Showing papers by "David S. Cannell published in 2011"
TL;DR: Experimental results obtained in microgravity during the flight of the FOTON M3 satellite find that during a diffusion process a dilute polymer solution exhibits scale-invariant concentration fluctuations with sizes ranging up to millimetres, and relaxation times as large as 1,000 s.
Abstract: Spatial scale invariance represents a remarkable feature of natural phenomena. A ubiquitous example is represented by miscible liquid phases undergoing diffusion. Theory and simulations predict that in the absence of gravity diffusion is characterized by long-ranged algebraic correlations. Experimental evidence of scale invariance generated by diffusion has been limited, because on Earth the development of long-range correlations is suppressed by gravity. Here we report experimental results obtained in microgravity during the flight of the FOTON M3 satellite. We find that during a diffusion process a dilute polymer solution exhibits scale-invariant concentration fluctuations with sizes ranging up to millimetres, and relaxation times as large as 1,000 s. The scale invariance is limited only by the finite size of the sample, in agreement with recent theoretical predictions. The presence of such fluctuations could possibly impact the growth of materials in microgravity.
105 citations
TL;DR: The results agree with theory to within a few percent on Earth and are ∼14% below theory in microgravity, demonstrating that the use of equilibrium Langevin forces is appropriate in this nonequilibrium situation.
Abstract: We report data for nonequilibrium density fluctuations in a layer of liquid CS(2) subjected to temperature gradients on Earth and in a satellite. The structure factor S(q) was measured using a calibrated shadowgraph. Upon removing gravity, S(q) increased dramatically at small wave vector, until the fluctuations generated by thermal noise were limited only by the 3 mm sample thickness. The results agree with theory to within a few percent on Earth and are ∼14% below theory in microgravity, demonstrating that the use of equilibrium Langevin forces is appropriate in this nonequilibrium situation.
34 citations
06 Dec 2011
TL;DR: In this paper, the results of measurements of giant nonequilibrium fluctuations in a single component fluid (density fluctuations) and a mixture (concentration fluctuations) driven by applied temperature gradients, both on Earth and in space, were obtained during the September 2007 FOTON M3 mission.
Abstract: We present the results of measurements of giant nonequilibrium fluctuations in a single component fluid (density fluctuations) and a mixture (concentration fluctuations) driven by applied temperature gradients, both on Earth and in space. Flight data were obtained during the September 2007 FOTON M3 mission. Spatial power spectra obtained using the shadowgraph method, during flight, confirm that the asymptotic behaviour extends to such low wave vector q, as to be limited by the sample thickness. Quantitative comparison with theory is provided, and is generally quite good. Temporal sequences of shadowgraph images for the mixture, both on Earth and during flight will be presented to emphasize the dramatic differences. Fluctuation lifetimes of thousands of seconds were observed during flight. The rugged but sensitive shadowgraph scattering method (phase fluctuations below 10 milliradians measured to within a few percent absolute accuracy) will be described briefly.
1 citations