Relativistic Wind Farm Effect: Possibly Turbulent Flow of a Charged, Massless Relativistic Fluid in Graphene

TL;DR

This paper explores how impurity density in graphene can induce turbulent-like flow of massless charge carriers, using relativistic hydrodynamic simulations to analyze the effect of obstacles on flow behavior.

Contribution

It introduces an analogue of wind farm turbulence effects in graphene, demonstrating impurity-dependent transition to potentially turbulent relativistic charge flow.

Findings

Impurity density influences flow turbulence in graphene.

Relativistic hydrodynamic simulations reveal turbulent flow regimes.

Potential experimental signatures of turbulence in graphene are discussed.

Abstract

At low Reynolds numbers, the wind flow in the wake of a single wind turbine is generally not turbulent. However, turbines in wind farms affect each other's wakes so that a turbulent flow can arise. In the present work, an analogue of this effect for the massless charge carrier flow around obstacles in graphene is outlined. We use a relativistic hydrodynamic simulation to analyze the flow in a sample containing impurities. Depending on the density of impurities in the sample, we indeed find evidence for potentially turbulent flow and discuss experimental consequences.