365 research outputs found
FGF signaling controls somite boundary position and regulates segmentation clock control of spatiotemporal Hox gene activation
AbstractVertebrate segmentation requires a molecular oscillator, the segmentation clock, acting in presomitic mesoderm (PSM) cells to set the pace at which segmental boundaries are laid down. However, the signals that position each boundary remain unclear. Here, we report that FGF8 which is expressed in the posterior PSM, generates a moving wavefront at which level both segment boundary position and axial identity become determined. Furthermore, by manipulating boundary position in the chick embryo, we show that Hox gene expression is maintained in the appropriately numbered somite rather than at an absolute axial position. These results implicate FGF8 in ensuring tight coordination of the segmentation process and spatiotemporal Hox gene activation
Fast Numerical simulations of 2D turbulence using a dynamic model for Subgrid Motions
We present numerical simulation of 2D turbulent flow using a new model for
the subgrid scales which are computed using a dynamic equation linking the
subgrid scales with the resolved velocity. This equation is not postulated, but
derived from the constitutive equations under the assumption that the
non-linear interactions of subgrid scales between themselves are equivalent to
a turbulent viscosity.The performances of our model are compared with Direct
Numerical Simulations of decaying and forced turbulence. For a same resolution,
numerical simulations using our model allow for a significant reduction of the
computational time (of the order of 100 in the case we consider), and allow the
achievement of significantly larger Reynolds number than the direct method.Comment: 35 pages, 9 figure
A model for rapid stochastic distortions of small-scale turbulence
We present a model describing the evolution of the small-scale Navier–Stokes turbulence due to its stochastic distortion by much larger turbulent scales. This study is motivated by numerical findings (Laval et al. Phys. Fluids vol. 13, 2001, p. 1995) that such interactions of separated scales play an important role in turbulence intermittency. We introduce a description of turbulence in terms of the moments of -space quantities using a method previously developed for the kinematic dynamo problem (Nazarenko et al. Phys. Rev. E vol. 68, 2003, 0266311). Working with the -space moments allows us to introduce new useful measures of intermittency such as the mean polarization and the spectral flatness. Our study of the small-scale two-dimensional turbulence shows that the Fourier moments take their Gaussian values in the energy cascade range whereas the enstrophy cascade is intermittent. In three dimensions, we show that the statistics of turbulence wavepackets deviates from Gaussianity toward dominance of the plane polarizations. Such turbulence is formed by ellipsoids in the -space centred at its origin and having one large, one neutral and one small axis with the velocity field pointing parallel to the smallest axis
Interferometric molecular line observations of W51
Observations are presented of the H II region complex in W51 made with a mm interferometer. W51 is a region of massive star formation approx. 7 kpc distant from the sun. This region has been well studied in both the IR and submillimeter, the radio, as well as the maser transitions. These previous observations have revealed three regions of interest: (1) W51MAIN, a know of bright maser emission near two compact H II regions W51e1 and W51e2 (W51MAIN is also the peak of the 400 micron emission indicating that the bulk of the mass is centered there; (2) W51IRS1 is a long curving structure seen at 20 micron and at 2 and 6 cm but not at 400 micron; (3) W51IRS2 (also known as W51NORTH) is another compact H II region slightly offset from an 8 and a 20 micron peak and a collection of masers. Some conclusions are as follows: (1) SO and H(13)CN emission are similar and coincide with outflow activity; (2) HCO+ spectra show evidence for overall collapse of the W51 cloud toward W51MAIN; (3) A previously undetected continuum peak, W51DUST, coincides with the molecular peak H(13)CN-4; and (4) Dust emission at 3.4 mm reveals that about half of the 400 micron emission comes from the ultracompact H II region e2, and the rest from W51e1 and W51DUST
An hydrodynamic shear instability in stratified disks
We discuss the possibility that astrophysical accretion disks are dynamically
unstable to non-axisymmetric disturbances with characteristic scales much
smaller than the vertical scale height. The instability is studied using three
methods: one based on the energy integral, which allows the determination of a
sufficient condition of stability, one using a WKB approach, which allows the
determination of the necessary and sufficient condition for instability and a
last one by numerical solution. This linear instability occurs in any inviscid
stably stratified differential rotating fluid for rigid, stress-free or
periodic boundary conditions, provided the angular velocity decreases
outwards with radius . At not too small stratification, its growth rate is a
fraction of . The influence of viscous dissipation and thermal
diffusivity on the instability is studied numerically, with emphasis on the
case when (Keplerian case). Strong
stratification and large diffusivity are found to have a stabilizing effect.
The corresponding critical stratification and Reynolds number for the onset of
the instability in a typical disk are derived. We propose that the spontaneous
generation of these linear modes is the source of turbulence in disks,
especially in weakly ionized disks.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, to appear in A&
Forced Stratified Turbulence: Successive Transitions with Reynolds Number
Numerical simulations are made for forced turbulence at a sequence of
increasing values of Reynolds number, R, keeping fixed a strongly stable,
volume-mean density stratification. At smaller values of R, the turbulent
velocity is mainly horizontal, and the momentum balance is approximately
cyclostrophic and hydrostatic. This is a regime dominated by so-called pancake
vortices, with only a weak excitation of internal gravity waves and large
values of the local Richardson number, Ri, everywhere. At higher values of R
there are successive transitions to (a) overturning motions with local
reversals in the density stratification and small or negative values of Ri; (b)
growth of a horizontally uniform vertical shear flow component; and (c) growth
of a large-scale vertical flow component. Throughout these transitions, pancake
vortices continue to dominate the large-scale part of the turbulence, and the
gravity wave component remains weak except at small scales.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures (submitted to Phys. Rev. E
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