{m\mathrm{}}{lim}I_m^{(1)}=0`$.

$$I_m^{(2)}=|_{t_0}^t\stackrel{~}{B}(u_m(s)u_m(s),v_m(s),w_{D(A)^{}}ds|.$$

Again thanks to part (v) of Lemma 1

$$I_m^{(2)}\frac{c}{\lambda _1^{1/4}}_{t_0}^tu_m(s)u(s)|v_m(s)||Aw|𝑑s$$

and by Cauchy-Schwarz

$$I_m^{(2)}\frac{c}{\lambda _1^{1/4}}\left(_0^Tu_m(s)u(s)^2𝑑s\right)^{1/2}\left(_0^T|v_m(s)|^2𝑑s\right)^{1/2}|Aw|.$$

Since $`v_m`$ bounded in $`L^2([0,T];H)`$ and $`u_mu`$ in $`L^2([0,T],V)`$ we conclude that

$$\underset{m\mathrm{}}{lim}I_m^{(2)}=0.$$

Finally,

$$I_m^{(3)}=|_{t_0}^t\stackrel{~}{B}(u,vv_m),w_V^{}𝑑s|,$$

by virtue of part (v) in Lemma 1, and since $`v_mv`$ weakly in $`L^2([0,T];H)`$, we obtain

$$\underset{m\mathrm{}}{lim}I_m^{(3)}=0.$$

As a result of the above we have for every $`t_0,t[0,T]\backslash E`$

$`(v(t),w)+\nu {\displaystyle _{t_0}^t}(v(s),Aw)𝑑s`$ $`+{\displaystyle _{t_0}^t}\stackrel{~}{B}(u(s),v(s),w_{D(A)^{}}ds=`$
$`(v(t_0),w)+(f,w)(tt_0),`$
for every $`wD(A)`$. Notice that since $`v_m(t)_{L^{\mathrm{}}([0,T],V{}_{}{}^{})}k_1`$, and since $`v_m(t)v(t)`$ strongly in $`V^{}`$ for every $`t[0,T]\backslash E`$, we have $`v(t)_{L^{\mathrm{}}([0,T],V{}_{}{}^{})}k_1`$. Moreover, because $`D(A)`$ is dense in $`V^{}`$, (3) implies that $`v(t)C([0,T];V{}_{}{}^{})`$ or equivalently $`u(t)C([0,T],V)`$.

In particular, from (3) we conclude the existence of a regular solution for the system (7).

Uniqueness of regular solutions

Next we will show the continuous dependence of regular solutions on the initial data and, in particular, we show the uniqueness of regular solutions.

Let $`u`$ and $`\overline{u}`$ be any two solutions of equation (7) on the interval $`[0,T]`$, with initial values $`u(0)=u^{in}`$ and $`\overline{u}(0)=\overline{u}^{in}`$ respectively. Let us denote $`v=(\alpha _0^2u+\alpha _1^2Au)`$, $`\overline{v}=(\alpha _0^2\overline{u}+\alpha _1^2A\overline{u})`$, $`\delta u=u\overline{u}`$, and by $`\delta v=v\overline{v}`$. Then from equation (7) we get:

$$\frac{d}{dt}v+\nu Av+\stackrel{~}{B}(\delta u,v)+\stackrel{~}{B}(\overline{u},\delta v)=0.$$

The above equation holds in $`L^2([0,T],D(A){}_{}{}^{})`$, since $`\delta u`$ belongs to $`L^2([0,T],D(A))`$, the dual space of $`L^2([0,T],D(A){}_{}{}^{})`$, we use Lemma 1 to obtain

$$\frac{d}{dt}v,\delta u_{D(A)^{}}+\nu (\alpha _0^2\delta u^2+\alpha _1^2|A\delta u|^2)+\stackrel{~}{B}(\overline{u},\delta v),\delta u_{D(A)^{}}=0.$$

Notice that $`\frac{dv}{dt},\delta u_{D(A)^{}}=\frac{1}{2}\frac{d}{dt}(\alpha _0^2|\delta u|^2+\alpha _1^2\delta u^2)`$, (see, e.g., Temam , Chapter III, Lemma 1.2). As a result we have:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}}(\alpha _0^2|\delta u|^2+\alpha _1^2\delta u^2)+\nu (`$ $`\alpha _0^2\delta u^2+\alpha _1^2|A\delta u|^2)+`$
$`+\stackrel{~}{B}(\overline{u},\delta v),\delta u_{D(A)^{}}=0.`$
Now we use part (vi) of Lemma 1 to get

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}}(\alpha _0^2|\delta u|^2`$ $`+\alpha _1^2\delta u^2)+\nu (\alpha _0^2\delta u^2+\alpha _1^2|A\delta u|^2)`$
$`c(\overline{u}^{1/2}|A\overline{u}|^{1/2}|\delta v|\delta u|+|A\overline{u}||\delta v||\delta u|^{1/2}\delta u^{1/2})`$
and by Young’s inequality we have:

