Longitudinal Fluctuations Research Articles

Wake dynamics behind a seal-vibrissa-shaped cylinder: a comparative study by time-resolved particle velocimetry measurements

The wake dynamics behind a seal-vibrissa-shaped cylinder, which are closely related to the seal’s extraordinary ability to faithfully track the hydrodynamic trails of its upstream prey, were extensively studied by using time-resolved particle image velocity. Four cylindrical configurations that shared the same hydrodynamic diameter (i.e., a circular cylinder, an elliptical cylinder, a wavy cylinder, and a vibrissa-shaped cylinder) were chosen for the comparative study at the Reynolds number 1.8 × 103. The instantaneous flow fields behind the cylinders were measured along their vertical and horizontal planes. The distinct global differences between the wakes were determined from the streamline patterns, the reverse-flow intermittences, and both the streamwise and longitudinal velocity fluctuation intensities. Compared to the other three systems tested, the vibrissa-shaped cylinder system was characterized by a considerably reduced recirculation zone in the nodal plane, the existence of a very stably reversed flow, and substantial reductions in the streamwise and longitudinal velocity fluctuation intensities. Further cross-correlation of the fluctuating longitudinal velocities showed that the unsteady events behind the vibrissa-shaped cylinder were poorly organized by sequence and considerably constrained in their spatial extent. Finally, a dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) was performed on the instantaneously varying wake flows. In the wavy cylinder system, a single dominant DMD mode at St = 0.2 (corresponding to Karman vortex street) was detected in both the saddle and nodal planes. Although the dominant DMD modes at St = 0.23 and 0.3 were determined in the saddle and nodal planes of the vibrissa-shaped cylinder system, respectively, the spatial pattern of these two DMD modes showed resolved vortical structures that were highly distorted and constrained to an extremely limited space. These DMD modes had much less energy than those in the other three systems. The phase-dependent variations of the wake flows disclosed that the complex unsteady behavior at distinctly different frequencies in the saddle and nodal planes disrupted the regular vortex shedding process, suppressing the vortex-induced vibration of the vibrissa-shaped cylinder.

Complete self-preservation on the axis of a turbulent round jet

Self-preservation (SP) solutions on the axis of a turbulent round jet are derived for the transport equation of the second-order structure function of the turbulent kinetic energy ($k$), which may be interpreted as a scale-by-scale (s.b.s.) energy budget. The analysis shows that the mean turbulent energy dissipation rate, $\overline{{\it\epsilon}}$, evolves like $x^{-4}$ ($x$ is the streamwise direction). It is important to stress that this derivation does not use the constancy of the non-dimensional dissipation rate parameter $C_{{\it\epsilon}}=\overline{{\it\epsilon}}u^{\prime 3}/L_{u}$ ($L_{u}$ and $u^{\prime }$ are the integral length scale and root mean square of the longitudinal velocity fluctuation respectively). We show, in fact, that the constancy of $C_{{\it\epsilon}}$ is simply a consequence of complete SP (i.e. SP at all scales of motion). The significance of the analysis relates to the fact that the SP requirements for the mean velocity and mean turbulent kinetic energy (i.e. $U\sim x^{-1}$ and $k\sim x^{-2}$ respectively) are derived without invoking the transport equations for $U$ and $k$. Experimental hot-wire data along the axis of a turbulent round jet show that, after a transient downstream distance which increases with Reynolds number, the turbulence statistics comply with complete SP. For example, the measured $\overline{{\it\epsilon}}$ agrees well with the SP prediction, i.e. $\overline{{\it\epsilon}}\sim x^{-4}$, while the Taylor microscale Reynolds number $Re_{{\it\lambda}}$ remains constant. The analytical expression for the prefactor $A_{{\it\epsilon}}$ for $\overline{{\it\epsilon}}\sim (x-x_{o})^{-4}$ (where $x_{o}$ is a virtual origin), first developed by Thiesset et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 748, 2014, R2) and rederived here solely from the SP analysis of the s.b.s. energy budget, is validated and provides a relatively simple and accurate method for estimating $\overline{{\it\epsilon}}$ along the axis of a turbulent round jet.

Impact of magnetic fluctuations on lattice excitations in fcc nickel

The spin-space averaging formalism is applied to compute atomic forces and phonon spectra for magnetically excited states of fcc nickel. Transverse and longitudinal magnetic fluctuations are taken into account by a combination of magnetic special quasi random structures and constrained spin-density-functional theory. It turns out that for fcc Ni interatomic force constants and phonon spectra are almost unaffected by both kinds of spin fluctuations. Given the computational expense to simulate coupled magnetic and atomic fluctuations, this insight facilitates computational modeling of magnetic alloys such as Ni-based superalloys.

