Turbulent compressible fluid: Renormalization group analysis, scaling regimes, and anomalous scaling of advected scalar fields

Renormalization group study of the dynamics of active membranes: Universality classes and scaling laws

Motivated by experimental observations of patterning at the leading edge of motile eukaryotic cells, we introduce a general model for the dynamics of nearly-flat fluid membranes driven from within by an ensemble of activators. We include, in particular, a kinematic coupling between activator density and membrane slope which generically arises whenever the membrane has a nonvanishing normal speed. We unveil the phase diagram of the model by means of a perturbative field-theoretical renormalization group analysis. Due to the aforementioned kinematic coupling the natural early-time dynamical scaling is acoustic, that is the dynamical critical exponent is 1. However, as soon as the the normal velocity of the membrane is tuned to zero, the system crosses over to diffusive dynamic scaling in mean field. Distinct critical points can be reached depending on how the limit of vanishing velocity is realized: in each of them corrections to scaling due to nonlinear coupling terms must be taken into account. The detailed analysis of these critical points reveals novel scaling regimes which can be accessed with perturbative methods, together with signs of strong coupling behavior, which establishes a promising ground for further nonperturbative calculations. Our results unify several previous studies on the dynamics of active membrane, while also identifying nontrivial scaling regimes which cannot be captured by passive theories of fluctuating interfaces and are relevant for the physics of living membranes.

Comment on "Turbulent compressible fluid: Renormalization group analysis, scaling regimes, and anomalous scaling of advected scalar fields"

Recently, asymptotic scaling behavior of the compressible randomly forced Navier-Stokes equation has been analyzed with the use of field-theoretic renormalization group near four dimensions [Phys. Rev. E 95, 033120 (2017)PREHBM2470-004510.1103/PhysRevE.95.033120]. Two infrared stable nontrivial asymptotic scaling patterns have been found and their parameters determined in the one-loop approximation. Here, it is pointed out that the asymptotic scaling behavior predicted in this way may not be realized in physical fluid systems. This is a consequence of restrictions on viscosities imposed by the energy balance equation which the one-loop fixed-point value of the relative viscosity fails to meet.

Renormalization group study of superfluid phase transition: Effect of compressibility

Dynamic critical behavior in superfluid systems is considered in the presence of external stirring and advecting processes. The latter are generated by means of the Gaussian random velocity ensemble with white-noise character in time variable and self-similar spatial dependence. The main focus of this work is to analyze an effect of compressible modes on the critical behavior. The model is formulated through stochastic Langevin equations, which are then recast into the Janssen-De Dominicis response formalism. Employing the field-theoretic perturbative renormalization group method we analyze large-scale properties of the model. Explicit calculations are performed to the leading one-loop approximation in the double (ɛ,y) expansion scheme, where ɛ is a deviation from the upper critical dimension d_{c}=4 and y describes a scaling property of the velocity ensemble. Altogether five distinct universality classes are expected to be macroscopically observable. In contrast to the incompressible case, we find that compressibility leads to an enhancement and stabilization of nontrivial asymptotic regimes.

Universality in incompressible active fluid: Effect of nonlocal shear stress

Phase transitions in active fluids attracted significant attention within the last decades. Recent results show [L. Chen et al., New J. Phys. 17, 042002 (2015)10.1088/1367-2630/17/4/042002] that an order-disorder phase transition in incompressible active fluids belongs to a new universality class. In this work, we further investigate this type of phase transition and focus on the effect of long-range interactions. This is achieved by introducing a nonlocal shear stress into the hydrodynamic description, which leads to superdiffusion of the velocity field, and can be viewed as a result of the active particles performing Lévy walks. The universal properties in the critical region are derived by performing a perturbative renormalization group analysis of the corresponding response functional within the one-loop approximation. We show that the effect of nonlocal shear stress decreases the upper critical dimension of the model, and can lead to the irrelevance of the active fluid self-advection with the resulting model belonging to an unusual long-range Model A universality class not reported before, to our knowledge. Moreover, when the degree of nonlocality is sufficiently high all nonlinearities become irrelevant and the mean-field description is valid in any spatial dimension.

