Anomalous scaling of a passive scalar advected by the Navier--Stokes velocity field: Two-loop approximation

Abstract

The field theoretic renormalization group and operator product expansion are applied to the model of a passive scalar quantity advected by a non-Gaussian velocity field with finite correlation time. The velocity is governed by the Navier--Stokes equation, subject to an external random stirring force with the correlation function $\propto δ(t-t') k^{4-d-2ε}$. It is shown that the scalar field is intermittent already for small $ε$, its structure functions display anomalous scaling behavior, and the corresponding exponents can be systematically calculated as series in $ε$. The practical calculation is accomplished to order $ε^{2}$ (two-loop approximation), including anisotropic sectors. Like for the well-known Kraichnan's rapid-change model, the anomalous scaling results from the existence in the model of composite fields (operators) with negative scaling dimensions, identified with the anomalous exponents. Thus the mechanism of the origin of anomalous scaling appears similar for the Gaussian model with zero correlation time and non-Gaussian model with finite correlation time. It should be emphasized that, in contrast to Gaussian velocity ensembles with finite correlation time, the model and the perturbation theory discussed here are manifestly Galilean covariant. The relevance of these results for the real passive advection, comparison with the Gaussian models and experiments are briefly discussed.