Non-uniqueness of Leray weak solutions of the forced MHD equations

Abstract: In this paper, we exhibit non-uniqueness of Leray weak solutions of the forced magnetohydrodynamic (MHD for short) equations. Similar to the solutions constructed in \cite{ABC2}, we first find a special steady solution of ideal MHD equations whose linear unstability was proved in \cite{Lin}. It is possible to perturb the unstable scenario of ideal MHD to 3D viscous and resistive MHD equations, which can be regarded as the first unstable "background" solution. Our perturbation argument is based on the spectral theoretic approach \cite{Kato}. The second solution we would construct is a trajectory on the unstable manifold associated to the unstable steady solution. It is worth noting that these solutions live precisely on the borderline of the known well-posedness theory.