Axial dipolar dynamo action in the Taylor-Green vortex.

We present a numerical study of the magnetic field generated by the Taylor-Green vortex. We show that periodic boundary conditions can be used to mimic realistic boundary conditions by prescribing the symmetries of the velocity and magnetic fields. This gives insight into some problems of central interest for dynamos: the possible effect of velocity fluctuations on the dynamo threshold, and the role of boundary conditions on the threshold and on the geometry of the magnetic field generated by dynamo action.

Alfvén waves and ideal two-dimensional Galerkin truncated magnetohydrodynamics.

We investigate numerically the dynamics of two-dimensional Euler and ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) flows in systems with a finite number of modes, up to 4096(2), for which several quadratic invariants are preserved by the truncation and the statistical equilibria are known. Initial conditions are the Orszag-Tang vortex with a neutral X point centered on a stagnation point of the velocity field in the large scales. In MHD, we observe that the total energy spectra at intermediate times and intermediate scales correspond to the interactions of eddies and waves, E(T)(k)~k(-3/2).

Energy cascade with small-scale thermalization, counterflow metastability, and anomalous velocity of vortex rings in Fourier-truncated Gross-Pitaevskii equation.

The statistical equilibria of the (conservative) dynamics of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE) with a finite range of spatial Fourier modes are characterized using a new algorithm, based on a stochastically forced Ginzburg-Landau equation (SGLE), that directly generates grand-canonical distributions. The SGLE-generated distributions are validated against finite-temperature GPE-thermalized states and exact (low-temperature) results obtained by steepest descent on the (grand-canonical) partition function. A standard finite-temperature second-order λ transition is exhibited.

Dispersive bottleneck delaying thermalization of turbulent bose-einstein condensates.

A new mechanism of thermalization involving a direct energy cascade is obtained in the truncated Gross-Pitaevskii dynamics. A long transient with partial thermalization at small scales is observed before the system reaches equilibrium. Vortices are found to disappear as a prelude to final thermalization.

Cascades, thermalization, and eddy viscosity in helical Galerkin truncated Euler flows.

The dynamics of the truncated Euler equations with helical initial conditions are studied. Transient energy and helicity cascades leading to Kraichnan helical absolute equilibrium at small scales, including a linear scaling of the relative helicity spectrum are obtained. Strong helicity effects are found using initial data concentrated at high wave numbers.

Effective dissipation and turbulence in spectrally truncated euler flows.

A new transient regime in the relaxation towards absolute equilibrium of the conservative and time-reversible 3D Euler equation with a high-wave-number spectral truncation is characterized. Large-scale dissipative effects, caused by the thermalized modes that spontaneously appear between a transition wave number and the maximum wave number, are calculated using fluctuation dissipation relations. The large-scale dynamics is found to be similar to that of high-Reynolds number Navier-Stokes equations and thus obeys (at least approximately) Kolmogorov scaling.

Analysis of DNA supercoil induction by FtsK indicates translocation without groove-tracking.

FtsK is a bacterial protein that translocates DNA in order to transport chromosomes within the cell. During translocation, DNA's double-helical structure might cause a relative rotation between FtsK and the DNA. We used a single-molecule technique to quantify this rotation by observing the supercoils induced into the DNA during translocation of an FtsK complex.

Scroll waves in isotropic excitable media: linear instabilities, bifurcations, and restabilized states.

Scroll waves are three-dimensional analogs of spiral waves. The linear stability spectrum of untwisted and twisted scroll waves is computed for a two-variable reaction-diffusion model of an excitable medium. Different bands of modes are seen to be unstable in different regions of parameter space.