Relativistic Hydrodynamics in Heavy-Ion Collisions: General Aspects and Recent Developments

Relativistic hydrodynamics has been quite successful in explaining the collective behaviour of the QCD matter produced in high energy heavy-ion collisions at RHIC and LHC. We briefly review the latest developments in the hydrodynamical modeling of relativistic heavy-ion collisions. Essential ingredients of the model such as the hydrodynamic evolution equations, dissipation, initial conditions, equation of state, and freeze-out process are reviewed. We discuss observable quantities such as particle spectra and anisotropic flow and effect of viscosity on these observables. Recent developments such as event-by-event fluctuations, flow in small systems (proton-proton and proton-nucleus collisions), flow in ultracentral collisions, longitudinal fluctuations, and correlations and flow in intense magnetic field are also discussed.

Thermal spin fluctuation effect on the elastic constants of paramagnetic Fe from first principles

We investigate the impact of longitudinal thermal spin fluctuations on the temperature dependence of the elastic constants of paramagnetic body-centered-cubic (bcc) and face-centered-cubic (fcc) Fe. Based on a series of constrained local magnetic moment calculations, the spin fluctuation distribution is established using Boltzmann statistics and involving the Jacobian weight, and a temperature-dependent quadratic mean moment is introduced that accurately represents the spin fluctuation state as a function of temperature. We show that with increasing temperature, c' and c(44) for the fcc phase and c(44) for the bcc phase decrease at different rates due to different magnetoelastic coupling strengths. In contrast, c' in the bcc phase exhibits relatively high thermal stability. Longitudinal thermal spin fluctuations diminish the softening of both elastic constants in either phase and have comparatively large contributions in the fcc phase. In both bcc and fcc Fe, c(44) has a larger temperature factor than c'. On the other hand, c' is more sensitive to the longitudinal thermal spin fluctuations, which balance the volume-induced softening by 21.6% in fcc Fe.

Generalized hydrodynamic correlations and fractional memory functions

Abstract A fractional generalized hydrodynamic (GH) model of the longitudinal velocity fluctuations correlation, and its associated memory function, for a complex fluid is analyzed. The adiabatic elimination of fast variables introduces memory effects in the transport equations, and the dynamic of the fluctuations is described by a generalized Langevin equation with long-range noise correlations. These features motivate the introduction of Caputo time fractional derivatives and allows us to calculate analytic expressions for the fractional longitudinal velocity correlation function and its associated memory function. Our analysis eliminates a spurious constant term in the non-fractional memory function found in the non-fractional description. It also produces a significantly slower power-law decay of the memory function in the GH regime that reduces to the well-known exponential decay in the non-fractional Navier–Stokes limit.

Distributed phase birefringence measurements based on polarization correlation in phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometers.

In this paper a technique to measure the distributed birefringence profile along optical fibers is proposed and experimentally validated. The method is based on the spectral correlation between two sets of orthogonally-polarized measurements acquired using a phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometer (ϕOTDR). The correlation between the two measured spectra gives a resonance (correlation) peak at a frequency detuning that is proportional to the local refractive index difference between the two orthogonal polarization axes of the fiber. In this way the method enables local phase birefringence measurements at any position along optical fibers, so that any longitudinal fluctuation can be precisely evaluated with metric spatial resolution. The method has been experimentally validated by measuring fibers with low and high birefringence, such as standard single-mode fibers as well as conventional polarization-maintaining fibers. The technique has potential applications in the characterization of optical fibers for telecommunications as well as in distributed optical fiber sensing.

Strongly bonded family members in common marmosets show synchronized fluctuations in oxytocin

Oxytocin is a key regulator of social bonding and is positively linked to affiliation and prosocial behavior in several mammal species. In chimpanzees, this link is dyad-specific as affiliative interactions only elicit high oxytocin release if they involve strongly bonded individuals. These studies involved isolated dyads and sampling events. Little is known about the role of oxytocin in affiliation and social bonding, and about potential long-term patterns of bonding-related and dyad-specific oxytocin effects within highly affiliative and cooperative social groups. Our aim was to investigate whether bonding-related oxytocin signatures linked to dyadic affiliation are present in family groups of cooperatively breeding marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus) that show high levels of cohesion and cooperation. In 30 dyads from four family groups and one pair, we measured urinary baseline oxytocin over six weeks and analyzed the link to bond strength (mean dyadic affiliation). Strongly bonded dyads showed synchronized longitudinal fluctuations of oxytocin, indicating that dyad-specific oxytocin effects can also be traced in the group context and in an interdependent species. We discuss these results in light of the potential function of differentiated relationships between marmoset dyads other than the breeding pair, and the role of oxytocin as a mediator for social bonding.

