Turbulence as a quantum field theory: 1 In the late 1940s, the remarkable success of arbitrary renormalization procedures in quantum electrodynamics in giving an accurate picture of the interaction between matter and the electromagnetic field, led on to the development of quantum field theory. The basis of the method was perturbation theory, which is essentiallyContinue reading Turbulence as a quantum field theory: 1

Is there an alternative infinite Reynolds number limit? I first became conscious of the term dissipation anomaly in January 2006, at a summer school, where the lecturer preceding me laid heavy emphasis on the term, drawing an analogy with the concept of anomaly in quantum field theory, as he did so. It seemed that thisContinue reading Is there an alternative infinite Reynolds number limit?

What relevance has theoretical physics to turbulence theory? The question is of course rhetorical, as I intend to answer it. But I have to pause on the thought that it is also unsatisfactory in some respects. So why ask it then? Well my reply to that is that various turbulence researchers have over the yearsContinue reading What relevance has theoretical physics to turbulence theory?

The Kolmogorov `5/3’ spectrum and why it is important An intriguing aspect of the Kolmogorov inertial range spectrum is that it was not actually derived by Kolmogorov. This fact was unknown to me when, as a new postgraduate student, I first encountered the `5/3’ spectrum in 1966. At that time, all work on the statisticalContinue reading The Kolmogorov `5/3’ spectrum and why it is important

Scientific discussion in the turbulence community. Shortly after I retired, I began a two-year travel fellowship, with the hope of having interesting discussions on various aspects of turbulence. I’m sure that I had many interesting discussions, particularly in trying out some new and half-baked ideas that I had about that time, but what really sticksContinue reading Scientific discussion in the turbulence community.