Equivalence of nonequilibrium ensembles in turbulence models.

Understanding under what conditions it is possible to construct equivalent ensembles is key to advancing our ability to connect microscopic and macroscopic properties of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. In the case of fluid dynamical systems, one issue is to test whether different models for viscosity lead to the same macroscopic properties of the fluid systems in different regimes. Such models include, besides the standard choice of constant viscosity, cases where the time symmetry of the evolution equations is exactly preserved, as it must be in the corresponding microscopic systems, when available.

Time irreversibility in reversible shell models of turbulence.

Turbulent flows governed by the Navier-Stokes equations (NSE) generate an out-of-equilibrium time irreversible energy cascade from large to small scales. In the NSE, the energy transfer is due to the nonlinear terms that are formally symmetric under time reversal. As for the dissipative term: first, it explicitly breaks time reversibility; second, it produces a small-scale sink for the energy transfer that remains effective even in the limit of vanishing viscosity.

Inverse energy cascade in nonlocal helical shell models of turbulence.

Following the exact decomposition in eigenstates of helicity for the Navier-Stokes equations in Fourier space [F. Waleffe, Phys. Fluids A 4, 350 (1992)], we introduce a modified version of helical shell models for turbulence with nonlocal triadic interactions.

Clustering of vertically constrained passive particles in homogeneous isotropic turbulence.

We analyze the dynamics of small particles vertically confined, by means of a linear restoring force, to move within a horizontal fluid slab in a three-dimensional (3D) homogeneous isotropic turbulent velocity field. The model that we introduce and study is possibly the simplest description for the dynamics of small aquatic organisms that, due to swimming, active regulation of their buoyancy, or any other mechanism, maintain themselves in a shallow horizontal layer below the free surface of oceans or lakes. By varying the strength of the restoring force, we are able to control the thickness of the fluid slab in which the particles can move.