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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Turbulent Mixing And Layer Formation In Double-Diffusive Convection: 3d Numerical Simulations And Theory, Erica Rosenblum, Pascale Garaud, Adrienne L. Traxler, Stephan Stellmach Apr 2011

Turbulent Mixing And Layer Formation In Double-Diffusive Convection: 3d Numerical Simulations And Theory, Erica Rosenblum, Pascale Garaud, Adrienne L. Traxler, Stephan Stellmach

Physics Faculty Publications

Double-diffusive convection, often referred to as semi-convection in astrophysics, occurs in thermally and compositionally stratified systems which are stable according to the Ledoux criterion but unstable according to the Schwarzschild criterion. This process has been given relatively little attention so far, and its properties remain poorly constrained. In this paper, we present and analyze a set of three-dimensional simulations of this phenomenon in a Cartesian domain under the Boussinesq approximation. We find that in some cases the double-diffusive convection saturates into a state of homogeneous turbulence, but with turbulent fluxes several orders of magnitude smaller than those expected from direct …


Thermodynamics, Hydrodynamics And Critical Phenomena In Strongly Coupled Gauge Theories, Christopher Pagnutti Apr 2011

Thermodynamics, Hydrodynamics And Critical Phenomena In Strongly Coupled Gauge Theories, Christopher Pagnutti

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The gauge theory / string theory correspondence has led to great progress in the study of strongly-coupled gauge theories. In this work, we start with a detailed treatment of some simple examples of this correspondence in order to establish some of the concepts and techniques are used on a more complicated system. We then consider a (3+1)-dimensional theory of gravity with a translationally invariant horizon, that is assumed to be dual to a (2+1)-dimensional non-conformal gauge theory at finite temperature. We study the thermodynamics of this model and find that there exists an exotic type of second-order phase transition wherein …


Numerically Determined Transport Laws For Fingering ("Thermohaline") Convection In Astrophysics, Adrienne L. Traxler, Pascale Garaud, Stephan Stellmach Jan 2011

Numerically Determined Transport Laws For Fingering ("Thermohaline") Convection In Astrophysics, Adrienne L. Traxler, Pascale Garaud, Stephan Stellmach

Physics Faculty Publications

We present the first three-dimensional simulations of fingering convection performed in a parameter regime close to the one relevant for astrophysics, and reveal the existence of simple asymptotic scaling laws for turbulent heat and compositional transport. These laws can straightforwardly be extrapolated to the true astrophysical regime. Our investigation also indicates that thermocompositional "staircases," a key consequence of fingering convection in the ocean, cannot form spontaneously in the fingering regime in stellar interiors. Our proposed empirically-determined transport laws thus provide simple prescriptions for mixing by fingering convection in a variety of astrophysical situations, and should, from here on, be used …


Hydrodynamic Correlation Functions Of A Driven Granular Fluid In Steady State, Katharina Vollmayr-Lee, Timo Aspelmeier, Annette Zippelius Jan 2011

Hydrodynamic Correlation Functions Of A Driven Granular Fluid In Steady State, Katharina Vollmayr-Lee, Timo Aspelmeier, Annette Zippelius

Faculty Journal Articles

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