Large-scale anisotropy in scalar turbulence

The effect of anisotropy on the statistics of a passive tracer transported by a turbulent flow is investigated. We show that under broad conditions an arbitrarily small amount of anisotropy propagates to the large scales where it eventually dominates the structure of the concentration field. This result is obtained analytically in the framework of an exactly solvable model and confirmed by numerical simulations of scalar transport in two-dimensional turbulence.     

Bifurcation structures of periodically forced oscillators

A theoretical investigation of bifurcation structures of periodically forced oscillators is presented. In the plane of forcing frequency and amplitude, subharmonic entrainment occurs in v-shaped (Arnol'd) tongues, or entrainment bands, for small forcing amplitudes. These tongues terminate at higher forcing amplitudes. Between these two limits, individual tongues fit together to form a global bifurcation structure. The regime in which the forcing amplitude is much smaller than the amplitude of the limit cycle is first examined. Using the method of multiple time scales, expressions for solutions on the invariant torus, widths of Arnol'd tongues, and Liapunov exponents of periodic orbits are derived. Next, the regime of moderate to large forcing amplitudes is examined through studying a periodically forced Hopf bifurcation. In this case the forcing amplitude and the amplitude of the limit cycle can be of the same order of magnitude. From a study of the normal forms for this case, it is shown how Arnol'd tongues terminate and how complicated bifurcation structures are associated with strong resonances. Aspects of model and experimental chemical systems that show some of the phenomena predicted from the above theoretical results are mentioned.     

Force spectroscopy of single multidomain biopolymers: A master equation approach

Experiments using atomic force microscopy for unfolding single multidomain biopolymers cover a broad range of time scales from equilibrium to non-equilibrium. A master equation approach allows to identify and treat coherently three dynamical regimes for increasing linear ramp velocity: i) an equilibrium regime, ii) a transient regime where refolding events still occur, and iii) a saw-tooth regime without any refolding events. For each regime, analytical approximations are derived and compared to numerically investigated examples. We analyze in the framework of this model also a periodic experimental protocol instead of a linear ramp. In this case, a major simplification arises if the dynamics can be restricted to an effectively two-dimensional subspace. For transitions with an intermediate meta-stable state, like Immunoglobulin27, a refined model allows to extract previously unknown molecular parameters related to this meta-stable state.     

Phenomenology of two-dimensional stably stratified turbulence under large-scale forcing

In this paper, we characterise the scaling of energy spectra, and the interscale transfer of energy and enstrophy, for strongly, moderately and weakly stably stratified two-dimensional (2D) turbulence, restricted in a vertical plane, under large-scale random forcing. In the strongly stratified case, a large-scale vertically sheared horizontal flow (VSHF) coexists with small scale turbulence. The VSHF consists of internal gravity waves and the turbulent flow has a kinetic energy (KE) spectrum that follows an approximate k^?3 scaling with zero KE flux and a robust positive enstrophy flux. The spectrum of the turbulent potential energy (PE) also approximately follows a k^?3 power-law and its flux is directed to small scales. For moderate stratification, there is no VSHF and the KE of the turbulent flow exhibits Bolgiano–Obukhov scaling that transitions from a shallow k^?11/5 form at large scales, to a steeper approximate k^?3 scaling at small scales. The entire range of scales shows a strong forward enstrophy flux, and interestingly, large (small) scales show an inverse (forward) KE flux. The PE flux in this regime is directed to small scales, and the PE spectrum is characterised by an approximate k^?1.64 scaling. Finally, for weak stratification, KE is transferred upscale and its spectrum closely follows a k^?2.5 scaling, while PE exhibits a forward transfer and its spectrum shows an approximate k^?1.6 power-law. For all stratification strengths, the total energy always flows from large to small scales and almost all the spectral indicies are well explained by accounting for the scale-dependent nature of the corresponding flux.     

Critical behavior of magnetic thin films

We study the critical behavior of magnetic thin films as a function of the film thickness. We use the ferromagnetic Ising model with the high-resolution multiple histogram Monte Carlo (MC) simulation. We show that though the 2D behavior remains dominant at small thicknesses, there is a systematic continuous deviation of the critical exponents from their 2D values. We explain these deviations using the concept of “effective” exponents suggested by Capehart and Fisher in a finite size analysis. The shift of the critical temperature with the film thickness obtained here by MC simulation is in an excellent agreement with their prediction.     

