1994/11/30 by M. C. Cross, Yuhai Tu · 1 citation
Computer Science · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Fluid Dynamics and Thin Films #Fluid Dynamics and Turbulent Flows #Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation #chao-dyn #nlin.CD #nlin.PS #patt-sol
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.75.834
Revtex (15 pages) with 4 encoded Postscript figures appended
arxiv created 1994/12/01 · openalex publication_date 1995/07/31 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
A theory of the novel spiral chaos state recently observed in Rayleigh-B'enard convection is proposed in terms of the importance of invasive defects, i.e., defects that through their intrinsic dynamics expand to take over the system. The motion of well developed spiral defects is dominated by wave vector frustration, rather than a rotational motion driven by a vertical vorticity field. This leads to a continuum of spiral frequencies, and a spiral may rotate in either sense depending on the wave vector of its local environment. Results of extensive numerical work on equations modeling the convection system provide confirmation of these ideas.