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.