Topological Aspects of the Dynamics of Fluids and Plasmas

I. Introductory Lectures.- Relaxation under Topological Constraints.- Knot Theory, Jones’ Polynomials, Invariants of 3-Manifolds, and the Topological Theory of Fluid Dynamics.- Topology of Knots.- Stretching and Alignment in General Flow Fields: Classical Trajectories from Reynolds Number Zero to Infinity.- Fast Dynamo Theory.- II. Relaxation and Minimum Energy States.- Relaxation and Topology in Plasma Experiments.- Taylor’s Relaxation in an Unbounded Domain of Space.- Force-Free Magnetic Fields with Constant Alpha.- Minimum Energy Magnetic Fields with Toroidal Topology.- Research Announcement on the “Energy” of Knots.- III. Helicity, Linkage, and Flow Topology.- The Helicity of a Knotted Vortex Filament.- A Heirarchy of Linking Integrals.- Borromeanism and Bordism.- Topology of Steady Fluid Flows.- IV. The Euler Equations: Extremal Properties and Finite Time Singularities.- Extremal Properties and Hamiltonian Structure of the Euler Equations.- Blow Up in Axisymmetric Euler Flows.- Is There a Finite-Time Singularity in Axisymmetric Euler Flows?.- Evidence for a Singularity of the Three-Dimensional Incompressible Euler Equations.- Singularity Formation on Vortex Sheets: The Raleigh-Taylor Problem.- V. Vortex Interactions and the Structure of Turbulence.- 2D Turbulence: New Results for Re ? ?.- On Vortex Reconnection and Turbulence.- New Aspects of Vortex Dynamics: Helical Waves, Core Dynamics, Viscous Helicity Generation, and Interaction with Turbulence.- Intermittency Growth in 3D Turbulence.- Dynamical Mechanisms for Intermittency Effects in Fully Developed Turbulence.- The Multispiral Model of Turbulence and Intermittency.- Measurements of Local Scaling of Turbulent Velocity Fields at High Reynolds Numbers.- On the Determination of Universal MultifractalParameters in Turbulence.- VI. Chaos, Instability and Dynamo Theory.- Anomolous Transport and Fractal Kinectics.- Kinematical Instability and Line-Stretching in Relation to the Geodesics of Fluid Motion.- The Behavior of Active and Passive Particles in a Chaotic Flow.- Chaos Associated with Fluid Inertia.- Instability Criteria in Fluid Dynamics.- Localized Instabilities in Fluids.- Kinematic Fast Dynamo Action in a Time-Periodic Chaotic Flow.- An Exact Turbulent Closure for the Hydromagnetic Dynamo.- Author Index.