Statistical Mechanics, Euler's Equation and 
                   Jupiter's Great Red Spot.  

                             by 

                   Peter Weichman (Caltech, Physics)


             INSCC 110, 3:30pm  Monday, April 6, 1998


                          Abstract

The formation of long lived, large scale vortex
structures (as exemplified by the Great Red Spot of Jupiter)
in effectively two dimensional flows will be discussed in
the context of equilibrium statistical mechanics.  In particular
it will be shown that such structures may be described quantitatively
as thermodynamic equilibrium states of the two-dimensional inviscid
Euler equation.  The infinite number of conservation laws embodied
in the Euler equation are explicitly accounted for in the theory
and determine the detailed shape and size of the vortex structure.


Requests for preprints and reprints to: pbw@styx.caltech.edu
This source can be found at http://www.math.utah.edu/applied-math/