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Beltrami fields with a nonconstant proportionality factor are rare
We consider the existence of Beltrami fields with a nonconstant
proportionality factor in an open subset of . By
reformulating this problem as a constrained evolution equation on a surface, we
find an explicit differential equation that must satisfy whenever there is
a nontrivial Beltrami field with this factor. This ensures that there are no
nontrivial solutions for an open and dense set of factors in the
topology. In particular, there are no nontrivial Beltrami fields whenever
has a regular level set diffeomorphic to the sphere. This provides an
explanation of the helical flow paradox of Morgulis, Yudovich and Zaslavsky.Comment: 13 page
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