arXiv subjects

Baruch Meerson

Publications and source records attributed to Baruch Meerson.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2008

Attempted density blowup in a freely cooling dilute granular gas: hydrodynamics versus molecular dynamics

It has been recently shown (Fouxon et al. 2007) that, in the framework of ideal granular hydrodynamics (IGHD), an initially smooth hydrodynamic flow of a granular gas can produce an infinite gas density in a finite time. Exact solutions that exhibit this property have been derived. Close to the singularity, the granular gas pressure is finite and almost constant. This work reports molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of a freely cooling gas of nearly elastically colliding hard disks, aimed at identifying the "attempted" density blowup regime. The initial conditions of the simulated flow mimic those of one particular solution of the IGHD equations that exhibits the density blowup. We measure the hydrodynamic fields in the MD simulations and compare them with predictions from the ideal theory. We find a remarkable quantitative agreement between the two over an extended time interval, proving the existence of the attempted blowup regime. As the attempted singularity is approached, the hydrodynamic fields, as observed in the MD simulations, deviate from the predictions of the ideal solution. To investigate the mechanism of breakdown of the ideal theory near the singularity, we extend the hydrodynamic theory by accounting separately for the gradient-dependent transport and for finite density corrections.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2008

A nonlinear theory of non-stationary low Mach number channel flows of freely cooling nearly elastic granular gases

We use hydrodynamics to investigate non-stationary channel flows of freely cooling dilute granular gases. We focus on the regime where the sound travel time through the channel is much shorter than the characteristic cooling time of the gas. As a result, the gas pressure rapidly becomes almost homogeneous, while the typical Mach number of the flow drops well below unity. Eliminating the acoustic modes, we reduce the hydrodynamic equations to a single nonlinear and nonlocal equation of a reaction-diffusion type in Lagrangian coordinates. This equation describes a broad class of channel flows and, in particular, can follow the development of the clustering instability from a weakly perturbed homogeneous cooling state to strongly nonlinear states. If the heat diffusion is neglected, the reduced equation is exactly soluble, and the solution develops a finite-time density blowup. The heat diffusion, however, becomes important near the attempted singularity. It arrests the density blowup and brings about novel inhomogeneous cooling states (ICSs) of the gas, where the pressure continues to decay with time, while the density profile becomes time-independent. Both the density profile of an ICS, and the characteristic relaxation time towards it are determined by a single dimensionless parameter that describes the relative role of the inelastic energy loss and heat diffusion. At large values of this parameter, the intermediate cooling dynamics proceeds as a competition between low-density regions of the gas. This competition resembles Ostwald ripening: only one hole survives at the end.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2007

Noise enhanced persistence in a biochemical regulatory network with feedback control

We find that discrete noise of inhibiting (signal) molecules can greatly delay the extinction of plasmids in a plasmid replication system: a prototypical biochemical regulatory network. We calculate the probability distribution of the metastable state of the plasmids and show on this example that the reaction rate equations may fail in predicting the average number of regulated molecules even when this number is large, and the time is much shorter than the mean extinction time.

q-bio.MN↗

arXiv2007

Formation of density singularities in ideal hydrodynamics of freely cooling inelastic gases: a family of exact solutions

We employ granular hydrodynamics to investigate a paradigmatic problem of clustering of particles in a freely cooling dilute granular gas. We consider large-scale hydrodynamic motions where the viscosity and heat conduction can be neglected, and one arrives at the equations of ideal gas dynamics with an additional term describing bulk energy losses due to inelastic collisions. We employ Lagrangian coordinates and derive a broad family of exact non-stationary analytical solutions that depend only on one spatial coordinate. These solutions exhibit a new type of singularity, where the gas density blows up in a finite time when starting from smooth initial conditions. The density blowups signal formation of close-packed clusters of particles. As the density blow-up time $t_c$ is approached, the maximum density exhibits a power law $\sim (t_c-t)^{-2}$. The velocity gradient blows up as $\sim - (t_c-t)^{-1}$ while the velocity itself remains continuous and develops a cusp (rather than a shock discontinuity) at the singularity. The gas temperature vanishes at the singularity, and the singularity follows the isobaric scenario: the gas pressure remains finite and approximately uniform in space and constant in time close to the singularity. An additional exact solution shows that the density blowup, of the same type, may coexist with an "ordinary" shock, at which the hydrodynamic fields are discontinuous but finite. We confirm stability of the exact solutions with respect to small one-dimensional perturbations by solving the ideal hydrodynamic equations numerically. Furthermore, numerical solutions show that the local features of the density blowup hold universally, independently of details of the initial and boundary conditions.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2007