$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}}(\alpha _0^2|\delta u|^2`$ $`+\alpha _1^2\delta u^2)+\nu (\alpha _0^2\delta u^2+\alpha _1^2|A\delta u|^2)`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{c}{\nu }}(\overline{u}|A\overline{u}|\delta u^2+|A\overline{u}|^2|\delta u|\delta u)+`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{2}}(\alpha _0^2\delta u^2+\alpha _1^2|A\delta u|^2)`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{c}{2\nu \alpha _1^2\lambda _1^{1/2}}}|A\overline{u}|^2(\alpha _0^2|\delta u|^2+\alpha _1^2\delta u^2)+`$
$`+{\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{2}}(\alpha _0^2\delta u^2+\alpha _1^2|A\delta u|^2).`$
Hence,

$$(\alpha _0^2|\delta u(t)|^2+\alpha _1^2\delta u(t)^2)(\alpha _0^2|\delta u(0)|^2+\alpha _1^2\delta u(0)^2)\mathrm{exp}\left(_0^t\frac{c|A\overline{u}(s)|^2}{\nu \alpha _1^2\lambda _1^{1/2}}𝑑s\right).$$

Since $`\overline{u}L^2([0,T],D(A))`$ we conclude the continuous dependence of the solutions of (7) on the initial data on any bounded interval $`[0,T]`$. In particular, we conclude the uniqueness of regular solutions.

###### Remark 2.

Following the techniques introduced in  (see also  and ) we can easily show that if the forcing term, $`f`$, in equations (7) belongs to a certain Gevrey class of regularity then the solutions of (7) will instantaneously belong to a similar Gevrey class of regularity. Specifically, in this situation the solution will become analytic in space and time. In particular, one can also provide uniform lower bounds for the radii of analyticity (in space and in time) for the solutions that lie in the global attractor (see section 4 for the existence of a compact finite dimensional global attractor.) As a result of this Gevrey regularity one can also show that the Galerkin approximating solutions, introduced earlier, converge exponentially fast in the wave number $`m`$, as $`m\mathrm{}`$ (see, e.g., , , and ). Furthermore, one can use this Gevrey result to establish rigorous estimates for the dissipative small scales in equation (7) (see, e.g., ).

## 4. Estimating the dimension of the global attractor

Let $`S(t)`$ denote the semi-group of the solution operator to equation (7), i.e. $`u(t)=S(t)u^{in}`$. It can be easily shown, from the proof of Theorem 3 and Rellich’s Lemma (see ), that $`S(t)`$ is a compact semi-group. Let us recall (see (10)) that the ball $`B_1=\{uV:u\frac{R_0}{\alpha _1}\}`$ is an absorbing ball, in the space $`V`$. Consequently, the equation (7) has a nonempty compact global attractor

$$𝒜=_{s>0}\left(_{ts}S(t)B_1\right)$$

(see, e.g., ,  and ).

In this section we employ the trace formula (see, e.g., , , and ) to estimate the Hausdorff and fractal (box counting) dimensions of the global attractor $`𝒜`$ in terms of the physical parameters of the equation (1). First, let us recall the Lieb–Thirring inequality

###### Lemma 4 (The Lieb-Thirring inequality).

Let $`\{\psi _j\}_{j=1}^N`$ be an orthonormal set of functions in $`(H)^k=\underset{k\text{times}}{\underset{}{H\mathrm{}H}}`$. Then there exists a constant $`C_{LT}`$, which depends on $`k`$, but independent of $`N`$ such that

$$_\mathrm{\Omega }(\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}\psi _j(x)\psi _j(x))^{5/3}dxC_{LT}\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}_\mathrm{\Omega }(\psi _j(x):\psi _j(x))dx.$$
(19)
Next we will present a new technical Lemma which we will use in estimating the dimension of the global attractor.

###### Lemma 5.

Let $`\{\phi _j\}_{j=1}^NV`$ be an orthonormal set with respect to the inner product $`[,]`$ which is defined in (2), i.e.

$$[\phi _i,\phi _j]=\alpha _0^2(\phi _i,\phi _j)+\alpha _1^2((\phi _i,\phi _j))=\delta _{ij}.$$

Let $`\psi _j(x)=(\alpha _0\phi _j(x),\alpha _1\frac{}{x_1}\phi _j(x),\alpha _1\frac{}{x_2}\phi _j(x),\alpha _1\frac{}{x_3}\phi _j(x))^T,`$ and
$`\phi ^2(x)=_{j=1}^N(\phi _j(x)\phi _j(x))`$. Then, there exists a constant $`C_F`$, which is independent of $`N`$, such that

$$\phi (x)_L^{\mathrm{}}^2\frac{C_F}{\alpha _1^2}\left(\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}_\mathrm{\Omega }(\psi _j(x):\psi _j(x))dx\right)^{1/2}.$$
(20)
###### Proof.

