Continuity Properties and Global Attractors of Generalized Semiflows and the Navier-Stokes Equations

A class of semiflows having possibly nonunique solutions is defined. The measurability and continuity properties of such generalized semiflows are studied. It is shown that a generalized semiflow has a global attractor if and only if it is pointwise dissipative and asymptotically compact. The structure of the global attractor in the presence of a Lyapunov function, and its connectedness and stability properties are studied. In particular, examples are given in which the global attractor is a single point but is not Lyapunov stable. The existence of a global attractor for the 3D incompressible Navier-Stokes equations is established under the (unproved) hypothesis that all weak solutions are continuous from (0, ∞) to L2.