Statistics of particle pair relative velocity in the homogeneous shear flow

Small scale clustering of inertial particles and relative velocity of particle pairs have been fully characterized for statistically steady homogeneous isotropic flows. Depending on the particle Stokes relaxation time, the spatial distribution of the disperse phase results in a multi-scale manifold characterized by local particle concentration and voids and, because of finite inertia, the two nearby particles have high probability to exhibit large relative velocities. Both effects might explain the speed-up of particle collision rate in turbulent flows. Recently it has been shown that the large scale geometry of the flow plays a crucial role in organizing small scale particle clusters. For instance, a mean shear preferentially orients particle patterns. In this case, depending on the Stokes time, anisotropic clustering may occur even in the inertial range of scales where the turbulent fluctuations which drive the particles have already recovered isotropy. Here we consider the statistics of particle pair relative velocity in the homogeneous shear flow, the prototypical flow which manifests anisotropic clustering at small scales. We show that the mean shear, by imprinting anisotropy on the large scale velocity fluctuations, dramatically affects the particle relative velocity distribution even in the range of small scales where the anisotropic mechanisms of turbulent kinetic energy production are sub-dominant with respect to the inertial energy transfer which drives the carrier fluid velocity towards isotropy. We find that the particles’ populations which manifest strong anisotropy in their relative velocities are the same which exhibit small scale clustering. In contrast to any Kolmogorov-like picture of turbulent transport these phenomena may persist even below the smallest dissipative scales where the residual level of anisotropy may eventually blow-up. The observed anisotropy of particle relative velocity and spatial configuration is suggested to influence the directionality of the collision probability, as inferred on the basis of the so-called “ghost collision” model.     

黏性各向异性磁流体Kelvin-Helmholtz不稳定性:二维数值研究

利用corner transport upwind和constrained transport算法求解非理想磁流体动力学方程组,对匀强平行磁场作用下,黏性各向异性等离子体自由剪切层中的Kelvin-Helmholtz不稳定性进行了数值模拟.从流动结构、涡结构演化、磁场分布、横向磁压力、抗弯磁张力等角度对各向同性和各向异性黏性算例结果进行了讨论,分析了黏性各向异性对Kelvin-Helmholtz不稳定性的影响.结果表明,黏性各向异性比黏性各向同性更利于流动的稳定.其稳定性作用是由于磁感线方向上剪切速率降低导致界面卷起程度和圈数的降低,并使卷起结构中小涡产生增殖、合并,破坏了涡的常规增长,从而导致流动的稳定.黏性各向异性对横向磁压力的影响比对抗弯磁张力更大.     

Scaling of a Slope: The Erosion of Tilted Landscapes

We formulate a stochastic equation to model the erosion of a surface with fixed inclination. Because the inclination imposes a preferred direction for material transport, the problem is intrinsically anisotropic. At zeroth order, the anisotropy manifests itself in a linear equation that predicts that the prefactor of the surface height–height correlations depends on direction. The first higher order nonlinear contribution from the anisotropy is studied by applying the dynamic renormalization group. Assuming an inhomogeneous distribution of soil substrate that is modeled by a source of static noise, we estimate the scaling exponents at first order in an ε-expansion. These exponents also depend on direction. We compare these predictions with empirical measurements made from real landscapes and find good agreement. We propose that our anisotropic theory applies principally to small scales and that a previously proposed isotropic theory applies principally to larger scales. Lastly, by considering our model as a transport equation for a driven diffusive system, we construct scaling arguments for the size distribution of erosion “events” or “avalanches.” We derive a relationship between the exponents characterizing the surface anisotropy and the avalanche size distribution, and indicate how this result may be used to interpret previous findings of power-law size distributions in real submarine avalanches.     

