82 research outputs found
Points, Walls and Loops in Resonant Oscillatory Media
In an experiment of oscillatory media, domains and walls are formed under the
parametric resonance with a frequency double the natural one. In this bi-stable
system, %phase jumps by crossing walls. a nonequilibrium transition from
Ising wall to Bloch wall consistent with prediction is confirmed
experimentally. The Bloch wall moves in the direction determined by its
chirality with a constant speed. As a new type of moving structure in
two-dimension, a traveling loop consisting of two walls and Neel points is
observed.Comment: 9 pages (revtex format) and 6 figures (PostScript
Complex Patterns in Reaction-Diffusion Systems: A Tale of Two Front Instabilities
Two front instabilities in a reaction-diffusion system are shown to lead to
the formation of complex patterns. The first is an instability to transverse
modulations that drives the formation of labyrinthine patterns. The second is a
Nonequilibrium Ising-Bloch (NIB) bifurcation that renders a stationary planar
front unstable and gives rise to a pair of counterpropagating fronts. Near the
NIB bifurcation the relation of the front velocity to curvature is highly
nonlinear and transitions between counterpropagating fronts become feasible.
Nonuniformly curved fronts may undergo local front transitions that nucleate
spiral-vortex pairs. These nucleation events provide the ingredient needed to
initiate spot splitting and spiral turbulence. Similar spatio-temporal
processes have been observed recently in the ferrocyanide-iodate-sulfite
reaction.Comment: Text: 14 pages compressed Postscript (90kb) Figures: 9 pages
compressed Postscript (368kb
Controlling domain patterns far from equilibrium
A high degree of control over the structure and dynamics of domain patterns
in nonequilibrium systems can be achieved by applying nonuniform external
fields near parity breaking front bifurcations. An external field with a linear
spatial profile stabilizes a propagating front at a fixed position or induces
oscillations with frequency that scales like the square root of the field
gradient. Nonmonotonic profiles produce a variety of patterns with controllable
wavelengths, domain sizes, and frequencies and phases of oscillations.Comment: Published version, 4 pages, RevTeX. More at
http://t7.lanl.gov/People/Aric
Two-scale competition in phase separation with shear
The behavior of a phase separating binary mixture in uniform shear flow is
investigated by numerical simulations and in a renormalization group (RG)
approach. Results show the simultaneous existence of domains of two
characteristic scales. Stretching and cooperative ruptures of the network
produce a rich interplay where the recurrent prevalence of thick and thin
domains determines log-time periodic oscillations. A power law growth of the average domain size, with and in the flow and shear direction respectively, is shown to be obeyed.Comment: 5 Revtex pages, 4 figure
Four-phase patterns in forced oscillatory systems
We investigate pattern formation in self-oscillating systems forced by an
external periodic perturbation. Experimental observations and numerical studies
of reaction-diffusion systems and an analysis of an amplitude equation are
presented. The oscillations in each of these systems entrain to rational
multiples of the perturbation frequency for certain values of the forcing
frequency and amplitude. We focus on the subharmonic resonant case where the
system locks at one fourth the driving frequency, and four-phase rotating
spiral patterns are observed at low forcing amplitudes. The spiral patterns are
studied using an amplitude equation for periodically forced oscillating
systems. The analysis predicts a bifurcation (with increasing forcing) from
rotating four-phase spirals to standing two-phase patterns. This bifurcation is
also found in periodically forced reaction-diffusion equations, the
FitzHugh-Nagumo and Brusselator models, even far from the onset of oscillations
where the amplitude equation analysis is not strictly valid. In a
Belousov-Zhabotinsky chemical system periodically forced with light we also
observe four-phase rotating spiral wave patterns. However, we have not observed
the transition to standing two-phase patterns, possibly because with increasing
light intensity the reaction kinetics become excitable rather than oscillatory.Comment: 11 page
Steady State of microemulsions in shear flow
Steady-state properties of microemulsions in shear flow are studied in the
context of a Ginzburg-Landau free-energy approach. Explicit expressions are
given for the structure factor and the time correlation function at the one
loop level of approximation. Our results predict a four-peak pattern for the
structure factor, implying the simultaneous presence of interfaces aligned with
two different orientations.
