Intermittency measurement in two dimensional bacterial turbulence

TL;DR

This study analyzes bacterial turbulence using Hilbert-based methods, revealing dual-power-law scaling, multifractality, and intermittency parameters, and compares it with classical fluid models to understand underlying nonlinear interactions.

Contribution

The paper introduces a Hilbert-based analysis of bacterial turbulence, uncovering dual-power-law behavior and multifractality, and suggests additional nonlinear interactions influence the turbulence.

Findings

Dual-power-law scaling separated by viscosity scale

Multifractality with convex scaling exponents

Intermittency parameters indicating more intermittency at small scales

Abstract

In this paper, an experimental velocity database of a bacterial collective motion , e.g., \textit{B. subtilis}, in turbulent phase with volume filling fraction $84\%$ provided by Professor Goldstein at the Cambridge University UK, was analyzed to emphasize the scaling behavior of this active turbulence system. This was accomplished by performing a Hilbert-based methodology analysis to retrieve the scaling property without the $\beta-$limitation. A dual-power-law behavior separated by the viscosity scale $\ell_{\nu}$ was observed for the $q$th-order Hilbert moment $\mathcal{L}_q(k)$. This dual-power-law belongs to an inverse-cascade since the scaling range is above the injection scale $R$, e.g., the bacterial body length. The measured scaling exponents $\zeta(q)$ of both the small-scale \red{(resp. $k>k_{\nu}$) and large-scale (resp. $k<k_{\nu}$)} motions are convex, showing the multifractality. A lognormal formula was put forward to characterize the multifractal intensity. The measured intermittency parameters are $\mu_S=0.26$ and $\mu_L=0.17$ respectively for the small- and large-scale motions. It implies that the former cascade is more intermittent than the latter one, which is also confirmed by the corresponding singularity spectrum $f(\alpha)$ vs $\alpha$. Comparison with the conventional two-dimensional Ekman-Navier-Stokes equation, a continuum model indicates that the origin of the multifractality could be a result of some additional nonlinear interaction terms, which deservers a more careful investigation.