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Caustics in turbulent aerosols

M. Wilkinson1 and B. Mehlig2

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Networks of caustics can occur in the distribution of particles suspended in a randomly moving gas. These can facilitate coagulation of particles by bringing them into close proximity, even in cases where the trajectories do not coalesce. The evolution of these caustic patterns depends upon the Lyapunov exponents λ1, λ2 of the suspended particles, as well as the rate J at which particles encounter caustics. We develop a theory determining the quantities J, λ1, λ2 from the statistical properties of the gas flow, in the limit of short correlation times.


PACS

05.40.-a Fluctuation phenomena, random processes, noise, and Brownian motion

47.54.+r Pattern selection; pattern formation

47.27.Qb Turbulent diffusion

Subjects

Fluid dynamics

Statistical physics and nonlinear systems

Dates

Issue 2 (July 2005)

Received 29 October 2004, accepted for publication 12 May 2005, in final form 12 May 2005

Published 10 June 2005

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  1. Caustics in turbulent aerosols

    M. Wilkinson and B. Mehlig 2005 Europhys. Lett. 71 186

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