On the atmosphere of a moving body

Abstract

We explore whether a rigid body moving freely with no circulation around it in a two-dimensional ideal fluid can carry a fluid "atmosphere" with it in its motion. Somewhat surprisingly, the answer appears to be "yes." When the body is elongated and the motion is dominated by rotation, we demonstrate numerically that, indeed, regions of fluid follow the body in its motion. We see this as an example of the stability of Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser tori. These observations of an atmosphere around a moving body with no circulation around it appear to be new.