Let $`\xi _j𝐑,j=1,\mathrm{},N`$, to be chosen later. By Agmon’s inequality (6) we have

$`\alpha _0^2|{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j(A^{1/2}\phi _j)(x)|^2+`$ $`\alpha _1^2|{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j\phi _j(x)|^2`$
$`c\alpha _0^2|{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j\phi _j|{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j\phi _j+c\alpha _1^2{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j\phi _j|{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _jA\phi _j|,`$
and by Cauchy-Schwarz

$`\alpha _0^2|{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j(A^{1/2}\phi _j)(x)|^2+\alpha _1^2|{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j\phi _j(x)|^2`$
$`c\left(\alpha _0^2|{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j\phi _j|^2+\alpha _1^2{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j\phi _j^2\right)^{1/2}\left(\alpha _0^2{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j\phi _j^2+\alpha _1^2|{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _jA\phi _j|^2\right)^{1/2}`$
$`c[{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j\phi _j,{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j\phi _j]^{1/2}\left({\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j^2\right)^{1/2}\left(\alpha _0^2{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j^2+\alpha _1^2{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}|A\phi _j|^2\right)^{1/2}.`$
Since $`[\phi _i,\phi _j]=\delta _{ij}`$ we have

$`\alpha _0^2|{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j(A^{1/2}\phi _j)(x)|^2+`$ $`\alpha _1^2|{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j\phi _j(x)|^2`$
$`c({\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j^2)\left(\alpha _0^2{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\phi _j^2+\alpha _1^2{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}|A\phi _j|^2\right)^{1/2}`$
$`c({\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\xi _j^2)\left({\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}(\psi _j:\psi _j)dx\right)^{1/2}.`$
Let $`i\{1,2,3\}`$ be fixed, we choose $`\xi _j=\phi _{ji}(x)`$, from the above we have

$$\alpha _1^2(\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}\phi _{ji}^2(x))^2c(\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}\phi _{ji}^2(x))\left(\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}_\mathrm{\Omega }(\psi _j(x):\psi _j(x))dx\right)^{1/2}.$$

Now we sum over $`i`$, $`i=1,2,3`$, to reach

$$\alpha _1^2\phi ^2(x)\left(\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}_\mathrm{\Omega }(\psi _j(x):\psi _j(x))dx\right)^{1/2},$$

which concludes our proof.

###### Theorem 6.

The Hausdorff and fractal dimensions of the global attractor of the viscous Camassa–Holm (NS$`\alpha `$) equations, $`d_H(𝒜)`$ and $`d_F(𝒜)`$, respectively, satisfy:

$$d_H(𝒜)d_F(𝒜)c\mathrm{max}\{G^{4/3}(\frac{1}{\gamma \alpha _1^2\lambda _1})^{2/3},G^{3/2}(\frac{1}{\alpha _0^4\gamma ^2\lambda _1\alpha _1^2})^{3/8}\},$$

where $`G=\frac{|f|}{\nu ^2\lambda _1^{3/4}}`$ is the Grashoff number and, as before, $`\frac{1}{\gamma }=\mathrm{min}\{\frac{1}{\alpha _0^2},\frac{1}{\alpha _1^2\lambda _1}\}`$.

###### Proof.

The linearized (7) equation about a regular solution $`u(t)`$ takes the form

$$\frac{d}{dt}\delta v+\nu A\delta v+\stackrel{~}{B}(\delta u,v)+\stackrel{~}{B}(u,\delta v)=0,$$
(21)
where $`v(t)=\alpha _0^2u+\alpha _1^2Au`$ and $`\delta v=\alpha _0^2\delta u+\alpha _1^2A\delta u`$. Notice that $`\delta u`$ evolves according to the equation

$$\frac{d}{dt}\delta u+\nu A\delta u+(\alpha _0^2I+\alpha _1^2A)^1[\stackrel{~}{B}(\delta u,\alpha _0^2u+\alpha _1^2Au)+\stackrel{~}{B}(u,\alpha _0^2\delta u+\alpha _1^2A\delta u)=0,$$
(22)
which we write symbolically as

$$\frac{d}{dt}\delta u+T(t)\delta u=0.$$

Let $`\delta u_j(0)`$, for $`j=1,\mathrm{},N`$, be a set of linearly independent vectors in $`V`$, and let $`\delta u_j(t)`$ be the corresponding solutions of (22) with initial value $`\delta u_j(0)`$, for $`j=1,\mathrm{},N`$. We denote

$$𝒯_N(t)=\mathrm{Trace}(P_N(t)T(t)|_{P_N(t)V}),$$
(23)
where $`P_N(t)V=𝐑\delta v_1(t)+𝐑\delta v_2(t)+\mathrm{}+𝐑\delta v_N(t)`$, and $`P_N(t)`$ is the orthogonal projector of $`V`$ onto $`P_N(t)V`$ with respect to the inner product $`[,]`$ given in (2).