Formation and evolution of density singularities in hydrodynamics of inelastic gases

We use ideal hydrodynamics to investigate clustering in a gas of inelastically colliding spheres. The hydrodynamic equations exhibit a new type of finite-time density blowup, where the gas pressure remains finite. The density blowups signal formation of close-packed clusters. The blowup dynamics are universal and describable by exact analytic solutions continuable beyond the blowup time. These solutions show that dilute hydrodynamic equations yield a powerful effective description of a granular gas flow with close-packed clusters, described as finite-mass point-like singularities of the density. This description is similar in spirit to the description of shocks in ordinary ideal gas dynamics.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2007

van der Waals-like phase separation instability of a driven granular gas in three dimensions

We show that the van der Waals-like phase separation instability of a driven granular gas at zero gravity, previously investigated in two-dimensional settings, persists in three dimensions. We consider a monodisperse granular gas driven by a thermal wall of a three-dimensional rectangular container at zero gravity. The basic steady state of this system, as described by granular hydrodynamic equations, involves a denser and colder layer of granulate located at the wall opposite to the driving wall. When the inelastic energy loss is sufficiently high, the driven granular gas exhibits, in some range of average densities, negative compressibility in the directions parallel to the driving wall. When the lateral dimensions of the container are sufficiently large, the negative compressibility causes spontaneous symmetry breaking of the basic steady state and a phase separation instability. Event-driven molecular dynamics simulations confirm and complement our theoretical predictions.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2007

Close-packed granular clusters: hydrostatics and persistent Gaussian fluctuations

Dense granular clusters often behave like macro-particles. We address this interesting phenomenon in a model system of inelastically colliding hard disks inside a circular box, driven by a thermal wall at zero gravity. Molecular dynamics simulations show a close-packed cluster of an almost circular shape, weakly fluctuating in space and isolated from the driving wall by a low-density gas. The density profile of the system agrees very well with the azimuthally symmetric solution of granular hydrostatic equations employing constitutive relations by Grossman et al., whereas the widely used Enskog-type constitutive relations show poor accuracy. We find that fluctuations of the center of mass of the system are Gaussian. This suggests an effective Langevin description in terms of a macro-particle, confined by a harmonic potential and driven by a delta-correlated noise. Surprisingly, the fluctuations persist when increasing the number of particles in the system.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2007

Spectral theory of metastability and extinction in a branching-annihilation reaction

We apply the spectral method, recently developed by the authors, to calculate the statistics of a reaction-limited multi-step birth-death process, or chemical reaction, that includes as elementary steps branching A->2A and annihilation 2A->0. The spectral method employs the generating function technique in conjunction with the Sturm-Liouville theory of linear differential operators. We focus on the limit when the branching rate is much higher than the annihilation rate, and obtain accurate analytical results for the complete probability distribution (including large deviations) of the metastable long-lived state, and for the extinction time statistics. The analytical results are in very good agreement with numerical calculations. Furthermore, we use this example to settle the issue of the "lacking" boundary condition in the spectral formulation.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2006

