Strong anisotropy in surface kinetic roughening: analysis and experiments

We report an experimental assessment of surface kinetic roughening properties that are anisotropic in space. Working for two specific instances of silicon surfaces irradiated by ion-beam sputtering under diverse conditions (with and without concurrent metallic impurity codeposition), we verify the predictions and consistency of a recently proposed scaling Ansatz for surface observables like the two-dimensional (2D) height Power Spectral Density (PSD). In contrast with other formulations, this Ansatz is naturally tailored to the study of two-dimensional surfaces, and allows to readily explore the implications of anisotropic scaling for other observables, such as real-space correlation functions and PSD functions for 1D profiles of the surface. Our results confirm that there are indeed actual experimental systems whose kinetic roughening is strongly anisotropic, as consistently described by this scaling analysis. In the light of our work, some types of experimental measurements are seen to be more affected by issues like finite space resolution effects, etc. that may hinder a clear-cut assessment of strongly anisotropic scaling in the present and other practical contexts

Transition to superfluid turbulence governed by an intrinsic parameter

Hydrodynamic flow in both classical and quantum fluids can be either laminar or turbulent. To describe the latter, vortices in turbulent flow are modelled with stable vortex filaments. While this is an idealization in classical fluids, vortices are real topologically stable quantized objects in superfluids. Thus superfluid turbulence is thought to hold the key to new understanding on turbulence in general. The fermion superfluid 3He offers further possibilities owing to a large variation in its hydrodynamic characteristics over the experimentally accessible temperatures. While studying the hydrodynamics of the B phase of superfluid 3He, we discovered a sharp transition at 0.60Tc between two regimes, with regular behaviour at high-temperatures and turbulence at low-temperatures. Unlike in classical fluids, this transition is insensitive to velocity and occurs at a temperature where the dissipative vortex damping drops below a critical limit. This discovery resolves the conflict between existing high- and low-temperature measurements in 3He-B: At high temperatures in rotating flow a vortex loop injected into superflow has been observed to expand monotonically to a single rectilinear vortex line, while at very low temperatures a tangled network of quantized vortex lines can be generated in a quiescent bath with a vibrating wire. The solution of this conflict reveals a new intrinsic criterion for the existence of superfluid turbulence.Comment: Revtex file; 5 pages, 2 figure

Toward a structural understanding of turbulent drag reduction: nonlinear coherent states in viscoelastic shear flows

Nontrivial steady flows have recently been found that capture the main structures of the turbulent buffer layer. We study the effects of polymer addition on these "exact coherent states" (ECS) in plane Couette flow. Despite the simplicity of the ECS flows, these effects closely mirror those observed experimentally: Structures shift to larger length scales, wall-normal fluctuations are suppressed while streamwise ones are enhanced, and drag is reduced. The mechanism underlying these effects is elucidated. These results suggest that the ECS are closely related to buffer layer turbulence.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, published version, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 208301 (2002

Effective electronic response of a system of metallic cylinders

The electronic response of a composite consisting of aligned metallic cylinders in vacuum is investigated, on the basis of photonic band structure calculations. The effective long-wavelength dielectric response function is computed, as a function of the filling fraction. A spectral representation of the effective response is considered, and the surface mode strengths and positions are analyzed. The range of validity of a Maxwell-Garnett-like approach is discussed, and the impact of our results on absorption spectra and electron energy-loss phenomena is addressed.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Colloquium: Theory of Drag Reduction by Polymers in Wall Bounded Turbulence

The flow of fluids in channels, pipes or ducts, as in any other wall-bounded flow (like water along the hulls of ships or air on airplanes) is hindered by a drag, which increases many-folds when the fluid flow turns from laminar to turbulent. A major technological problem is how to reduce this drag in order to minimize the expense of transporting fluids like oil in pipelines, or to move ships in the ocean. It was discovered in the mid-twentieth century that minute concentrations of polymers can reduce the drag in turbulent flows by up to 80%. While experimental knowledge had accumulated over the years, the fundamental theory of drag reduction by polymers remained elusive for a long time, with arguments raging whether this is a "skin" or a "bulk" effect. In this colloquium review we first summarize the phenomenology of drag reduction by polymers, stressing both its universal and non-universal aspects, and then proceed to review a recent theory that provides a quantitative explanation of all the known phenomenology. We treat both flexible and rod-like polymers, explaining the existence of universal properties like the Maximum Drag Reduction (MDR) asymptote, as well as non-universal cross-over phenomena that depend on the Reynolds number, on the nature of the polymer and on its concentration. Finally we also discuss other agents for drag reduction with a stress on the important example of bubbles.Comment: Invited Colloquium Paper for Reviews of Modern Physics, 24 pages, 18 Figs., submitte

Triad3a induces the degradation of early necrosome to limit RipK1-dependent cytokine production and necroptosis.

