Turbulent Mixing and Beyond

Sixth International Conference Tenth Anniversary Program

Non-Equilibrium Transport Across the Scales

Outline of Themes

Non-equilibrium processes control a broad variety of phenomena in fluids, plasmas and materials, over celestial to atomistic scales. Examples include inertial confinement and magnetic fusion, supernovae and accretion disks, planetary convection and geophysics, reactive flows and super-critical fluids, formation of phase boundaries and material transformation under impact, non-canonical turbulence and turbulent mixing, nano-technology and communications. Addressing contemporary scientific and societal challenges posed by alternative energy sources, developing cutting-edge technologies for laser micromachining and for industrial applications in the areas of aeronautics and aerodynamics, efficient using of non-renewable resources, - requires us to in-depth understand the fundamentals of non-equilibrium dynamics, to be able gather high quality experimental and cyber data and derive knowledge from these data, and, ultimately, to achieve a better control of these complex processes.

Non-equilibrium processes are present everywhere. They often involve sharp changes of vector and scalar flow fields, and may also include strong accelerations and shocks, radiation transport and chemical reactions, diffusion of species and electric charges, among other effects. At macroscopic scales, their spectral and invariant properties differ substantially from those of canonical turbulence. At atomic and meso-scales, they depart from the standard scenario given by Gibbs ensemble averages and the quasi-static Boltzmann equation. At the same time, in the vastly different physical regimes the non-equilibrium dynamics may exhibit certain features of universality and similarity, and may lead to self-organization and order, thus offering new opportunities for their diagnostics and control. Capturing properties of non-equilibrium transport can aid better comprehension of fundamentals of Eulerian and Lagrangian dynamics as well as coupling of kinetic to meso- and macroscopic scales, and can further advance the methods of studies of a broad variety of phenomena in nature and technology.

Significant success has been recently achieved in our understanding of non-equilibrium transport on the sides of theoretical analysis, large-scale numerical simulations, laboratory experiments, and technology development. This success opens new opportunities for studies of fundamentals of non-equilibrium dynamics across the scales, and for developing a unified description of particles and fields on the basis of synergy of experiment, theory and numerics. This fundamentals knowledge can be further applied to address the challenges of modern science, technology and society, via the interplay of ideas and approaches from the interdisciplinary areas of research.