Phase separation of a driven granular gas in annular geometry

This work investigates phase separation of a monodisperse gas of inelastically colliding hard disks confined in a two-dimensional annulus, the inner circle of which represents a "thermal wall". When described by granular hydrodynamic equations, the basic steady state of this system is an azimuthally symmetric state of increased particle density at the exterior circle of the annulus. When the inelastic energy loss is sufficiently large, hydrodynamics predicts spontaneous symmetry breaking of the annular state, analogous to the van der Waals-like phase separation phenomenon previously found in a driven granular gas in rectangular geometry. At a fixed aspect ratio of the annulus, the phase separation involves a "spinodal interval" of particle area fractions, where the gas has negative compressibility in the azimuthal direction. The heat conduction in the azimuthal direction tends to suppress the instability, as corroborated by a marginal stability analysis of the basic steady state with respect to small perturbations. To test and complement our theoretical predictions we performed event-driven molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of this system. We clearly identify the transition to phase separated states in the MD simulations, despite large fluctuations present, by measuring the probability distribution of the amplitude of the fundamental Fourier mode of the azimuthal spectrum of the particle density. We find that the instability region, predicted from hydrodynamics, is always located within the phase separation region observed in the MD simulations. This implies the presence of a binodal (coexistence) region, where the annular state is metastable. The phase separation persists when the driving and elastic walls are interchanged, and also when the elastic wall is replaced by weakly inelastic one.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2006

Spectral theory of metastability and extinction in birth-death systems

We suggest a general spectral method for calculating statistics of multi-step birth-death processes and chemical reactions of the type mA->nA (m and n are positive integers) which possess an absorbing state. The method yields accurate results for the extinction statistics, and for the quasi-stationary probability distribution, including large deviations, of the metastable state. The power of the method is demonstrated on the example of binary annihilation and triple branching 2A->0 and A->3A, representative of the rather general class of dissociation-recombination reactions.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2006

Self-similar asymptotics for a class of Hele-Shaw flows driven solely by surface tension

We investigate the dynamics of relaxation, by surface tension, of a family of curved interfaces between an inviscid and viscous fluids in a Hele-Shaw cell. At t=0 the interface is assumed to be of the form |y|=A x^m, where A>0, m \geq 0, and x>0. The case of 0 1 corresponds to a cusp, whereas m=1 corresponds to a wedge. The inviscid fluid tip retreats in the process of relaxation, forming a lobe which size grows with time. Combining analytical and numerical methods we find that, for any m, the relaxation dynamics exhibit self-similar behavior. For m\neq 1 this behavior arises as an intermediate asymptotics: at late times for 0\leq m<1, and at early times for m>1. In both cases the retreat distance and the lobe size exhibit power law behaviors in time with different dynamic exponents, uniquely determined by the value of m. In the special case of m=1 (the wedge) the similarity is exact and holds for the whole interface at all times t>0, while the two dynamic exponents merge to become 1/3. Surprisingly, when m\neq 1, the interface shape, rescaled to the local maximum elevation of the interface, turns out to be universal (that is, independent of m) in the similarity region. Even more remarkably, the same rescaled interface shape emerges in the case of m=1 in the limit of zero wedge angle.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2006

Spectral formulation and WKB approximation for rare-event statistics in reaction systems

We develop a spectral formulation and a stationary WKB approximation for calculating the probabilities of rare events (large deviations from the mean) in systems of reacting particles with infinite-range interaction, describable by a master equation. We compare the stationary WKB approximation with a recent time-dependent semiclassical approximation developed, for the same class of problems, by Elgart and Kamenev. As a benchmark we use an exactly solvable problem of the binary annihilation reaction 2A -> 0.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2006

Thermal collapse of a granular gas under gravity

Free cooling of a gas of inelastically colliding hard spheres represents a central paradigm of kinetic theory of granular gases. At zero gravity the temperature of a freely cooling homogeneous granular gas follows a power law in time. How does gravity, which brings inhomogeneity, affect the cooling? We combine molecular dynamics simulations, a numerical solution of hydrodynamic equations and an analytic theory to show that a granular gas cooling under gravity undergoes thermal collapse: it cools down to zero temperature and condenses on the bottom of the container in a finite time.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2006

Self-similar relaxation dynamics of a fluid wedge in a Hele-Shaw cell

Let the interface between two immiscible fluids in a Hele-Shaw cell have, at t=0, a wedge shape. As a wedge is scale-free, the fluid relaxation dynamics are self-similar. We find the dynamic exponent of this self-similar flow and show that the interface shape is given by the solution of an unusual inverse problem of potential theory. We solve this inverse problem analytically for an almost flat wedge, and numerically otherwise. The wedge solution is useful for analysis of pinch-off singularities.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2006

Shear-induced crystallization of a dense rapid granular flow: hydrodynamics beyond the melting point?

