Spatial structure of passive particles with inertia transported by a chaotic flow.
We study the spatial patterns formed by inertial particles suspended on the surface of a smooth chaotic flow. In addition to the well-known phenomenon of clustering, we show that, in the presence of diffusion and when a steady space-dependent source of particles is considered, the density of particles may show smooth or fractal features in the low density areas. The conditions needed for the appearance of these structures and their characterization with the first order structure function are also calculated.
López
Cristóbal
C
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Roma "La Sapienza," Piazzale Aldo Moro 2, I-00185, Roma, Italy.