Critical fluctuation of wind reversals in convective turbulence

Rudolph C. Hwa, C. B. Yang, S. Bershadskii, J. J. Niemela, K. R. Sreenivasan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The irregular reversals of wind direction in convective turbulence are found to have fluctuating intervals that can be related, under certain circumstances, to critical behavior. In particular, by focusing on its temporal evolution, the net magnetization of a two-dimensional Ising lattice of finite size is observed to fluctuate in the same way. Detrended fluctuation analysis of the wind reversal time series results in a scaling behavior that agrees remarkably well with that of the Ising problem. The specific properties found here, as well as the lack of an external tuning parameter, also suggest that the wind reversal phenomenon exhibits signs of self-organized criticality.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number066308
JournalPhysical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
Volume72
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2005

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
  • Statistics and Probability
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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