Vortex reconnection rate, and loop birth rate, for a random wavefield

DOI10.1088/1751-8121/AA5A38zbMATH Open1369.82017arXiv1702.04260OpenAlexW2578109799MaRDI QIDQ5267840FDOQ5267840

J. H. Hannay

Publication date: 13 June 2017

Published in: Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: A time dependent, complex scalar wavefield in three dimensions contains curved zero lines, wave 'vortices', that move around. From time to time pairs of these lines contact each other and 'reconnect' in a well studied manner, and at other times tiny loops of new line appear from nowhere (births) and grow, or the reverse, existing loops shrink and disappear (deaths). These three types are known to be the only generic events. Here the average rate of their occurrences per unit volume, R, B, and D is calculated exactly for a Gaussian random wavefield that has isotropic stationary statistics, arising from a superposition of an infinity of plane waves in different directions. A simplifying 'axis fixing' technique is used to achieve this. The resulting formulas are expressed in terms of the power spectrum of the ensemble plane waves: R=WSqrt[K4^3/(12 Pi^4 K2(K4-K2^2))], and B=D=(R/2)-(W/2)Sqrt[9 K2^3/(16 Pi^4)] where W is the standard deviation of angular frequencies, and K2 and K4 are the second and fourth moments of a wave vector component (say the x one). Thus reconnections are always more common than births and deaths combined. As an expository preliminary, the case of two dimensions, where the vortices are points, is studied and the average rate of pair creation (and likewise destruction) per unit area is calculated to be WSqrt[(K4-K2^2)/(4 Pi^4)].

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.04260

Recommendations

• Universal statistics of vortex tangles in three-dimensional random waves
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zbMATH Keywords

statisticsvortexwavefield

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Strange attractors, chaotic dynamics of systems with hyperbolic behavior (37D45) Random walks, random surfaces, lattice animals, etc. in equilibrium statistical mechanics (82B41)

Cites Work

• Chaotic analytic zero points: exact statistics for those of a random spin state
• Phase singularities in isotropic random waves
• Random wavefunctions and percolation
• Umbilic points on Gaussian random surfaces
• Knotting and unknotting of phase singularities: Helmholtz waves, paraxial waves and waves in 2+1 spacetime
• The chaotic analytic function
• Geometry and scaling of tangled vortex lines in three-dimensional random wave fields
• Topological events on wave dislocation lines: birth and death of loops, and reconnection
• Reconnections of wave vortex lines

Cited In (3)

• Reconnections of wave vortex lines
• Universal statistics of vortex tangles in three-dimensional random waves
• Probability distribution for the Gaussian curvature of the zero level surface of a random function

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