High-temperature LM cathode ion thrusters Quarterly progress report, 5 May - 4 Aug. 1968

Design and operation of high temperature liquid mercury cathode ion thruster

Asymmetry of temporal cross-correlations in turbulent shear flows

We investigate spatial and temporal cross-correlations between streamwise and normal velocity components in three shear flows: a low-dimensional model for vortex-streak interactions, direct numerical simulations for a nearly homogeneous shear flow and experimental data for a turbulent boundary layer. A driving of streamwise streaks by streamwise vortices gives rise to a temporal asymmetry in the short time correlation. Close to the wall or the bounding surface in the free-slip situations, this asymmetry is identified. Further away from the boundaries the asymmetry becomes weaker and changes character, indicating the prevalence of other processes. The systematic variation of the asymmetry measure may be used as a complementary indicator to separate different layers in turbulent shear flows. The location of the extrema at different streamwise displacements can be used to read off the mean advection speed; it differs from the mean streamwise velocity because of asymmetries in the normal extension of the structures.Comment: 10 pages, 7 Postscript figures (low quality due to downsizing

Turbulence transition and the edge of chaos in pipe flow

The linear stability of pipe flow implies that only perturbations of sufficient strength will trigger the transition to turbulence. In order to determine this threshold in perturbation amplitude we study the \emph{edge of chaos} which separates perturbations that decay towards the laminar profile and perturbations that trigger turbulence. Using the lifetime as an indicator and methods developed in (Skufca et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 96}, 174101 (2006)) we show that superimposed on an overall $1/\Re$-scaling predicted and studied previously there are small, non-monotonic variations reflecting folds in the edge of chaos. By tracing the motion in the edge we find that it is formed by the stable manifold of a unique flow field that is dominated by a pair of downstream vortices, asymmetrically placed towards the wall. The flow field that generates the edge of chaos shows intrinsic chaotic dynamics.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Echoes in classical dynamical systems

Echoes arise when external manipulations to a system induce a reversal of its time evolution that leads to a more or less perfect recovery of the initial state. We discuss the accuracy with which a cloud of trajectories returns to the initial state in classical dynamical systems that are exposed to additive noise and small differences in the equations of motion for forward and backward evolution. The cases of integrable and chaotic motion and small or large noise are studied in some detail and many different dynamical laws are identified. Experimental tests in 2-d flows that show chaotic advection are proposed.Comment: to be published in J. Phys.

Transition state theory for wave packet dynamics. I. Thermal decay in metastable Schr\"odinger systems

We demonstrate the application of transition state theory to wave packet dynamics in metastable Schr\"odinger systems which are approached by means of a variational ansatz for the wave function and whose dynamics is described within the framework of a time-dependent variational principle. The application of classical transition state theory, which requires knowledge of a classical Hamilton function, is made possible by mapping the variational parameters to classical phase space coordinates and constructing an appropriate Hamiltonian in action variables. This mapping, which is performed by a normal form expansion of the equations of motion and an additional adaptation to the energy functional, as well as the requirements to the variational ansatz are discussed in detail. The applicability of the procedure is demonstrated for a cubic model potential for which we calculate thermal decay rates of a frozen Gaussian wave function. The decay rate obtained with a narrow trial wave function agrees perfectly with the results using the classical normal form of the corresponding point particle. The results with a broader trial wave function go even beyond the classical approach, i.e., they agree with those using the quantum normal form. The method presented here will be applied to Bose-Einstein condensates in the following paper [A. Junginger, M. Dorwarth, J. Main, and G. Wunner, submitted to J. Phys. A].Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, submitted to J. Phys.

How does flow in a pipe become turbulent?

The transition to turbulence in pipe flow does not follow the scenario familiar from Rayleigh-Benard or Taylor-Couette flow since the laminar profile is stable against infinitesimal perturbations for all Reynolds numbers. Moreover, even when the flow speed is high enough and the perturbation sufficiently strong such that turbulent flow is established, it can return to the laminar state without any indication of the imminent decay. In this parameter range, the lifetimes of perturbations show a sensitive dependence on initial conditions and an exponential distribution. The turbulence seems to be supported by three-dimensional travelling waves which appear transiently in the flow field. The boundary between laminar and turbulent dynamics is formed by the stable manifold of an invariant chaotic state. We will also discuss the relation between observations in short, periodically continued domains, and the dynamics in fully extended puffs.Comment: for the proceedings of statphys 2

On statistically stationary homogeneous shear turbulence

A statistically stationary turbulence with a mean shear gradient is realized in a flow driven by suitable body forces. The flow domain is periodic in downstream and spanwise directions and bounded by stress free surfaces in the normal direction. Except for small layers near the surfaces the flow is homogeneous. The fluctuations in turbulent energy are less violent than in the simulations using remeshing, but the anisotropy on small scales as measured by the skewness of derivatives is similar and decays weakly with increasing Reynolds number.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures (Figs. 3 and 4 as external JPG-Files

High-temperature LM cathode ion thrusters Quarterly progress report, 5 Feb. - 4 May 1968

Poiseuille flow measurements for high temperature liquid metal cathode ion thruster

Semiclassical Quantization by Pade Approximant to Periodic Orbit Sums

Periodic orbit quantization requires an analytic continuation of non-convergent semiclassical trace formulae. We propose a method for semiclassical quantization based upon the Pade approximant to the periodic orbit sums. The Pade approximant allows the re-summation of the typically exponentially divergent periodic orbit terms. The technique does not depend on the existence of a symbolic dynamics and can be applied to both bound and open systems. Numerical results are presented for two different systems with chaotic and regular classical dynamics, viz. the three-disk scattering system and the circle billiard.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Europhys. Let