Numerical investigation of scaling regimes in a model of an anisotropically advected vector field

Influence of strong uniaxial small-scale anisotropy on the stability of inertial-range scaling regimes in a model of a passive transverse vector field advected by an incompressible turbulent flow is investigated by means of the field theoretic renormalization group. Turbulent fluctuations of the velocity field are taken to have the Gaussian statistics with zero mean and defined noise with finite correlations in time. It is shown that stability of the inertial-range scaling regimes in the three-dimensional case is not destroyed by anisotropy, but the corresponding stability of the two-dimensional system can be corrupted by the presence of anisotropy. A borderline dimension d _c below which the stability of the scaling regime is not present is calculated as a function of anisotropy parameters. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

Chaotic dynamics of a bouncing ball

A detailed study of a mapping on a two-dimensional manifold is made. The mapping describes a system subject to periodic forcing, in particular an imperfectly elastic ball bouncing on a vibrating platform. Quasiperiodic motion on a one-dimensional manifold is proven, and observed numerically, at low forcing, while at higher forcing Smale horseshoes are present. We examine the evolution of the attracting set with changing parameter. Spatial structure is oganised by fixed points of the mapping and sudden changes occur by crises. A new type of chaos, in which a trajectory alternates between two distinct chaotic regions, is described and explained in terms of manifold collisions. Throughout we are concerned to examine the behaviour of Lyapunov exponents. Typical behaviour of Lyapunov exponents in the quasiperiodic regime under the influence of external noise is discussed. At higher forcing a certain symmetry of the attractor allows an analytic expression for the exponents to be given.     

Universality and saturation of intermittency in passive scalar turbulence

The statistical properties of a scalar field advected by the nonintermittent Navier-Stokes flow arising from a two-dimensional inverse energy cascade are investigated. The universality properties of the scalar field are probed by comparing the results obtained with two types of injection mechanisms. Scaling properties are shown to be universal, even though anisotropies injected at large scales persist down to the smallest scales and local isotropy is not fully restored. Scalar statistics is strongly intermittent and scaling exponents saturate to a constant for sufficiently high orders. This is observed also for the advection by a velocity field rapidly changing in time, pointing to the genericity of the phenomenon.     

Dynamic multiscaling in two-dimensional fluid turbulence

We obtain, by extensive direct numerical simulations, time-dependent and equal-time structure functions for the vorticity, in both quasi-Lagrangian and Eulerian frames, for the direct-cascade regime in two-dimensional fluid turbulence with air-drag-induced friction. We show that different ways of extracting time scales from these time-dependent structure functions lead to different dynamic-multiscaling exponents, which are related to equal-time multiscaling exponents by different classes of bridge relations; for a representative value of the friction we verify that, given our error bars, these bridge relations hold.     

Stretching DNA: Role of electrostatic interactions

The effect of electrostatic interactions on the stretching of DNA is investigated using a simple worm like chain model. In the limit of small force there are large conformational fluctuations which are treated using a self-consistent variational approach. For small values of the external force f, we find the extension scales as where is the Debye screening length. In the limit of large force the electrostatic effects can be accounted for within the semiflexible chain model of DNA by assuming that only small excursions from rod-like conformations are possible. In this regime the extension approaches the contour length as where f is the magnitude of the external force. The theory is used to analyze experiments that have measured the extension of double-stranded DNA subject to tension at various salt concentrations. The theory reproduces nearly quantitatively the elastic response of DNA at small and large values of f and for all concentration of the monovalent counterions. The limitations of the theory are also pointed out. Received 13 October 1998 and Received in final form 9 June 1999     

Scaling behaviour of Creutz ratios inSU(2) lattice gauge theory

An analysis of the scaling behaviour of Creutz ratios on large lattices is given forSU(2) gauge theory. The β-interval is 2.5≦β≦2.8. Under a factor 2 scaling test, after multiplicative corrections for lattice artifacts, the Monte Carlo data show deviations from scaling, which are similar for all values of β. The ratios can be fitted successfully by a sum of three perturbative terms and an exponentially decreasing nonperturbative term. For many ratios the latter turns out to be very small, and its size dependence at fixed β is consistent with that of an area term in the Wilson loops. The deviation of the corresponding exponents from the ones expected for an area term gives a coherent cxplanation of the observed departures from scaling. It is well possible that for fixed spatial extension (in lattice units) nonperturbative contributions vanish so fast that they cannot be interpreted as physical effects.     

