Giant vortex dynamics in confined active turbulence
Abstract
We report the numerical evidence of a new state of active turbulence in confined domains. By means of extensive numerical simulations of the Toner-Tu-Swift-Hohenberg model for dense bacterial suspensions in circular geometry, we discover the formation a stable, ordered state in which the angular momentum symmetry is broken. This is achieved by self-organization of a turbulent-like flow into a single, giant vortex of the size of the domain. The giant vortex is surrounded by an annular region close to the boundary, characterized by small-scale, radial vorticity streaks. The average radial velocity profile of the vortex is found to be in agreement with a simple analytical prediction. We also provide an estimate of the temporal and spatial scales of a suitable experimental setup comparable with our numerical findings.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2206.09655,
title = {Giant vortex dynamics in confined active turbulence},
author = {L. Puggioni and G. Boffetta and S. Musacchio},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2206.09655},
year = {2022}
}
Comments
5 pages, 4 figures