Let $`\{\phi _j(t)\}_{j=1}^N`$ be an orthonormal basis, with respect to inner product $`[,]`$, of the space $`P_NV`$, i.e. $`[\phi _i,\phi _j]=\delta _{ij},i,j=1,\mathrm{},N`$. We set

$$\psi _j=(\alpha _0\phi _j,\alpha _1\frac{}{x_1}\phi _j,\alpha _1\frac{}{x_2}\phi _j,\alpha _1\frac{}{x_3}\phi _j)^T.$$

Notice that $`(\psi _j,\psi _k)=\delta _{jk},j,k=1,\mathrm{},N`$. We set

$`\psi ^2(x,t)`$ $`={\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}(\psi _j(x,t)\psi _j(x,t))`$
$`=\alpha _0^2{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\phi _j(x,t)\phi _j(x,t)+\alpha _1^2{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}(\phi _j(x,t):\phi _j(x,t))`$
Notice that by the Lieb-Thirring inequality (19)

$$_\mathrm{\Omega }(\psi (x,t))^{10/3}𝑑xC_{LT}Q_N(t),$$

where $`Q_N(t):=_{j=1}^N_\mathrm{\Omega }(\psi _j(x,t):\psi _j(x,t))dx`$.

Let us denote $`\theta _j(x,t)=\alpha _0^2\phi _j(x,t)+\alpha _1^2A\phi _j(x,t)`$, for $`j=1,\mathrm{},N`$. From (23) we have

$`𝒯_N(t)`$ $`={\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}[T(t)\phi _j(,t),\phi _j(,t)]`$
$`=\nu {\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}[A\phi _j,\phi _j]+{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}(\stackrel{~}{B}(\phi _j,v),\phi _j)+{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}(\stackrel{~}{B}(u,\theta _j),\phi _j),`$
and by virtue of ((v)) we have

$$𝒯_N(t)=\nu \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}[A\phi _j,\phi _j]+\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}(\stackrel{~}{B}(u,\theta _j),\phi _j).$$

Observe that

$`{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}[A\phi _j,\phi _j]`$ $`=\alpha _0^2{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}(A\phi _j,\phi _j)+\alpha _1^2{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}(A\phi _j,A\phi _j)=`$
$`={\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}(\psi _j(x,t):\psi _j(x,t))dx=Q_N(t).`$
Thus

$$𝒯_N(t)=\nu Q_N(t)+𝒥_N(t),$$
(24)
where $`𝒥_N(t):=_{j=1}^N(\stackrel{~}{B}(u,\theta _j),\phi _j)`$. Let us now estimate $`𝒥_N(t)`$. Using ((v)) and (3) we have

$`𝒥_N(t)`$ $`={\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}[((u)\theta _j,\phi _j)+((\phi _j)u,\theta _j)]`$
$`={\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}[((u)\phi _j,\theta _j)+((\phi _j)u,\theta _j)],`$
again by (3)

$$𝒥_N(t)=\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}[\alpha _1^2((u)\phi _j,A\phi _j)+\alpha _0^2((\phi _j)u,\phi _j)+\alpha _1^2((\phi _j)u,A\phi _j),$$

integrating by parts and using (3)

$`𝒥_N(t)`$ $`={\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{3}{}}}\alpha _1^2(({\displaystyle \frac{}{x_k}}u)\phi _j,{\displaystyle \frac{}{x_k}}\phi _j)+\alpha _0^2{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}((\phi _j)u,\phi _j)`$
$`\alpha _1^2{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{3}{}}}(({\displaystyle \frac{}{x_k}}u)u,{\displaystyle \frac{}{x_k}}\phi _j)\alpha _1^2{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}{\displaystyle \underset{k=1}{\overset{3}{}}}((\phi _j){\displaystyle \frac{}{x_k}}u,{\displaystyle \frac{}{x_k}}\phi _j).`$
Therefore,

$`|𝒥_N(t)|c{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}(u(x,t):u(x,t))^{1/2}\psi ^2(x,t)dx+`$
$`+c\alpha _1^2{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}\left[({\displaystyle \underset{i,k=1}{\overset{3}{}}}({\displaystyle \frac{^2}{x_ix_k}}u(x,t))^2)\phi ^2(x,t)({\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}(\phi _j(x,t):\phi _j(x,t)))\right]^{1/2}dx,`$
where $`\phi ^2(x,t)=_{j=1}^N(\phi _j(x,t)\phi _j(x,t))`$. As a result we have

$`|𝒥_N(t)|`$ $`c{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}(u(x,t):u(x,t))^{1/2}\psi ^2(x,t)dx+`$
$`+\alpha _1{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}\psi (x,t)\phi (x,t)({\displaystyle \underset{k,i=1}{\overset{3}{}}}({\displaystyle \frac{^2}{x_ix_k}}u(x,t))^2)^{1/2}𝑑x.`$
Thanks to (20) we have

$`|𝒥_N(t)|c{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}(u(x,t):u(x,t))^{1/2}\psi ^2(x,t)dx+`$
$`+C_F^{1/2}Q_N^{1/4}(t){\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}\left({\displaystyle \underset{k,i=1}{\overset{3}{}}}({\displaystyle \frac{^2}{x_ix_k}}u(x,t))^2\right)^{1/2}\psi (x,t)𝑑x,`$
and by the Hölder inequality we get

$$|𝒥_N(t)|cu_{L^{5/2}}\left(_\mathrm{\Omega }(\psi (x,t))^{10/3}𝑑x\right)^{3/5}+cQ_N^{1/4}(t)|Au|\left(_\mathrm{\Omega }\psi ^2(x,t)𝑑x\right)^{1/2}.$$