Understanding the molecular signaling in programmed cell death is vital to a practical understanding of inflammation and immune cell function. Here we identify a previously unrecognized mechanism that functions to downregulate the necrosome, a central signaling complex involved in inflammation and necroptosis. We show that RipK1 associates with RipK3 in an early necrosome, independent of RipK3 phosphorylation and MLKL-induced necroptotic death. We find that formation of the early necrosome activates K48-ubiquitin-dependent proteasomal degradation of RipK1, Caspase-8, and other necrosomal proteins. Our results reveal that the E3-ubiquitin ligase Triad3a promotes this negative feedback loop independently of typical RipK1 ubiquitin editing enzymes, cIAPs, A20, or CYLD. Finally, we show that Triad3a-dependent necrosomal degradation limits necroptosis and production of inflammatory cytokines. These results reveal a new mechanism of shutting off necrosome signaling and may pave the way to new strategies for therapeutic manipulation of inflammatory responses

Anomalous scaling of a passive scalar advected by the turbulent velocity field with finite correlation time and uniaxial small-scale anisotropy

The influence of uniaxial small-scale anisotropy on the stability of the scaling regimes and on the anomalous scaling of the structure functions of a passive scalar advected by a Gaussian solenoidal velocity field with finite correlation time is investigated by the field theoretic renormalization group and operator product expansion within one-loop approximation. Possible scaling regimes are found and classified in the plane of exponents $\epsilon-\eta$, where $\epsilon$ characterizes the energy spectrum of the velocity field in the inertial range $E\propto k^{1-2\epsilon}$, and $\eta$ is related to the correlation time of the velocity field at the wave number $k$ which is scaled as $k^{-2+\eta}$. It is shown that the presence of anisotropy does not disturb the stability of the infrared fixed points of the renormalization group equations which are directly related to the corresponding scaling regimes. The influence of anisotropy on the anomalous scaling of the structure functions of the passive scalar field is studied as a function of the fixed point value of the parameter $u$ which represents the ratio of turnover time of scalar field and velocity correlation time. It is shown that the corresponding one-loop anomalous dimensions, which are the same (universal) for all particular models with concrete value of $u$ in the isotropic case, are different (nonuniversal) in the case with the presence of small-scale anisotropy and they are continuous functions of the anisotropy parameters, as well as the parameter $u$. The dependence of the anomalous dimensions on the anisotropy parameters of two special limits of the general model, namely, the rapid-change model and the frozen velocity field model, are found when $u\to \infty$ and $u\to 0$, respectively.Comment: revtex, 25 pages, 37 figure

Statistical properties of driven Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in three dimensions: Novel universality

We analyse the universal properties of nonequilibrium steady states of driven Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in three dimensions (3d). We elucidate the dependence of various phenomenologically important dimensionless constants on the symmetries of the two-point correlation functions. We, for the first time, also suggest the intriguing possibility of multiscaling universality class varying continuously with certain dimensionless parameters. The experimental and theoretical implications of our results are discussed.Comment: To appear in Europhys. Lett. (2004

On the nature of transport in near-critical dissipative-trapped-electron-mode turbulence: Effect of a subdominant diffusive channel

9 pages, 4 figures.-- PACS nrs.: 52.35.Ra, 52.55.-s.The change in nature of radial transport in numerical simulations of near-critical dissipative-trapped-electron-mode turbulence is characterized as the relative strength of an additional diffusive transport channel (subdominant to turbulence) is increased from zero. In its absence, radial transport exhibits the lack of spatial and temporal scales characteristic of self-organized-critical systems. This dynamical regime survives up to diffusivity values which, for the system investigated here, greatly exceeds the expected neoclassical value. These results, obtained using a novel Lagrangian method, complete and extend previous works based instead on the use of techniques imported from the study of cellular automata [ J. A. Mier et al., Phys. Plasmas 13, 102308 (2006) ]. They also shed further light on why some features of self-organized criticality seem to be observed in magnetically confined plasmas in spite of the presence of mechanisms which apparently violate the conditions needed for its establishment.This research was sponsored by DGICYT (Dirección General de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas) of Spain under Project No. ENE2006-15244-C03-01/FTN. Research sponsored in part by the Laboratory Research and Development Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725. Research supported in part by DOE Office of Science Grant No. DEFG02-04ER5741 at the University of Alaska.Publicad