Evidence of quantum dimer excitations inSr3Ir2O7

The magnetic excitation spectrum in the bilayer iridate Sr$_3$Ir$_2$O$_7$ has been investigated using high-resolution resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) performed at the iridium L$_3$ edge and theoretical techniques. A study of the systematic dependence of the RIXS spectrum on the orientation of the wavevector transfer, $\mathbf{Q}$, with respect to the iridium-oxide bilayer has revealed that the magnon dispersion is comprised of two branches well separated in energy and gapped across the entire Brillouin zone. Our results contrast with those of an earlier study which reported the existence of a single dominant branch. While these earlier results were interpreted as two overlapping modes within a spin-wave model of weakly coupled iridium-oxide planes, our results are more reminiscent of those expected for a system of weakly coupled dimers. In this latter approach the lower and higher energy modes find a natural explanation as those corresponding to transverse and longitudinal fluctuations, respectively. We have therefore developed a bond-operator theory which describes the magnetic dispersion in Sr$_3$Ir$_2$O$_7$ in terms of quantum dimer excitations. In our model dimerisation is produced by the leading Heisenberg exchange, $J_c$, which couples iridium ions in adjacent planes of the bilayer. The Hamiltonian also includes in plane exchange, $J$, as well as further neighbour couplings and relevant anisotropies. The bond-operator theory provides an excellent account of the dispersion of both modes, while the measured $\mathbf{Q}$ dependence of the RIXS intensities is in reasonable qualitative accord with the spin-spin correlation function calculated from the theory. We discuss our results in the context of the quantum criticality of bilayer dimer systems in the presence of anisotropic interactions derived from strong spin-orbit coupling.

Generating an artificially thickened boundary layer to simulate the neutral atmospheric boundary layer

We aim to generate an artificially thickened boundary layer in a wind tunnel with properties similar to the neutral atmospheric boundary layer. We implement a variant of Counihan's technique which uses a combination of a castellated barrier, elliptical vortex generators, and surface roughness to create a thick boundary layer in a relatively short wind tunnel. We demonstrate an improved spanwise uniformity when compared to Counihan's original design by using a tighter vortex generator spacing with a smaller wedge angle which keeps the frontal area approximately constant while keeping the turbulence intensity and power spectral density unchanged. With this arrangement we were able to generate a 1:1000 scale atmospheric boundary layer at Reθ∼106 displaying logarithmic mean velocity behavior, a constant stress region, and turbulence intensities consistent with atmospheric boundary layer measurements and high Reynolds number laboratory rough-wall boundary layers. In addition, the power spectral density of the longitudinal velocity fluctuations agrees well with von Kármán's model spectrum, and the turbulence integral length scale agrees well with data from atmospheric boundary layer measurements.

Signatures of nematic quantum critical fluctuations in the Raman spectra of lightly doped cuprates

We consider the lightly doped cuprates Y$_{0.97}$Ca$_{0.03}$BaCuO$_{6.05}$ and La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ (with $x=0.02$,0.04), where the presence of a fluctuating nematic state has often been proposed as a precursor of the stripe (or, more generically, charge-density wave) phase, which sets in at higher doping. We phenomenologically assume a quantum critical character for the longitudinal and transverse nematic, and for the charge-ordering fluctuations, and investigate the effects of these fluctuations in Raman spectra. We find that the longitudinal nematic fluctuations peaked at zero transferred momentum account well for the anomalous Raman absorption observed in these systems in the $B_{2g}$ channel, while the absence of such effect in the $B_{1g}$ channel may be due to the overall suppression of Raman response at low frequencies, associated with the pseudogap. While in Y$_{0.97}$Ca$_{0.03}$BaCuO$_{6.05}$ the low-frequency lineshape is fully accounted by longitudinal nematic collective modes alone, in La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$ also charge-ordering modes with finite characteristic wavevector are needed to reproduce the shoulders observed in the Raman response. This different involvement of the nearly critical modes in the two materials suggests a different evolution of the nematic state at very low doping into the nearly charge-ordered state at higher doping.

