785 research outputs found
Solitary vortex couples in viscoelastic Couette flow
We report experimental observation of a localized structure, which is of a
new type for dissipative systems. It appears as a solitary vortex couple
("diwhirl") in Couette flow with highly elastic polymer solutions. A unique
property of the diwhirls is that they are stationary, in contrast to the usual
localized wave structures in both Hamiltonian and dissipative systems which are
stabilized by wave dispersion. It is also a new object in fluid dynamics - a
couple of vortices that build a single entity somewhat similar to a magnetic
dipole. The diwhirls arise as a result of a purely elastic instability through
a hysteretic transition at negligible Reynolds numbers. It is suggested that
the vortex flow is driven by the same forces that cause the Weissenberg effect.
The diwhirls have a striking asymmetry between the inflow and outflow, which is
also an essential feature of the suggested elastic instability mechanism.Comment: 9 pages (LaTeX), 5 Postscript figures, submitte
Elastic turbulence in curvilinear flows of polymer solutions
Following our first report (A. Groisman and V. Steinberg, \sl Nature , 53 (2000)) we present an extended account of experimental observations of
elasticity induced turbulence in three different systems: a swirling flow
between two plates, a Couette-Taylor (CT) flow between two cylinders, and a
flow in a curvilinear channel (Dean flow). All three set-ups had high ratio of
width of the region available for flow to radius of curvature of the
streamlines. The experiments were carried out with dilute solutions of high
molecular weight polyacrylamide in concentrated sugar syrups. High polymer
relaxation time and solution viscosity ensured prevalence of non-linear elastic
effects over inertial non-linearity, and development of purely elastic
instabilities at low Reynolds number (Re) in all three flows. Above the elastic
instability threshold, flows in all three systems exhibit features of developed
turbulence. Those include: (i)randomly fluctuating fluid motion excited in a
broad range of spatial and temporal scales; (ii) significant increase in the
rates of momentum and mass transfer (compared to those expected for a steady
flow with a smooth velocity profile). Phenomenology, driving mechanisms, and
parameter dependence of the elastic turbulence are compared with those of the
conventional high Re hydrodynamic turbulence in Newtonian fluids.Comment: 23 pages, 26 figure
Solitary coherent structures in viscoelastic shear flow: computation and mechanism
Starting from stationary bifurcations in Couette-Dean flow, we compute
nontrivial stationary solutions in inertialess viscoelastic circular Couette
flow. These solutions are strongly localized vortex pairs, exist at arbitrarily
large wavelengths, and show hysteresis in the Weissenberg number, similar to
experimentally observed ``diwhirl'' patterns. Based on the computed velocity
and stress fields, we elucidate a heuristic, fully nonlinear mechanism for
these flows. We propose that these localized, fully nonlinear structures
comprise fundamental building blocks for complex spatiotemporal dynamics in the
flow of elastic liquids.Comment: 5 pages text and 4 figures. Submitted to Physical Review Letter
Stretching of polymers in a random three-dimensional flow
Behavior of a dilute polymer solution in a random three-dimensional flow with
an average shear is studied experimentally. Polymer contribution to the shear
stress is found to be more than two orders of magnitude higher than in a
laminar shear flow. The results indicate that the polymer molecules get
strongly stretched by the random motion of the fluid.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Backward Evolving Quantum States
The basic concept of the two-state vector formalism, which is the time
symmetric approach to quantum mechanics, is the backward evolving quantum
state. However, due to the time asymmetry of the memory's arrow of time, the
possible ways to manipulate a backward evolving quantum state differ from those
for a standard, forward evolving quantum state. The similarities and the
differences between forward and backward evolving quantum states regarding the
no-cloning theorem, nonlocal measurements, and teleportation are discussed. The
results are relevant not only in the framework of the two-state vector
formalism, but also in the framework of retrodictive quantum theory.Comment: Contribution to the J.Phys. A special issue in honor of GianCarlo
Ghirard
Faraday waves on a viscoelastic liquid
We investigate Faraday waves on a viscoelastic liquid. Onset measurements and
a nonlinear phase diagram for the selected patterns are presented. By virtue of
the elasticity of the material a surface resonance synchronous to the external
drive competes with the usual subharmonic Faraday instability. Close to the
bicriticality the nonlinear wave interaction gives rise to a variety of novel
surface states: Localised patches of hexagons, hexagonal superlattices,
coexistence of hexagons and lines. Theoretical stability calculations and
qualitative resonance arguments support the experimental observations.Comment: 4 pages, 4figure
Statistical properties of fractures in damaged materials
We introduce a model for the dynamics of mud cracking in the limit of of
extremely thin layers. In this model the growth of fracture proceeds by
selecting the part of the material with the smallest (quenched) breaking
threshold. In addition, weakening affects the area of the sample neighbour to
the crack. Due to the simplicity of the model, it is possible to derive some
analytical results. In particular, we find that the total time to break down
the sample grows with the dimension L of the lattice as L^2 even though the
percolating cluster has a non trivial fractal dimension. Furthermore, we obtain
a formula for the mean weakening with time of the whole sample.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Europhysics Letter
On the quantum, classical and total amount of correlations in a quantum state
We give an operational definition of the quantum, classical and total amount
of correlations in a bipartite quantum state. We argue that these quantities
can be defined via the amount of work (noise) that is required to erase
(destroy) the correlations: for the total correlation, we have to erase
completely, for the quantum correlation one has to erase until a separable
state is obtained, and the classical correlation is the maximal correlation
left after erasing the quantum correlations.
In particular, we show that the total amount of correlations is equal to the
quantum mutual information, thus providing it with a direct operational
interpretation for the first time. As a byproduct, we obtain a direct,
operational and elementary proof of strong subadditivity of quantum entropy.Comment: 12 pages ReVTeX4, 2 eps figures. v2 has some arguments clarified and
references update
Chaotic flow and efficient mixing in a micro-channel with a polymer solution
Microscopic flows are almost universally linear, laminar and stationary
because Reynolds number, , is usually very small. That impedes mixing in
micro-fluidic devices, which sometimes limits their performance. Here we show
that truly chaotic flow can be generated in a smooth micro-channel of a uniform
width at arbitrarily low , if a small amount of flexible polymers is added
to the working liquid. The chaotic flow regime is characterized by randomly
fluctuating three-dimensional velocity field and significant growth of the flow
resistance. Although the size of the polymer molecules extended in the flow may
become comparable with the micro-channel width, the flow behavior is fully
compatible with that in a table-top channel in the regime of elastic
turbulence. The chaotic flow leads to quite efficient mixing, which is almost
diffusion independent. For macromolecules, mixing time in this microscopic flow
can be three to four orders of magnitude shorter than due to molecular
diffusion.Comment: 8 pages,7 figure
Magnetic field correlations in a random flow with strong steady shear
We analyze magnetic kinematic dynamo in a conducting fluid where the
stationary shear flow is accompanied by relatively weak random velocity
fluctuations. The diffusionless and diffusion regimes are described. The growth
rates of the magnetic field moments are related to the statistical
characteristics of the flow describing divergence of the Lagrangian
trajectories. The magnetic field correlation functions are examined, we
establish their growth rates and scaling behavior. General assertions are
illustrated by explicit solution of the model where the velocity field is
short-correlated in time
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