Discontinuous transition to active nematic turbulence

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the transition from laminar to active nematic turbulence is discontinuous, characterized by a sudden jump in velocity, bistability, and hysteresis, contrasting with continuous transitions in confined systems.

Contribution

The study reveals that unbounded active nematics undergo a discontinuous transition to turbulence, with evidence of bistability, hysteresis, and subcritical bifurcations, providing new insights into active fluid dynamics.

Findings

Discontinuous transition with velocity jump

Bistability and hysteresis observed

Transition occurs at activity number A*≈4900

Abstract

Active fluids exhibit chaotic flows at low Reynolds number known as active turbulence. Whereas the statistical properties of the chaotic flows are increasingly well understood, the nature of the transition from laminar to turbulent flows as activity increases remains unclear. Here, through simulations of a minimal model of unbounded and defect-free active nematics, we find that the transition to active turbulence is discontinuous. We show that the transition features a jump in the mean-squared velocity, as well as bistability and hysteresis between laminar and chaotic flows. From distributions of finite-time Lyapunov exponents, we identify the transition at a value $A^*\approx 4900$ of the dimensionless activity number. Below the transition to chaos, we find subcritical bifurcations that feature bistability of different laminar patterns. These bifurcations give rise to oscillations and to chaotic transients, which become very long close to the transition to turbulence. Overall, our findings contrast with the continuous transition to turbulence in channel confinement, where turbulent puffs emerge within a laminar background. We propose that, without confinement, the long-range hydrodynamic interactions of Stokes flow suppress the spatial coexistence of different flow states, and thus render the transition discontinuous.