Noncollinear spin-fluctuation theory of transition-metal magnetism: Role of transverse spin fluctuations in Fe

A local electronic theory of transition-metal magnetism at finite temperatures is presented, which takes into account longitudinal and transverse spin fluctuations on the same footing. The magnetic properties are determined in the framework of a rotational-invariant $d$-band model Hamiltonian by applying a four-field Hubbard-Stratonovich functional-integral method in the static approximation. The role of transverse spin excitations on the temperature-dependent magnetic properties is investigated by performing alloy averages in the single-site virtual crystal approximation. Bulk Fe is considered as the representative example for the applications. Results are given for the average magnetization $M$, for the spin-excitation energies, and for the transverse and longitudinal contributions to the local magnetic moments ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{l}$ at atom $l$. The importance of noncollinear spin excitations is quantified by comparison with the corresponding collinear calculations. An important reduction of about 33% of the calculated Curie temperature ${T}_{\mathrm{C}}$ is obtained, which now amounts to 1250 K and is thus relatively close to the experimental value. The longitudinal (transverse) components of ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{l}$ are found to decrease (increase) as a function of temperature until the full rotational symmetry is reached at ${T}_{C}$. This reflects the increasing importance of the transverse spin fluctuations. The origin of the temperature dependence of $M$ and ${\ensuremath{\mu}}_{l}$ is analyzed in terms of the local spin-fluctuation energies.

Covariation of pupillary and auditory cortical activity in rats under isoflurane anesthesia

Very slow fluctuations of spontaneous activities significantly influence not only behavioral performance in a conscious state, but also neural activities in an unconscious state. Covariation of pupil and cortical activities may lend important insights into the state-dependent modulation of stimulus encoding, yet this phenomenon has received little attention, especially with regard to non-visual cortices. In the present study, we investigated co-fluctuation of pupil size and neural activity in the auditory cortex of rats under isoflurane anesthesia. Pupil fluctuation consisted of longitudinal irregular shifts, and 1-min cyclic modulations. Both spontaneous and auditory-evoked potentials (AEPs) covaried with the longitudinal fluctuation of pupil size, but not with the 1-min cycle. Pupil size exhibited a positive correlation with spontaneous activity and negative correlation with AEP amplitude, particularly when the pupil size was beyond the normal range. Stimulus-specific adaptation characterized using an oddball paradigm was less dependent on pupil size than AEP. In contrast to the cortical activity, heart rate covaried with pupil size with the 1-min oscillatory component, but not the non-oscillatory component. Furthermore, light exposure induced the pupil reflex through the autonomic system, but did not modify cortical activity, indicating that autonomic activity was not causing the cortical modulation. These results together suggest that cortical activities spontaneously covary with pupillary activity through central cholinergic modulation that triggers sympathetic nerve activation. Such a state-dependent property may be a confounding factor in cortical electrophysiology studies.

Collective ion dynamics in liquid zinc: evidence for complex dynamics in a non-free-electron liquid metal.

A detailed inelastic neutron scattering investigation of the THz dynamics of liquid zinc is presented. The observed Q dependence clearly reveals the existence of a complex dynamics made up of two distinct excitations. The highest energy mode is the prolongation of the longitudinal acoustic density fluctuations whereas the comparison with the phonon dynamics of crystalline hcp zinc suggests a transverse acousticlike nature for the second one. This mode seems related to peculiar anisotropic interactions, possibly connected to the behavior of the crystalline phase.

Structure factor of a Gaussian chain confined between two parallel plates.

We study the structure factor of a single Gaussian chain confined between two macroscopic parallel plates theoretically. The chain propagator is constructed in terms of the eigen-spectrum of the Laplace operator under the Dirichlet boundary condition enforced at the two plates, by which the confinement effect enters the treatment through size-dependent eigen-spectrum. In terms of the series expansion solution for the chain propagator, we first calculate the confinement free energy and the confinement force for an arbitrary confinement strength. It is found that the confinement force scales to the distance between the two confining surfaces with a power of -3 for strong confinements and of -2 for weak confinements. Based on the ground state dominance approximation for strong confinements and the Euler-Maclaurin formula for weak confinements, we develop approximation theories for the two limit situations, which agree with the numerical results well. We further calculate the structure factor of the confined Gaussian chain in this slit geometry. While the scattering function of the transverse chain fluctuations perpendicular to the confinement direction is still a Debye function form, the structure factor for the longitudinal fluctuations along the confinement dimension starts with the monotonic Debye function behavior for weak confinements and develops a decaying oscillation behavior with the increase of confinements. The numerical results for the structure factor are also interpreted by developing approximation theories in different confinement regimes. Finally, the orientational average of the anisotropic structure factor is performed and an analytic expression for the averaged structure factor is derived under the ground state dominance approximation for strong confinements.