Since $`[\phi _i,\phi _j]=\delta _{ij}`$ we have $`_\mathrm{\Omega }\psi ^2(x,t)𝑑x=N`$. Therefore, the above gives

$$|𝒥_N(t)|cu_{L^{5/2}}\left(_\mathrm{\Omega }(\psi (x,t))^{10/3}𝑑x\right)^{3/5}+cQ_N^{1/4}(t)|Au|N^{1/2}.$$

Applying the Lieb–Thirring inequality (19) we obtain

$`|𝒥_N(t)|cc_{LT}`$ $`u_{L^{5/2}}\left({\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}(\psi _j(x,t):\psi _j(x,t))dx\right)^{3/5}+`$
$`+cQ_N^{1/4}(t)|Au|N^{1/2},`$
that is

$$|𝒥_N(t)|cu_{L^{5/2}}Q_N^{3/5}(t)+cQ_N^{1/4}(t)|Au|N^{1/2}.$$

Applying Young’s inequality

$$|𝒥_N(t)|\frac{c}{\nu ^{3/2}}u_{L^{5/2}}^{5/2}+\frac{\nu }{2}Q_N(t)+c|Au|^{4/3}\left(\frac{N^2}{\nu }\right)^{1/3},$$

then using Hölder’s inequality

$$|𝒥_N(t)|\frac{c}{\nu ^{3/2}}u_{L^2}^{7/4}u_{L^6}^{3/4}+\frac{\nu }{2}Q_N(t)+c|Au|^{4/3}\left(\frac{N^2}{\nu }\right)^{1/3},$$

and by virtue of the Sobolev inequality (5c) we obtain

$$|𝒥_N(t)|\frac{c}{\nu ^{3/2}}u^{1/2}u^{5/4}|Au|^{3/4}+\frac{\nu }{2}Q_N(t)+c|Au|^{4/3}\left(\frac{N^2}{\nu }\right)^{1/3}.$$

Using Young’s inequality again we reach

$$|𝒥_N(t)|\frac{c}{\nu ^{3/2}}\frac{u^{1/2}}{\alpha _0^{5/4}\alpha _1^{3/4}}(\alpha _0^2u^2+\alpha _1^2|Au|^2)+\frac{\nu }{2}Q_N(t)+c|Au|^{4/3}\left(\frac{N^2}{\nu }\right)^{1/3}.$$

Substituting in (24) we get:

$`𝒯_N(t)`$ $`{\displaystyle \frac{\nu }{2}}Q_N(t){\displaystyle \frac{c}{\nu ^{3/2}}}{\displaystyle \frac{u^{1/2}}{\alpha _0^{5/4}\alpha _1^{3/4}}}(\alpha _0^2u^2+\alpha _1^2|Au|^2)`$
$`c|Au|^{4/3}\left({\displaystyle \frac{N^2}{\nu }}\right)^{1/3}.`$
Now, we require $`N`$ to be large enough such that

$$\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim\; inf}\frac{1}{T}_0^T𝒯_N(s)𝑑s>0.$$
(25)
According to the trace formula (see ,  or ) such an $`N`$ will be an upper bound for the fractal and Hausdorff dimensions of the global attractor. Observe that from the asymptotic behavior of the eigenvalues of the operator $`A`$ there is a constant $`c_0`$ such that

$$\lambda _jc_0\lambda _1j^{2/3}\text{for}j=1,2,\mathrm{}.$$

Therefore, since $`Q_N(t)`$ is the trace of the operator $`A`$ restricted to some subspace of dimension $`N`$, we have

$$Q_N(t)\underset{j=1}{\overset{N}{}}\lambda _jc\lambda _1N^{5/3}.$$
(26)
Let us require $`N`$ to be large enough so that

$$\nu \lambda _1N^{5/3}c\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}\left(\frac{1}{T}_0^T|Au(s)|^{4/3}𝑑s\right)\left(\frac{N^2}{\nu }\right)^{1/3}$$

and

$$\nu \lambda _1N^{5/3}\frac{c}{\nu ^{3/2}\alpha _0^{5/4}\alpha _1^{3/4}}\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}\frac{1}{T}_0^Tu(s)^{1/2}(\alpha _0^2u(s)^2+\alpha _1^2|Au(s)|^2)𝑑s.$$

For such an $`N`$ the inequality (25) is satisfied, and thus $`N`$ provides an upper bound for the fractal and Hausdorff dimensions of the global attractor.

