Godbillon-Vey invariants of non-Lorentzian spacetimes and Aristotelian hydrodynamics

Abstract We study the geometry of foliated non-Lorentzian spacetimes in terms of the Godbillon-Vey class of the foliation. We relate the intrinsic torsion of a foliated Aristotelian manifold to its Godbillon-Vey class, and interpret it as a measure of the local spin of the spatial leaves in the time direction. With this characterisation, the Godbillon-Vey class is an obstruction to integrability of the G -structure defining the Aristotelian spacetime. We use these notions to formulate a new geometric approach to hydrodynamics of fluid flows by endowing them with Aristotelian structures. We establish conditions under which the Godbillon-Vey class represents an obstruction to steady flow of the fluid and prove new conservation laws.