Effective Temperature and Einstein Relation for Particles in Mesoscale Turbulence

TL;DR

This paper derives an exact expression for the effective temperature of particles in mesoscale turbulence, confirming the Einstein relation and revealing how background flow properties influence particle mobility and temperature.

Contribution

It provides the first exact formula for effective temperature in mesoscale turbulent flows, linking it to particle diffusivity and flow order.

Findings

Effective temperature is linear in particle diffusivity.

Particle mobility varies with flow polar order.

The Einstein relation holds for particles in mesoscale turbulence.

Abstract

From the smallest scales of quantum systems to the largest scales of intergalactic medium, turbulence is ubiquitous in nature. Often dubbed as the last unsolved problem of classical physics, it remains a time tested paradigm of dynamics far from equilibrium. The phenomenon even transcends to self-propelled fluids such as dense bacterial suspensions that can display turbulence at mesoscale even though the constituent particles move at Reynolds number below unity. It is intensely debated whether such fluids possess an effective temperature and obey fluctuation-dissipation relations (FDR) as they are generally marred by a lack of detailed balance. In this letter, we answer this question and report an exact expression of the effective temperature for a distribution of interacting particles that are advected by a mesoscale turbulent flow. This effective temperature is linear in particle diffusivity with the slope defining the particle mobility that is higher when the background fluid exhibits global polar ordering, and lower when the fluid is in isotropic equilibrium. We believe our work is a direct verification of the Einstein relation -the simplest FDR, for interacting particles immersed in a mesoscale turbulence.