By Hölder’s inequality we have

$$\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}\frac{1}{T}_0^T|Au(s)|^{4/3}𝑑s\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}\left(\frac{1}{T}_0^T|Au(s)|^2\right)^{2/3}$$

and thanks to (11) we get

$$\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}\frac{1}{T}_0^T|Au(s)|^{4/3}𝑑s\left(\frac{G^2\nu ^2\lambda _1^{1/2}}{\gamma \alpha _1^2}\right)^{2/3}.$$

Therefore, from the above, (10) and (11) we have

$$d_H(𝒜)d_F(𝒜)c\mathrm{max}\{G^{4/3}\left(\frac{1}{\gamma \alpha _1^2\lambda _1}\right)^{2/3},G^{3/2}\left(\frac{1}{\alpha _0^2\gamma ^2\lambda _1\alpha _1^2}\right)^{3/8}\},$$

which concludes our proof.

## 5. Numbers of degrees of freedom in turbulent flows

An argument from the classical theory of turbulence  suggests that there are finitely many degrees of freedom in turbulent flows. Heuristic physical arguments are used to justify this assertion and to provide an estimate for this number of degrees of freedom by dividing a typical length scale of the flow, $`L`$, by the Kolmogorov dissipation length scale and taking the third power in $`3D`$. The resulting formula is usually expressed explicitly in terms of the mean rate of dissipation of energy and the kinematic viscosity. In analogy with this heuristic approach we will derive here an estimate for the “dissipation” length scale (i.e., what would correspond to the Kolmogorov length scale) for the viscous Camassa–Holm (NS$`\alpha `$) equations in terms of the mean rate of dissipation of “energy” and the kinematic viscosity. We will also show that the corresponding number of degrees of freedom is proportional to the dimension of the global attractor. This, in a sense, suggests that in the absence of boundary effects (e.g., in the case of periodic boundary conditions) the viscous Camassa–Holm equations represent, very well, the averaged equation of motion of turbulent flows. Hence, one is tempted to use the viscous Camassa–Holm equations as a closure model for the Reynolds equations, which represent the ensemble-averaged Navier–Stokes equations. Indeed, this idea motivated our studies in ,  and , and it also led to a physical derivation in  (see also ) of the viscous Camassa–Holm (NS$`\alpha `$) equations, in the inviscid case, as averaged equations.

As before, we denote $`v=\alpha _0^2u+\alpha _1^2Au`$, hence equation (7) and equation (9) take the form

$`{\displaystyle \frac{dv}{dt}}+\nu Av+\stackrel{~}{B}(u,v)=f`$ (27)
$`u(0)=u^{in}`$
We define

$$ϵ(u^{in})=\lambda _1^{3/2}\nu \left[\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}\frac{1}{T}_0^T(\alpha _0^2u(s)^2+\alpha _1^2|Au(s)|^2)𝑑s\right],$$
(28)
the mean rate of dissipation of “energy”, and

$$\overline{ϵ}=\underset{u^{in}𝒜}{sup}ϵ(u^{in}),$$

the maximal mean rate of dissipation of energy on the attractor. From equation (4), and since $`\psi ^2(x,t)𝑑x=N`$, we have:

$`|𝒥_N(t)|`$ $`c{\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}(u(x,t):u(x,t))^{1/2}\psi ^2(x,t)dx+`$
$`+cC_F^{1/2}Q_N^{1/4}(t)|Au|N^{1/2},`$
and by Hölder’s inequality we have

$$|𝒥_N(t)|cu_{L^6}\psi ^2_{L^{6/5}}+cQ_N^{1/4}(t)|Au|N^{1/2}.$$

Again by Hölder’s inequality and (5) we get

$`|𝒥_N(t)|`$ $`c|Au(t)|\left({\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}\psi ^2(x,t)𝑑x\right)^{7/12}\left({\displaystyle _\mathrm{\Omega }}(\psi ^2(x,t))^{5/3}𝑑x\right)^{1/4}+`$
$`+cQ_N^{1/4}(t)|Au(t)|N^{1/2}.`$
Using the Lieb–Thirring inequality (19) and $`\psi ^2(x,t)𝑑x=N`$ we obtain

$$|𝒥_N(t)|c|Au(t)|N^{7/12}Q_N^{1/4}(t)+cQ_N^{1/4}(t)|Au(t)|N^{1/2},$$

and, hence

$$|𝒥_N(t)|c|Au(t)|N^{7/12}Q_N^{1/4}(t).$$

After applying Young’s inequality to the above and substituting in equation (24) we obtain

$$𝒯_N(t)\frac{\nu }{2}Q_N(t)c\nu ^{1/3}N^{7/9}|Au(t)|^{4/3}.$$

Therefore, in order to satisfy (25), and based on the above, it suffices to choose $`N`$ large enough so that for every trajectory $`u(t)`$ on the global attractor $`𝒜`$ we have

$$\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim\; inf}\frac{1}{T}_0^T[\frac{\nu }{2}Q_N(t)c\nu ^{1/3}N^{7/9}|Au(t)|^{4/3}]𝑑t>0.$$

Therefore, such a large $`N`$ is an upper bound for the dimension of the global attractor. Based on (26) it suffices to require

$$\nu ^{4/3}\lambda _1N^{5/3}N^{7/9}>c\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}\frac{1}{T}_0^T|Au(s)|^{4/3}𝑑s,$$

for every solution $`u^{in}𝒜`$, i.e.,

$$\nu ^{4/3}\lambda _1N^{8/9}>c\underset{u^{in}𝒜}{sup}\left(\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}\frac{1}{T}_0^T|Au(s)|^{4/3}𝑑s\right).$$

