A framework for the evaluation of turbulence closures used in mesoscale ocean large-eddy simulations

We present a methodology to determine the best turbulence closure for an eddy-permitting ocean model through measurement of the error-landscape of the closure's subgrid spectral transfers and flux. We apply this method to 6 different closures for forced-dissipative simulations of the barotropic vorticity equation on a f-plane (2D Navier-Stokes equation). Using a high-resolution benchmark, we compare each closure's model of energy and enstrophy transfer to the actual transfer observed in the benchmark run. The error-landscape norms enable us to both make objective comparisons between the closures and to optimize each closure's free parameter for a fair comparison. The hyper-viscous closure most closely reproduces the enstrophy cascade, especially at larger scales due to the concentration of its dissipative effects to the very smallest scales. The viscous and Leith closures perform nearly as well, especially at smaller scales where all three models were dissipative. The Smagorinsky closure dissipates enstrophy at the wrong scales. The anticipated potential vorticity closure was the only model to reproduce the upscale transfer of kinetic energy from the unresolved scales, but would require high-order Laplacian corrections in order to concentrate dissipation at the smallest scales. The Lagrangian-averaged alpha-model closure did not perform successfully for forced 2D isotropic Navier-Stokes: small-scale filamentation is only slightly reduced by the model while small-scale roll-up is prevented. Together, this reduces the effects of diffusion.Comment: 44 pages, 21 figures, 1 Appendix, submitted to Ocean Modelin

Oil Prices, Profits, and Recessions : An Inquiry Using Terrorism as an Instrumental Variable

Nearly all post-war recessions have been preceded by oil-price shocks, but is this because spikes in the price of petroleum cause economic downturns? Most research has ignored an identification problem : oil prices and the state of the world economy are endogenously determined. This paper uses terrorist incidents as an instrumental variable. In an international panel of industries, we show that after correction for simultaneity bias — though not before — the price of oil has large negative effects upon profitability. Our results seem to lend support to the claim that oil-price spikes can be a source of recessions.

Coherent exciton dynamics in the presence of underdamped vibrations

Recent ultrafast optical experiments show that excitons in large biological light-harvesting complexes are coupled to molecular vibration modes. These high-frequency vibrations will not only affect the optical response, but also drive the exciton transport. Here, using a model dimer system, the frequency of the underdamped vibration is shown to have a strong effect on the exciton dynamics such that quantum coherent oscillations in the system can be present even in the case of strong noise. Two mechanisms are identified to be responsible for the enhanced transport efficiency: critical damping due to the tunable effective strength of the coupling to the bath, and resonance coupling where the vibrational frequency coincides with the energy gap in the system. The interplay of these two mechanisms determines parameters responsible for the most efficient transport, and these optimal control parameters are comparable to those in realistic light-harvesting complexes. Interestingly, oscillations in the excitonic coherence at resonance are suppressed in comparison to the case of an off-resonant vibration

Cancellation exponent and multifractal structure in two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics: direct numerical simulations and Lagrangian averaged modeling

We present direct numerical simulations and Lagrangian averaged (also known as alpha-model) simulations of forced and free decaying magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in two dimensions. The statistics of sign cancellations of the current at small scales is studied using both the cancellation exponent and the fractal dimension of the structures. The alpha-model is found to have the same scaling behavior between positive and negative contributions as the direct numerical simulations. The alpha-model is also able to reproduce the time evolution of these quantities in free decaying turbulence. At large Reynolds numbers, an independence of the cancellation exponent with the Reynolds numbers is observed.Comment: Finite size box effects have been taken into account in the definition of the partition function. This has resulted in a more clear scaling in all figures. Several points are clarified in the tex

Systematic derivation of a rotationally covariant extension of the 2-dimensional Newell-Whitehead-Segel equation

An extension of the Newell-Whitehead-Segel amplitude equation covariant under abritrary rotations is derived systematically by the renormalization group method.Comment: 8 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev. Letters, March 18, 199

On the number of unlabeled vertices in edge-friendly labelings of graphs

Let $G$ be a graph with vertex set $V(G)$ and edge set $E(G)$, and $f$ be a 0-1 labeling of $E(G)$ so that the absolute difference in the number of edges labeled 1 and 0 is no more than one. Call such a labeling $f$ \emph{edge-friendly}. We say an edge-friendly labeling induces a \emph{partial vertex labeling} if vertices which are incident to more edges labeled 1 than 0, are labeled 1, and vertices which are incident to more edges labeled 0 than 1, are labeled 0. Vertices that are incident to an equal number of edges of both labels we call \emph{unlabeled}. Call a procedure on a labeled graph a \emph{label switching algorithm} if it consists of pairwise switches of labels. Given an edge-friendly labeling of $K_n$, we show a label switching algorithm producing an edge-friendly relabeling of $K_n$ such that all the vertices are labeled. We call such a labeling \textit{opinionated}.Comment: 7 pages, accepted to Discrete Mathematics, special issue dedicated to Combinatorics 201

Renormalization Group Method and Reductive Perturbation Method

It is shown that the renormalization group method does not necessarily eliminate all secular terms in perturbation series to partial differential equations and a functional subspace of renormalizable secular solutions corresponds to a choice of scales of independent variables in the reductive perturbation method.Comment: 5 pages, late

Derivation of Amplitude Equations by Renormalization Group Method

A proper formulation in the perturbative renormalization group method is presented to deduce amplitude equations. The formulation makes it possible not only avoiding a serious difficulty in the previous reduction to amplitude equations by eliminating all of the secular terms but also consistent derivation of higher-order correction to amplitude equations.Comment: 6 page, revte