Berkeley Fluids Seminar

University of California, Berkeley

Bring your lunch and enjoy learning about fluids!

September 11, 2013

Daniel Lecoanet (Astronomy, UC Berkeley)


Nonlinear Optimal Perturbations


A key question in the study of transition to turbulence in shear flows is "What is the initial perturbation with the smallest energy which evolves into a turbulent state?" This question can be addressed using the nonlinear optimal perturbation technique (Pringle & Kerswell, 2010). I will give a pedagogical description of the algorithm for finding nonlinear optimal perturbations. I will then apply this technique to the Vlasov-Poisson equations, which describe the dynamics of a collisionless gas of charged particles, interacting only through the electric force.


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