On the other hand, using Hölder’s inequality and (28) we have

$`\underset{u^{in}𝒜}{sup}(\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}{\displaystyle \frac{1}{T}}{\displaystyle _0^T}|Au(s)|^{4/3}ds)\underset{u^{in}𝒜}{sup}(\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}({\displaystyle \frac{1}{T}}{\displaystyle _0^T}|Au(s)|^2ds)^{2/3}`$
$`\underset{u^{in}𝒜}{sup}(\underset{T\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}({\displaystyle \frac{1}{T\alpha _1^2}}{\displaystyle _0^T}(\alpha _0^2u(s)^2+\alpha _1^2|Au(s)|^2)ds)^{2/3}`$
$`\underset{u^{in}𝒜}{sup}\left({\displaystyle \frac{ϵ(u^{in})}{\nu \lambda _1^{1/2}(\alpha _1^2\lambda _1)}}\right)^{2/3}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\overline{ϵ}}{\nu \lambda _1^{1/2}(\alpha _1^2\lambda _1)}}\right)^{2/3}`$ .
Therefore, every $`N`$ large enough that

$$Nc\left(\frac{\overline{ϵ}}{\nu ^3\lambda _1^2(\alpha _1^2\lambda _1)}\right)^{3/4}$$
(29)
is an upper bound for the fractal dimension of the global attractor, and hence is an upper bound for the number of degrees of freedom in turbulent flows.

We set the dissipation length scale, in analogy with the Kolmogorov dissipation length scale in the classical theory of turbulence, to be

$$\mathrm{}_ϵ=\left(\frac{\nu ^3}{\overline{ϵ}}\right)^{1/4}.$$

Then equation (29) leades to the following

###### Theorem 7.

The Hausdorff and fractal dimensions of the global attractor of the viscous Camassa–Holm (NS$`\alpha `$) equations, $`d_H(𝒜)`$ and $`d_F(𝒜)`$, respectively, satisfy:

$$d_H(𝒜)d_F(𝒜)\frac{c}{(\alpha _1^2\lambda _1)^{3/4}}\left(\frac{1}{\mathrm{}_ϵ\lambda _1^{1/2}}\right)^3.$$

This estimate for the number of degrees of freedom is consistent with the conventional estimate a la Kolmogorov–Landau–Lifshitz . In particular, the number of degrees of freedom scales as the cube of the ratio of the domain size divided by the Kolmogorov dissipation length scale (times a factor involving the fixed $`\alpha _1`$).

## 6. Convergence to the Navier–Stokes equations

We observed earlier that the system (7) reduces to the Navier–Stokes for $`\alpha _0=1`$ and $`\alpha _1=0`$. In this section we will fix $`\alpha _0=1`$ and investigate the convergence of the solutions of the system (7) as $`\alpha _10^+`$, and relate the limit to the Navier–Stokes equations. We will be studying further the relation between solutions of the system (7) and the $`3D`$ Navier–Stokes equation in a subsequent work.

###### Theorem 8.

Let $`fH`$, $`u^{in}V`$ and $`\alpha _0=1`$. Let $`u_{\alpha _1}`$ and $`v_{\alpha _1}=u_{\alpha _1}+\alpha _1^2Au_{\alpha _1}`$ denote the solution of the initial-value problem (7) (or equivalently (27)). Then there are subsequences $`u_{\alpha _1^j}`$, $`v_{\alpha _1^j}`$, and a function $`u`$ such that as $`\alpha _1^j0^+`$ we have:
(i) $`u_{\alpha _1^j}u`$, strongly in $`L_{\text{loc}}^2([0,\mathrm{});H)`$;
(ii) $`u_{\alpha _1^j}u`$, weakly in $`L_{\text{loc}}^2([0,\mathrm{});V)`$;
(iii) for every $`T(0,\mathrm{})`$ and every $`wH`$ we have $`(u_{\alpha _1^j}(t),w)(u(t),w)`$ uniformly on $`[0,T]`$;
(iv) $`v_{\alpha _1^j}u`$ weakly in $`L_{\text{loc}}^2([0,\mathrm{});H)`$ and strongly in $`L_{\text{loc}}^2([0,\mathrm{});V{}_{}{}^{})`$.
Furthermore, $`u`$ is a weak solution of the $`3D`$ Navier–Stokes equations with the initial data $`u(0)=u^{in}`$ (for the definition of weak solutions to the $`3D`$ Navier–Stokes equations see  and .)

