Infinitesimal quantum group from helicity in fluid mechanics

Abstract

Arnold showed that the Euler equations of an ideal fluid describe geodesics in the Lie algebra of incompressible vector fields. We will show that helicity induces a splitting of the Lie algebra into two isotropic subspaces, forming a Manin triple. Viewed another way, this shows that there is an infinitesimal quantum group (a.k.a. Lie bi-algebra) underlying classical fluid mechanics.