Problem in understanding current of fluid flow and equation of fluid motion

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The following paragraph is taken from a book on Lie groups, but I am not understanding the description.


A linear transformation $X$ of a vector space $E$ over real or complex can be though of as a vector field: $X$ associates to each $p$ in $E$ the vector $X(p)$.

For example, consider fluid motion.

The velocity of the fluid particles passing through the point $p$ is always $X(p)$. [it is always $X(p)$, or we are denoting it by a vector $X(p)$?]

The vector field is then the current of the flow [what it means?], and the paths of the fluid particles are trajectories.

Consider the trajectory of the fluid particle that passes through a certain point $p_0$ at time $t=t_0$.

If $p(t)$ is its position at time $t$, then its velocity at this time is $p'(t)=d p(t)/dt$.

Since the current at $p(t)$ is supposed to be $X(p(t))$ [why?], one finds that $p(t)$ satisfies the differential equation (how?) $$ p'(t)=X(p(t)) $$ together with the initial condition $p(\mbox{at }t=0)=t_0$.


I searched in Google the term "current in fluid", but I found only Wiki link, with only definition, but no explanation/examples. So I was unable to proceed in the understanding of above paragraph.

Also, I am away from Mathematical Physics from more than 15 years, so it would be great help if one can explain it.

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The book's description is not great, to be honest. You will occasionally hear the term "fluid current" used, but it's not that common. Really, the vector field $X$ represents the velocity of the fluid. So $X(p)$ is the velocity of the fluid at a point $p$ (i.e. the velocity of a particle of the fluid at the point $p$). Note in this case, since $X$ does not explicitly depend on time $t$, one is assuming that the velocity field $X$ is time independent, i.e. the flow is steady. You can also have the case that the velocity field depends on time, in which case the velocity of the fluid at point $p$ and time $t$ would be $X(p,t)$.

Now suppose you track the position of one specific fluid particle over time, and denote that by $p(t)$. Its velocity at time $t$ is just $p'(t)$. But by assumption, the velocity of the fluid at $p(t)$ is $X(p(t))$. These must be equal, which is where the equation $p'(t) = X(p(t))$ comes from. Mathematically, the curve $t\mapsto p(t)$ is called an integral curve of the vector field $X$.