Comment on Y. Couder and E. Fort: "Single-Particle Diffraction and Interference at a Macroscopic Scale", Phys. Rev. Lett. (2006)

In a paper from 2006, Couder and Fort [1] describe a version of the famous double slit experiment performed with drops bouncing on a vibrated fluid surface, where interference in the particle statistics is found even though it is possible to determine unambiguously which slit the "walking" drop passes. It is one of the first papers in an impressive series, showing that such walking drops closely resemble de Broglie waves and can reproduce typical quantum phenomena like tunneling and quantized states [2-13]. The double slit experiment is, however, a more stringent test of quantum mechanics, because it relies upon superposition and phase coherence. In the present comment we first point out that the experimental data presented in [1] are not convincing, and secondly we argue that it is not possible in general to capture quantum mechanical results in a system, where the trajectory of the particle is well-defined.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Model For Polygonal Hydraulic Jumps

We propose a phenomenological model for the polygonal hydraulic jumps discovered by Ellegaard et al., based on the known flow structure for the type II hydraulic jumps with a "roller" (separation eddy) near the free surface in the jump region. The model consists of mass conservation and radial force balance between hydrostatic pressure and viscous stresses on the roller surface. In addition, we consider the azimuthal force balance, primarily between pressure and viscosity, but also including non-hydrostatic pressure contributions from surface tension in light of recent observations by Bush et al. The model can be analyzed by linearization around the circular state, resulting in a parameter relationship for nearly circular polygonal states. A truncated, but fully nonlinear version of the model can be solved analytically. This simpler model gives rise to polygonal shapes that are very similar to those observed in experiments, even though surface tension is neglected, and the condition for the existence of a polygon with N corners depends only on a single dimensionless number {\phi}. Finally, we include time-dependent terms in the model and study linear stability of the circular state. Instability occurs for suffciently small Bond number and the most unstable wave length is expected to be roughly proportional to the width of the roller as in the Rayleigh-Plateau instability.Comment: 17 pages; Phys. Rev. E (2012

Breakdown of universality in transitions to spatiotemporal chaos

We show that the transition from laminar to active behavior in extended chaotic systems can vary from a continuous transition in the universality class of directed percolation with infinitely many absorbing states to what appears as a first-order transition. The latter occurs when finite lifetime nonchaotic structures, called "solitons," dominate the dynamics. We illustrate this scenario in an extension of the deterministic Chaté-Manneville coupled map lattice model and in a soliton including variant of the stochastic Domany-Kinzel cellular automaton

Vortex Dynamics around a solid triangle in oscillatory flow

We investigate the time-dependent flow of water around a solid triangular profile oscillating horizontally in a narrow rectangular container. The flow is quasi two-dimensional and using particle image velocimetry we measure 20 snapshots of the entire velocity field during a period of oscillation. From the velocity measurements we obtain the circulation of the vortices and study the vortex dynamics. The time-dependence of the flow gives rise to the formation of a jet-like flow structure which enhances the vorticity production compared to the time-independent case. We introduce a simple phenomenological model to describe the important dynamical parameters of the flow, i.e., the vortex circulation and the jet velocity. We solve the model analytically without viscous damping and find good agreement between the model predictions and our measurements. Our work adds to the recent effort to understand more complicated flows past sand-ripples and insect wings

Polygon formation and surface flow on a rotating fluid surface - ERRATUM

We present a study of polygons forming on the free surface of a water flow confined to a stationary cylinder and driven by a rotating bottom plate as described by Jansson et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 96, 2006, 174502). In particular, we study the case of a triangular structure, either completely ‘wet’ or with a ‘dry’ centre. For the dry structures, we present measurements of the surface shapes and the process of formation. We show experimental evidence that the formation can take place as a two-stage process: first the system approaches an almost stable rotationally symmetric state and from there the symmetry breaking proceeds like a low-dimensional linear instability. We show that the circular state and the unstable manifold connecting it with the polygon solution are universal in the sense that very different initial conditions lead to the same circular state and unstable manifold. For a wet triangle, we measure the surface flows by particle image velocimetry (PIV) and show that there are three vortices present, but that the strength of these vortices is far too weak to account for the rotation velocity of the polygon. We show that partial blocking of the surface flow destroys the polygons and re-establishes the rotational symmetry. For the rotationally symmetric state our theoretical analysis of the surface flow shows that it consists of two distinct regions: an inner, rigidly rotating centre and an outer annulus, where the surface flow is that of a point vortex with a weak secondary flow. This prediction is consistent with the experimentally determined surface flo