Longitudinal decorrelation of anisotropic flows in heavy-ion collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider

Fluctuations in the initial transverse energy-density distribution lead to anisotropic flows as observed in central high-energy heavy-ion collisions. Studies of longitudinal fluctuations of the anisotropic flows can shed further light on the initial conditions and dynamical evolution of the hot quark-gluon matter in these collisions. Correlations between anisotropic flows with varying pseudorapidity gaps in Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider are investigated using both an event-by-event (3+1)-D ideal hydrodynamical model with fluctuating initial conditions and the a multiphase transport (AMPT) Monte Carlo model for high-energy heavy-ion collisions. Anisotropic flows at different pseudorapidities are found to become significantly decorrelated with increasing pseudo-rapidity gaps due to longitudinal fluctuations in the initial states of heavy-ion collisions. The longitudinal correlation of the elliptic flow shows a strong centrality dependence while the correlation of the triangular flow is independent of the centrality. Longitudinal fluctuations as a source of the decorrelation are further shown to consist of a twist or gradual rotation in flow angles between the forward and backward direction and additional fluctuations on top of the twist. Within the AMPT model, longitudinal correlations of anisotropic flows are also found to depend on the value of partonic cross sections. The implicatiosn of constraining the initial conditions and shear viscosity to entropy density ratio of the partonic matter in high-energy heavy-ion collisions are also discussed.

Final source eccentricity measured by HBT interferometry with the event shape selection

Azimuthal angle dependence of the pion source radii has been measured applying the event shape engineering technique at the PHENIX experiment. When events with higher magnitude of second-order flow vector are selected, the oscillation of the source radii is enhanced as well as v2 which leads to the enhancement of the measured final source eccentricity. The event twist effect in the spatial source distribution in the final state has been also explored with AMPT model. Results indicate a possible twisted source due to the initial longitudinal fluctuations.

Electromagnon excitation and longitudinal mode studied on the basis of symmetric spin-dependent electric polarization

Since a symmetric spin-dependent electric polarization makes quantum spin systems couple to an electric field, it is one of a possible origin of electromagnon excitations in noncollinear (spiral) magnetically ordered states. In collinear ordered states, however, it is believed that the electromagnon excitation is difficult to realize. In the present study, we focus on the symmetric spin-dependent electric polarization and study the electromagnon excitation in both collinear and noncollinear states. In one-magnon excitation process, it is found that the symmetric spin-dependent polarization couples to a longitudinal fluctuation of the ordered moment and that the electromagnon measurements probe the longitudinal (Higgs) mode selectively. In noncollinear states, we report that both Higgs and Nambu-Goldstone (transverse) modes are observable.

Morphological Instability of a Transversally Isotropic Solid Cylinder Under Stress

The linear stability of the surface of a transversally isotropic cylinder submitted to uniaxial stress has been theoretically investigated with respect to the development by surface diffusion of longitudinal fluctuations of its radius. The effect of stress has been characterized on the instability threshold.

Studies of an array of PbF2 Cherenkov crystals with large-area SiPM readout

The electromagnetic calorimeter for the new muon (g−2) experiment at Fermilab will consist of arrays of PbF2 Cherenkov crystals read out by large-area silicon photo-multiplier (SiPM) sensors. We report here on measurements and simulations using 2.0–4.5GeV electrons with a 28-element prototype array. All data were obtained using fast waveform digitizers to accurately capture signal pulse shapes vs. energy, impact position, angle, and crystal wrapping. The SiPMs were gain matched using a laser-based calibration system, which also provided a stabilization procedure that allowed gain correction to a level of 10−4 per hour. After accounting for longitudinal fluctuation losses, those crystals wrapped in a white, diffusive wrapping exhibited an energy resolution σ/E of (3.4±0.1)%/E/GeV, while those wrapped in a black, absorptive wrapping had (4.6±0.3)%/E/GeV. The white-wrapped crystals—having nearly twice the total light collection—display a generally wider and impact-position-dependent pulse shape owing to the dynamics of the light propagation, in comparison to the black-wrapped crystals, which have a narrower pulse shape that is insensitive to impact position.