Home›Open Questions›Do smooth, globally defined solutions to the three dimensional Navier-Stokes equations always exist, or can a solution break down in finite time?Open QuestionsDo smooth, globally defined solutions to the three dimensional Navier-Stokes equations always exist, or can a solution break down in finite time?Citation FormatsGeneral ReferenceGeneral Reference Citation TextMathematics Atlas. "Do smooth, globally defined solutions to the three dimensional Navier-Stokes equations always exist, or can a solution break down in finite time?." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-mathematics.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/navier-stokes-existence-and-smoothness-open-question.Copy General ReferenceAPA StyleAPA Style Citation TextMathematics Atlas. (n.d.). Do smooth, globally defined solutions to the three dimensional Navier-Stokes equations always exist, or can a solution break down in finite time?. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-mathematics.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/navier-stokes-existence-and-smoothness-open-questionCopy APA StyleBibTeXBibTeX Citation Text@misc{mathematicsatlas-do-smooth-globally-defined-solutions-to, author = {Mathematics Atlas}, title = {Do smooth, globally defined solutions to the three dimensional Navier-Stokes equations always exist, or can a solution break down in finite time?}, year = {2026}, url = {https://dev-mathematics.interactiveatlas.org/open-questions-index/navier-stokes-existence-and-smoothness-open-question}, note = {Accessed August 30, 2026} }Copy BibTeXOpen QuestionCross-Tradition ConnectionsSourcesComments (0)Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)Open QuestionAs the Clay Mathematics Institute's own official problem statement puts it, standard methods from partial differential equations appear inadequate, and whether solutions even exist in general was, at the time of writing, unknown.What would resolve this A proof that smooth solutions always exist on ordinary three dimensional space or the three dimensional torus given smooth initial data, or a single explicit case where a solution breaks down in finite time.OpenPartial differential equations and fluid dynamicsClay Mathematics InstituteCross-Tradition ConnectionsQuestion OnNavier-Stokes Existence and Smoothness, Conjectures Well-attested Source Clay Mathematics Institutetier 1SourcesClay Mathematics Institutetier 1Clay Mathematics Institutehttps://www.claymath.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/navierstokes.pdfView the SourceComments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearThe atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.Show This Year