Locally corrected semi-Lagrangian methods for Stokes flow with moving elastic interfaces

We present a new method for computing two-dimensional Stokes flow with moving interfaces that respond elastically to stretching. The interface is moved by semi-Lagrangian contouring: a distance function is introduced on a tree of cells near the interface, transported by a semi-Lagrangian time step and then used to contour the new interface. The velocity field in a periodic box is calculated as a potential integral resulting from interfacial and body forces, using a technique based on Ewald summation with analytically derived local corrections. The interfacial stretching is found from a surprisingly natural formula. A test problem with an exact solution is constructed and used to verify the speed, accuracy and robustness of the approach.     

An efficient parallel algorithm for non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations of very large systems in planar Couette flow

In this paper we present an efficient parallel domain decomposition algorithm for non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations of large systems under planar Couette flow. We propose a modified deforming cell method that permits NEMD simulations with negligible penalties due to the Lees-Edwards periodic boundary conditions. The algorithm was used to study large systems of the Weeks-Chandler-Andersen fluid in order to obtain better viscosity results at the low shear rate regimes where the signal-to-noise ratio is very small.     

Numerical analysis of fluid flow through a cylinder array using a lattice Boltzmann model

In this paper we present a detailed computational study of an incompressible Newtonian fluid flow across a periodic array of two-dimensional cylinders which is a simplest non-trivial representation of a porous media. A two-dimensional Lattice Boltzmann Method is used to solve the governing Navier－Stokes equation taking into account of viscous dissipation effects and influence of nonlinear fluid drag. Both the flow fields and the Darcy－Forchheimer drag coefficient as a function of the solid volume fraction are calculated for a wide range of flow Reynolds numbers. The predictions were compared with the results from conventional numerical and empirical models for verification. Apart from confirming that inertial effects can cause a significant deviation from Darcy's law for large velocities the results also show that the characteristics of the vorticity field vary considerably as the Reynolds number increases, which will have major implications to the transport of passive particulate substances within the pores and their removal rate.     

Large angular scale CMB anisotropy from an excited initial mode

According to inflationary cosmology, the CMB anisotropy gives an opportunity to test predictions of new physics hypotheses. The initial state of quantum fluctuations is one of the important options at high energy scale, as it can affect observables such as the CMB power spectrum. In this study a quasi-de Sitter inflationary background with approximate de Sitter mode function built over the Bunch-Davies mode is applied to investigate the scale-dependency of the CMB anisotropy. The recent Planck constraint on spectral index motivated us to examine the effect of a new excited mode function(instead of pure de Sitter mode) on the CMB anisotropy at large angular scales. In so doing, it is found that the angular scale-invariance in the CMB temperature fluctuations is broken and in the limit 200 a tiny deviation appears. Also, it is shown that the power spectrum of CMB anisotropy is dependent on a free parameter with mass dimension H M* Mp and on the slow-roll parameter.     

Time behaviour of non-linear stochastic processes in the presence of multiplicative noise: From Kramers' to Suzuki's decay

The diffusional regime of a Brownian particle in a double-well potential in the presence of both additive and multiplicative noise is explored. As a relevant effect of the multiplicative noise, the escape rate from a well is shown to change from the small value of the Kramers theory into the large relaxation rate of the Suzuki regime. It is shown, furthermore, that the time required to get equilibrium in a well after sudden application of multiplicative noise (the activation time) is very much shorter than the Kramers relaxation time. We envisage therefore an operational scheme making available multiplicative noise for a short interval of time (for example using a light pulse) as an efficient tool to get a fast process of escape from a well. These results are obtained by using a continued-fraction algorithm which makes it possible even to successfully deal with the decay of an unstable state at the critical point.     

Two-dimensional turbulence of dilute polymer solutions

We investigate theoretically and numerically the effect of polymer additives on two-dimensional turbulence by means of a viscoelastic model. We provide compelling evidence that, at vanishingly small concentrations, such that the polymers are passively transported, the probability distribution of polymer elongation has a power law tail: Its slope is related to the statistics of finite-time Lyapunov exponents of the flow, in quantitative agreement with theoretical predictions. We show that at finite concentrations and sufficiently large elasticity the polymers react on the flow with manifold consequences: Velocity fluctuations are drastically depleted, as observed in soap film experiments; the velocity statistics becomes strongly intermittent; the distribution of finite-time Lyapunov exponents shifts to lower values, signaling the reduction of Lagrangian chaos.