Direct discovery · Mathematics · Physics
Alpöge and Buckmaster publish AI-assisted smooth-forcing Boussinesq blowup construction
A two-dimensional inviscid Boussinesq construction with smooth forcing, bounded temperature, and finite-time divergence of temperature gradients and vorticity.
Summary
The manuscript extends a multiscale fluid-blowup program with smooth forcing in both Boussinesq equations. Its AI statement describes extensive model-assisted proof iteration. September 7 is the dated public exposition by Terence Tao confirming the manuscript was available, not the date of first private discovery; the authors report an earlier, different construction on August 15.
AI role
Claude and Codex helped iterate on mathematical ansätze, proofs and exposition; the mathematicians supplied prior methods, alternative architectures and manual revisions.
Narrative role
This documents human-directed AI contributions to a concrete fluid-dynamics proof and preserves the distinction from contemporaneous Euler and Navier–Stokes claims. Tao’s technical exposition supplies a limited external check of the mechanism.
Caveat
The result uses external forcing and concerns Boussinesq, not full Navier–Stokes. Tao explicitly had not digested all technical details; external checking here means substantive exposition, not a complete proof certification.