Stable nearly self-similar blowup of the 2D Boussinesq and 3D Euler equations with smooth data I: Analysis

Inspired by the numerical evidence of a potential 3D Euler singularity [Luo-Hou-14a, Luo-Hou-14b], we prove finite time blowup of the 2D Boussinesq and 3D axisymmetric Euler equations with smooth initial data of finite energy and boundary. There are several essential difficulties in proving finite time blowup of 3D Euler with smooth initial data. One of the essential difficulties is to control a number of nonlocal terms that do not seem to offer any damping effect. Another essential difficulty is that the strong advection normal to the boundary introduces a large growth factor for the perturbation if we use weighted L² estimates. We overcome this difficulty by using a combination of a weighted L∞ norm and a weighted C^(1/2) norm, and develop sharp functional inequalities using the symmetry properties of the kernels and some techniques from optimal transport. Moreover we decompose the linearized operator into a leading order operator plus a finite rank operator. The leading order operator is designed in such a way that we can obtain sharp stability estimates. The contribution from the finite rank operator can be captured by an auxiliary variable and its contribution to linear stability can be estimated by constructing approximate solution in space-time. This enables us to establish nonlinear stability of the approximate self-similar profile and prove stable nearly self-similar blowup of the 2D Boussinesq and 3D Euler equations with smooth initial data and boundary.