Turbulence in Astrophysics

(Theory)
Wolfram Schmidt
Institut fr theoretische Physik und Astrophysik Universitt Wrzburg

Stirring of Fluid
Mechanical force stirring fluid into rotational motion Turn-over time T, wavelength L What happens in the limit t ? It depends on the Reynolds number!

LV 1 L Re ! ! R R T
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Laminar vs. Turbulent Flow

Reynolds, 1883

If Re is relatively small, only eddies of size L are produced For Re ~ 1000, the motion of adjacent fluid layers becomes unstable

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Fluid motion forces vortices to stretch, and a stretching vortex must fold to accomodate an increasing length in a fixed volume. To the extent that the flow is scaling, I conjecture the vortex tends toward a fractal.
Mandelbrot, The Fractal Geometry of Nature

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Astrophysical Turbulence

Vortices

Turbulent fluid motion is inherently rotational

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Strain and Vorticity

Symmetric derivative Antisymmetric derivative

Sik !

1 2

x i vk  x k vi

Wik !

1 2

x i vk  x k vi

Rate of strain

S ! 2 Sik Sik
Dilatation

Vorticity

! 2WikWik ! v v
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d ! Sii ! v
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Vortex Formation

Vortices are streched and folded in three dimensions

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Porter et al. ASCI, 1997

The Turbulence Cascade

Richardson, 1922; Onsager, 1945

Breaking up of laminar flow structure due to large |S| produces high vorticity Force of wavelength L produces structure on scales much smaller than L for high Re Small vortices are quasi random Turbulence is a non-linear multi-scale phenomenon
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Isotropic Turbulence
Taylor, 1935

Statistically, there is no prefered direction (random orientation of vortices) In nature, turbulence is never exactly isotropic on large scales (forcing, BCs) However, turbulent flows tend to become asymptotically isotropic towards small scales (randomisation by non-linear energy transfer)
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The Kolmogorov Theory

Hypothesis of local isotropy: At sufficiently high
Re, the dynamics on small scales tends to become
statistically isotropic

First similarity hypothesis: The statistics of

isotropic velocity fluctuations on sufficiently small scales are universal und uniquely determined by the viscosity and the rate of kintetic energy dissipation Second similarity hypothesis: There is a subrange of scales for which the statistics of turbulent fluid motions are independent of the mechanism and the length scale of dissipation
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The 5/3 Power Law (K41)

log E

E (k ) ! C

2/3

5 / 3

k -5/3

Rate of dissipation Wave number k = 2 /l Length scale of viscous dissipation

K

-1

-1 K

log k

L
K

} Re

3/ 4

3 / 4 1 / 4
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But the hope that homogeneous turbulence would be a sensible model was dashed by Landau & Lifschitz 195319531959, which notes that some regions are marked by very high dissipation, while other regions seem by contrast nearly free of dissipation.
Mandelbrot, The Fractal Geometry of Nature

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Realistic Turbulence
Convective boundary layers: Anisotropy in
stratified medium (convection zones, atmospheres)

Turbulent combustion: Anisotropy across flame

surface, transient flow (thermonuclear supernovae)

Gravoturbulence: Inhomogeneous and supersonic

turbulence in self-gravitating fluids (star formation)

MHD turbulence: Instability of fluid motion due to

interaction with magnetic field, multi-scale anisotropy (ionized gas in ISM, jets, accretion disks)
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The Navier-Stokes Equation NavierConservation of momentum

D v ! P  f  Dt
Lagrangian time derivative Mechanical, magnetic, gravitational forces Viscous dissipation tensor
ik

D x !  v Dt xt
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!2

 Sik

!2

Sik  1 ik 3
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Non-linear advection
Astrophysical Turbulence

Further Equations
Conservation of energy

D e  Pv  v  c P T ! f v Dt
Mass conservation Poisson equation

D Dt

 v ! 0

(J ! 4TG
Maxwell equations in the case of MHD

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Statistical Theories
Mixing length theory: one characteristic length -peak) scale lM = HP (Kolmogorv spectrum ODT models: one-dimensional stochastic process
for eddy size (reproduces Kolmogorv spectrum)

PDF models: determine probability distributions

for velocity fluctuations etc.

Reynolds stress models: dynamical equations

for moments of fluctuating fields
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Stellar Convection
Full Reynolds stress model for compressible turbulence (Canuto, 1997): multitude of coupled, non-linear PDEs hopeless Feasible model: reduced set of eqns. for mean K , Fc , and average squared fluctuations of temperature and horizontal velocity (Kupka, 1999)
Closure relations for higher order moments Non-local & anisotropic
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Stellar Convection: Convective Flux

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Kupka MPA, 2004

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Stellar Convection: Vertical RMS Velocity

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Kupka MPA, 2004

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Numerical Simulations
Direct numerical simulation (DNS): Static grid, NSE or numerical viscosity Large Eddy Simulation (LES): Subgrid scale model for unresolved turbulence Smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH): Particle ensemble represents the flow Adaptive mesh refinement (AMR): Hierarchy of dynamically generated grid patches
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Thermonuclear Supernovae
Runaway turbulent deflagration of C+O in a Chandrasekhar-mass white dwarf PPM for hydrodynamics (Fryxell et al., 1989) Subgrid scale model for turbulent flame speed (Niemeyer & Hillebrandt, 1995) Level set method for flame surface tracking (Reinecke et al., 1999 ) Homologous grid expansion to follow the explosion (Rpke, 2004)
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t=0s

History of a SN Ia Explosion

t = 0.3 s

t = 0.6 s

Rpke et al. MPA, 2004

t=2s
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Turbulence in the ISM

Supersonic turbulence in self-gravitating gas Thermal processes, magnetic fields Paradigm of turbulent star formation: Turbulence can induce local gravitational collapse, albeit it provides global support SPH treatment: e.g. Klessen, 2001 AMR treatment with PPM/ZEUS: e.g. Kritsuk & Norman, 2002; Abel et al., 2002
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Rsum
Significant developments in the treatment of turbulent convection via statistical models Three-dimensional simulations with sophisticated codes running on extremely powerful computers offer exciting insights However, most simulations are ignorant of small-scale turbulence (SGS models!) AMR is excellent for inhomogeneous and transient and astrophysical flows, but is it appropriate for turbulence?
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