 |
Center for Nonlinear Studies |
Nonlinear wave systems are central to a huge variety of physical theories and modeling applications. When many incoherent dispersive waves interact, an out-of-equilibrium process known as Wave Turbulence (WT) is frequently observed. Just as in Flow Turbulence (FT), WT exhibits power-law inertial-range spectra and inter-scale energy cascades. Unlike in FT, however, there exists a natural analytical closure for WT field statistics, allowing for the development of a Boltzmann-like kinetic equation for spectral evolution. Because the WT closure is derived in the kinetic limit (infinite domain, infinitesimal wave amplitude), it is unclear how the closure is realized in the typical computational setting of a periodic domain with finite-amplitude waves. In this talk, we develop precise methods for studying the energy cascade and WT closure in a numerical setting. Then, we perform a series of numerical experiments that approximate the kinetic limit, allowing us to probe the finite-domain WT dynamics and the realization of the WT closure.
Host: Daniel Livescu