We investigate shear-induced crystallization in a very dense flow of mono-disperse inelastic hard spheres. We consider a steady plane Couette flow under constant pressure and neglect gravity. We assume that the granular density is greater than the melting point of the equilibrium phase diagram of elastic hard spheres. We employ a Navier-Stokes hydrodynamics with constitutive relations all of which (except the shear viscosity) diverge at the crystal packing density, while the shear viscosity diverges at a smaller density. The phase diagram of the steady flow is described by three parameters: an effective Mach number, a scaled energy loss parameter, and an integer number m: the number of half-oscillations in a mechanical analogy that appears in this problem. In a steady shear flow the viscous heating is balanced by energy dissipation via inelastic collisions. This balance can have different forms, producing either a uniform shear flow or a variety of more complicated, nonlinear density, velocity and temperature profiles. In particular, the model predicts a variety of multi-layer two-phase steady shear flows with sharp interphase boundaries. Such a flow may include a few zero-shear (solid-like) layers, each of which moving as a whole, separated by fluid-like regions. As we are dealing with a hard sphere model, the granulate is fluidized within the "solid" layers: the granular temperature is non-zero there, and there is energy flow through the boundaries of the "solid" layers. A linear stability analysis of the uniform steady shear flow is performed, and a plausible bifurcation diagram of the system, for a fixed m, is suggested. The problem of selection of m remains open.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2006

Experimental Study of Parametric Autoresonance in Faraday Waves

The excitation of large amplitude nonlinear waves is achieved via parametric autoresonance of Faraday waves. We experimentally demonstrate that phase locking to low amplitude driving can generate persistent high-amplitude growth of nonlinear waves in a dissipative system. The experiments presented are in excellent agreement with theory.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2005

Scaling and self-similarity in an unforced flow of inviscid fluid trapped inside a viscous fluid in a Hele-Shaw cell

We investigate quasi-two-dimensional relaxation, by surface tension, of a long straight stripe of inviscid fluid trapped inside a viscous fluid in a Hele-Shaw cell. Combining analytical and numerical solutions, we describe the emergence of a self-similar dumbbell shape and find non-trivial dynamic exponents that characterize scaling behavior of the dumbbell dimensions.

physics.flu-dyn↗

arXiv2005

How a Long Bubble Shrinks: a Numerical Method for an Unforced Hele-Shaw Flow

We develop a numerical method for solving a free boundary problem which describes shape relaxation, by surface tension, of a long and thin bubble of an inviscid fluid trapped inside a viscous fluid in a Hele-Shaw cell. The method of solution of the exterior Dirichlet problem employs a classical boundary integral formulation. Our version of the numerical method is especially advantageous for following the dynamics of a very long and thin bubble, for which an asymptotic scaling theory has been recently developed. Because of the very large aspect ratio of the bubble, a direct implementation of the boundary integral algorithm would be impractical. We modify the algorithm by introducing a new approximation of the integrals which appear in the Fredholm integral equation and in the integral expression for the normal derivative of the pressure at the bubble interface. The new approximation allows one to considerably reduce the number of nodes at the almost flat part of the bubble interface, while keeping a good accuracy. An additional benefit from the new approximation is in that it eliminates numerical divergence of the integral for the tangential derivative of the harmonic conjugate. The interface's position is advanced in time by using explicit node tracking, whereas the larger node spacing enables one to use larger time steps. The algorithm is tested on two model problems, for which approximate analytical solutions are available.

physics.comp-ph↗