GLOBAL EXISTENCE TO THE NAVIER–STOKES EQUATIONS THROUGH A SELF-SIMILAR-LIKE UPPER SOLUTION

A global existence result is presented for the Navier–Stokes equations filling out all of three-dimensional Euclidean space ℝ3. The initial velocity is required to have a bell-like form. The method of proof is based on symmetry transformations of the Navier–Stokes equations and a specific upper solution to the heat equation in ℝ3× [0, 1]. This upper solution has a self-similar-like form and models the diffusion process of the heat equation. By a symmetry transformation, the problem is transformed into an equivalent one having a very small initial velocity. Using the upper solution, the equivalent problem is then solved in the time interval [0, 1]. This local solution is then extended to the time interval [0, ∞) by an iterative process. At each step, the problem is extended further in time in an interval of time whose length is greater than one, thus producing the global solution. Each extension is transformed, by an appropriate change of variables, into the first local problem in the time interval [0, 1]. These transformations exploit the diffusive and self-similar-like nature of the upper solution.