Passive Advection of a Vector Field by Compressible Turbulent Flow: Renormalizations Group Analysis near d = 4

The renormalization group approach and the operator product expansion technique are applied to the model of a passively advected vector field by a turbulent velocity field. The latter is governed by the stochastic Navier-Stokes equation for a compressible fluid. The model is considered in the vicinity of space dimension d = 4 and the perturbation theory is constructed within a double expansion scheme in y and ε = 4 − d , where y describes scaling behaviour of the random force that enters the Navier-Stokes equation. The properties of the correlation functions are investigated, and anomalous scaling and multifractal behaviour are established. All calculations are performed in the leading order of y, ε expansion (one-loop approximation).

Perspectives on scaling and multiscaling in passive scalar turbulence

We revisit the well-known problem of multiscaling in substances passively advected by homogeneous and isotropic turbulent flows or passive scalar turbulence. To that end we propose a two-parameter continuum hydrodynamic model for an advected substance concentration θ, parametrized jointly by y and y[over ¯], that characterize the spatial scaling behavior of the variances of the advecting stochastic velocity and the stochastic additive driving force, respectively. We analyze it within a one-loop dynamic renormalization group method to calculate the multiscaling exponents of the equal-time structure functions of θ. We show how the interplay between the advective velocity and the additive force may lead to simple scaling or multiscaling. In one limit, our results reduce to the well-known results from the Kraichnan model for passive scalar. Our framework of analysis should be of help for analytical approaches for the still intractable problem of fluid turbulence itself.

Statistical symmetry restoration in fully developed turbulence: Renormalization group analysis of two models

In this paper we consider the model of incompressible fluid described by the stochastic Navier-Stokes equation with finite correlation time of a random force. Inertial-range asymptotic behavior of fully developed turbulence is studied by means of the field theoretic renormalization group within the one-loop approximation. It is corroborated that regardless of the values of model parameters and initial data the inertial-range behavior of the model is described by the limiting case of vanishing correlation time. This indicates that the Galilean symmetry of the model violated by the "colored" random force is restored in the inertial range. This regime corresponds to the only nontrivial fixed point of the renormalization group equation. The stability of this point depends on the relation between the exponents in the energy spectrum E∝k^{1-y} and the dispersion law ω∝k^{2-η}. The second analyzed problem is the passive advection of a scalar field by this velocity ensemble. Correlation functions of the scalar field exhibit anomalous scaling behavior in the inertial-convective range. We demonstrate that in accordance with Kolmogorov's hypothesis of the local symmetry restoration the main contribution to the operator product expansion is given by the isotropic operator, while anisotropic terms should be considered only as corrections.

Influence of turbulent mixing on critical behavior of directed percolation process: Effect of compressibility

Universal behavior is a typical emergent feature of critical systems. A paramount model of the nonequilibrium critical behavior is the directed bond percolation process that exhibits an active-to-absorbing state phase transition in the vicinity of a percolation threshold. Fluctuations of the ambient environment might affect or destroy the universality properties completely. In this work, we assume that the random environment can be described by means of compressible velocity fluctuations. Using field-theoretic models and renormalization group methods, we investigate large-scale and long-time behavior. Altogether, 11 universality classes are found, out of which 4 are stable in the infrared limit and thus macroscopically accessible. In contrast to the model without velocity fluctuations, a possible candidate for a realistic three-dimensional case, a regime with relevant short-range noise, is identified. Depending on the dimensionality of space and the structure of the turbulent flow, we calculate critical exponents of the directed percolation process. In the limit of the purely transversal random force, critical exponents comply with the incompressible results obtained by previous authors. We have found intriguing nonuniversal behavior related to the mutual effect of compressibility and advection.