Due to the peculiar interface structure a non-monotonous relaxation of the
time correlator is also found.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Bulk and Interfacial Shear Thinning of Immiscible Polymers
Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations are used to study the shear
thinning behavior of immiscible symmetric polymer blends. The phase separated
polymers are subjected to a simple shear flow imposed by moving a wall parallel
to the fluid-fluid interface. The viscosity begins to shear thin at much lower
rates in the bulk than at the interface. The entire shear rate dependence of
the interfacial viscosity is consistent with a shorter effective chain length
that also describes the width of the interface. This is independent
of chain length and is a function only of the degree of immiscibility of
the two polymers. Changes in polymer conformation are studied as a function of
position and shear rate.Shear thinning correlates more closely with a decrease
in the component of the radius of gyration along the velocity gradient than
with elongation along the flow. At the interface, this contraction of chains is
independent of and consistent with the bulk behavior for chains of length
. The distribution of conformational changes along chains is also studied.
Central regions begin to stretch at a shear rate that decreases with increasing
, while shear induced changes at the ends of chains are independent of .Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
Order Parameter Equations for Front Transitions: Planar and Circular Fronts
Near a parity breaking front bifurcation, small perturbations may reverse the
propagation direction of fronts. Often this results in nonsteady asymptotic
motion such as breathing and domain breakup. Exploiting the time scale
differences of an activator-inhibitor model and the proximity to the front
bifurcation, we derive equations of motion for planar and circular fronts. The
equations involve a translational degree of freedom and an order parameter
describing transitions between left and right propagating fronts.
Perturbations, such as a space dependent advective field or uniform curvature
(axisymmetric spots), couple these two degrees of freedom. In both cases this
leads to a transition from stationary to oscillating fronts as the parity
breaking bifurcation is approached. For axisymmetric spots, two additional
dynamic behaviors are found: rebound and collapse.Comment: 9 pages. Aric Hagberg: http://t7.lanl.gov/People/Aric/; Ehud Meron:
http://www.bgu.ac.il/BIDR/research/staff/meron.htm
Phase-separation of binary fluids in shear flow: a numerical study
The phase-separation kinetics of binary fluids in shear flow is studied
numerically in the framework of the continuum convection-diffusion equation
based on a Ginzburg-Landau free energy. Simulations are carried out for
different temperatures both in d=2 and in d=3. Our results confirm the
qualitative picture put forward by the large-N limit equations studied in
\cite{noi}. In particular, the structure factor is characterized by the
presence of four peaks whose relative oscillations give rise to a periodic
modulation of the behavior of the rheological indicators and of the average
domains sizes. This peculiar pattern of the structure factor corresponds to the
presence of domains with two characteristic thicknesses whose relative
abundance changes with time.Comment: 6 pages, 11 figures in .gif forma
Phase separating binary fluids under oscillatory shear
We apply lattice Boltzmann methods to study the segregation of binary fluid
mixtures under oscillatory shear flow in two dimensions. The algorithm allows
to simulate systems whose dynamics is described by the Navier-Stokes and the
convection-diffusion equations. The interplay between several time scales
produces a rich and complex phenomenology. We investigate the effects of
different oscillation frequencies and viscosities on the morphology of the
phase separating domains. We find that at high frequencies the evolution is
almost isotropic with growth exponents 2/3 and 1/3 in the inertial (low
viscosity) and diffusive (high viscosity) regimes, respectively. When the
period of the applied shear flow becomes of the same order of the relaxation
time of the shear velocity profile, anisotropic effects are clearly
observable. In correspondence with non-linear patterns for the velocity
profiles, we find configurations where lamellar order close to the walls
coexists with isotropic domains in the middle of the system. For particular
values of frequency and viscosity it can also happen that the convective
effects induced by the oscillations cause an interruption or a slowing of the
segregation process, as found in some experiments. Finally, at very low
frequencies, the morphology of domains is characterized by lamellar order
everywhere in the system resembling what happens in the case with steady shear.Comment: 1 table and 12 figures in .gif forma
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