title: Nonlinear fate of internal wave attractors.
abstract: We present a laboratory study on the instability of internal wave attractors in a trapezoidal fluid domain filled with uniformly stratified fluid. Energy is injected into the system via standing-wave-type motion of a vertical wall. Attractors are found to be destroyed by parametric subharmonic instability via a triadic resonance which is shown to provide a very efficient energy pathway from long to short length scales. This Letter provides an explanation of why attractors may be difficult or impossible to observe in natural systems subject to large amplitude forcing.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique de l'École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université de Lyon, CNRS, 46 Allée d'Italie, F-69364 Lyon cedex 07, France.
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Scolan
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique de l'École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université de Lyon, CNRS, 46 Allée d'Italie, F-69364 Lyon cedex 07, France and Lavrentyev Institute of Hydrodynamics, Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk, Russia.
authors.forename: Eugeny
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ermanyuk
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique de l'École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Université de Lyon, CNRS, 46 Allée d'Italie, F-69364 Lyon cedex 07, France.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dauxois