Interfaces and mixing: Nonequilibrium transport across the scales

Abstract

Interfacial transport and mixing are nonequilibrium processes coupling kinetic to meso- and macroscopic dynamics. These processes play an essential role in fluids, plasmas, and materials, from celestial to atomic events. Addressing the societal challenges posed by alternative energy sources, efficient use of nonrenewable resources, and purification of water requires an improved understanding of the nonequilibrium dynamics, interfacial transport, and mixing. This special feature issue builds upon recent achievements in understanding interfacial transport and mixing using theoretical analysis, large-scale numerical simulations, laboratory experiments, and technology developments. It brings together works in fluid dynamics, plasmas, applied mathematics, chemistry, material science, geophysics, and astrophysics. This collection of papers explores the state of the art in areas of interfaces and nonequilibrium transport and suggests future research directions in the field. This special feature issue of PNAS presents a number of outstanding contributions in “Interfaces and mixing: Nonequilibrium transport across the scales.” This issue is associated with the symposium on “Interfaces and Mixing” invited by the US National Academy of Sciences in 2017 and is a part of the program “Turbulent Mixing and Beyond” founded in 2007 with the support of the international scientific community and national and international funding agencies and institutions (1⇓⇓⇓⇓–6). This issue, the symposium, and the program bring together researchers from many areas of science, mathematics, and engineering and focus their attention on fundamental problems of interfaces, mixing, and nonequilibrium dynamics (1⇓⇓⇓⇓–6). Interfaces, mixing, and nonequilibrium dynamics govern a broad range of phenomena in nature and technology, in high- and low-energy density regimes, at astrophysical and at atomic scales (1⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓–19). Examples include supernovas, molecular hydrogen clouds, and accretion … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: snezhana.abarzhi{at}gmail.com. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1