###### Proof.

Let $`T>0`$ be fixed. From the proof of Theorem 3 and by passing to the limit one can show that the estimates (14) and (3) also hold for the exact solution of the system (7). That is

$$|u_{\alpha _1}(t)|^2+\alpha _1^2u_{\alpha _1}(t)^2k_1,$$

and

$$\nu _0^T(u_{\alpha _1}(s)^2+\alpha _1^2|Au_{\alpha _1}(s)|^2)𝑑s\overline{k}_2(T).$$

This implies that there are subsequences $`\{u_{\alpha _1^j}\}`$ and $`\{v_{\alpha _1^j}\}`$, and corresponding functions $`u`$ and $`v`$ such that:

$$\{u_{\alpha _1^j}\}u\text{weakly in}L^2([0,T];V),$$

and

$$\{v_{\alpha _1^j}\}v\text{weakly in}L^2([0,T];H),$$

as $`\alpha _1^j0^+`$.

Next we will use the above estimates and equation (7) to show that

$$_0^T\left|A^1\frac{du_{\alpha _1}(t)}{dt}\right|^2𝑑t=_0^T\frac{du_{\alpha _1}(t)}{dt}_{D(A)^{}}^2𝑑tK(T),$$
(30)
for some constant $`K`$ which depends on $`T`$, but is independent of $`\alpha _1`$. Indeed, from equation (7) (or equivalently (27)) we have

$$\frac{du_{\alpha _1}}{dt}+\nu Au_{\alpha _1}+(I+\alpha _{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}A)^1\stackrel{~}{B}(u_{\alpha _1},v_{\alpha _1})=(I+\alpha _{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}A)^1f.$$

Thus,

$$\left|A^1\frac{du_{\alpha _1}(t)}{dt}\right|\nu |u_{\alpha _1}|+|A^1(I+\alpha _{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}A)^1\stackrel{~}{B}(u_{\alpha _1},v_{\alpha _1})|+|A^1f|.$$

In order to prove (30) we only need to find the proper estimate for

$$|A^1(I+\alpha _{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}A)^1\stackrel{~}{B}(u_{\alpha _1},v_{\alpha _1})||A^1\stackrel{~}{B}(u_{\alpha _1},v_{\alpha _1})|.$$

Applying part (v) of Lemma 1 we obtain

$`|A^1\stackrel{~}{B}(u_{\alpha _1},v_{\alpha _1})|`$ $``$ $`c\left(|u_{\alpha _1}|^{1/2}u_{\alpha _1}^{1/2}|v_{\alpha _1}|+\lambda _1^{1/4}|v_{\alpha _1}|u_{\alpha _1}\right)`$
$``$ $`2c\lambda _1^{1/4}|v_{\alpha _1}|u_{\alpha _1}`$
$``$ $`2c\lambda _1^{1/4}u_{\alpha _1}(|u_{\alpha _1}|+\alpha _{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}|Au_{\alpha _1}|).`$
As a result of the above estimates we have

$`|A^1\stackrel{~}{B}(u_{\alpha _1},v_{\alpha _1})|^2`$ $``$ $`8c^2\lambda _1^{1/2}\left(u_{\alpha _1}^2|u_{\alpha _1}|^2+(\alpha _{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}u_{\alpha _1}^2)(\alpha _{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}|Au_{\alpha _1}|^2)\right)`$
$``$ $`8c^2\lambda _1^{1/2}k_1\left(u_{\alpha _1}^2+\alpha _{1}^{}{}_{}{}^{2}|Au_{\alpha _1}|^2\right),`$
and by integrating the above estimate over the interval $`[0,T]`$ we have

$$_0^T|A^1\stackrel{~}{B}(u_{\alpha _1}(t),v_{\alpha _1}(t))|^2𝑑t\frac{\overline{k}_2(T)}{\nu }8c^2\lambda _1^{1/2}k_1.$$

From all the above we conclude (30).

By virtue of the above estimates and Aubin’s compactness Theorem (see, e.g., , , or ) there exists a subsequence, which will also be labeled by $`\{u_{\alpha _1^j}\}`$, that converges to $`u`$ strongly in $`L^2([0,T];H)`$. Furthermore, since

$$_0^T|A^{1/2}(v_{\alpha _1^j}(t)u_{\alpha _1^j}(t))|^2𝑑t=(\alpha _1^j)^2_0^Tu_{\alpha _1^j}(t)^2𝑑t(\alpha _1^j)^2\frac{\overline{k}_2(T)}{\nu },$$

we have that $`v_{\alpha _1^j}u`$ strongly in $`L^2([0,T];V{}_{}{}^{})`$, as $`\alpha _1^j0^+`$; and that $`v(t)=u(t)`$ a.e. in $`[0,T]`$.

As a result of these estimates one can extract subsequences, which will be also labeled by $`\{u_{\alpha _1^j}\}`$ and $`\{v_{\alpha _1^j}\}`$, respectively, and show that as $`\alpha _1^j0^+`$

$$\stackrel{~}{B}(u_{\alpha _1^j},v_{\alpha _1^j})\stackrel{~}{B}(u,u)=B(u,u)\text{weakly in }L^2([0,T];D(A){}_{}{}^{}),$$

by following an approach similar to that used in the proof of Theorem 3. This finishes the proof of the Theorem.

## Acknowledgments

This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation. The main part of this research was performed while CF and EST were visiting scholars at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1997. We would like to thank S. Chen, C. F. Keller and L. G. Margolin for kind hospitality and encouragement.