Dynamics and Selection of Giant Spirals in Rayleigh-Bénard Convection

Brendan B. Plapp; David A. Egolf; Eberhard Bodenschatz; Werner Pesch

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.5334

Dynamics and Selection of Giant Spirals in Rayleigh-Bénard Convection

Brendan B. Plapp, David A. Egolf, Eberhard Bodenschatz, and Werner Pesch

Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 5334 – Published 14 December 1998

Abstract

For Rayleigh-Bénard convection of a fluid with Prandtl number $σ = 1.4$ , we report experimental and theoretical results on a pattern selection mechanism for cell-filling, giant, rotating spirals. We show that the pattern selection in a certain limit can be explained quantitatively by a phase-diffusion mechanism. This mechanism for pattern selection is very different from that for spirals in excitable media.

Received 10 August 1998

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.81.5334

Authors & Affiliations

Brendan B. Plapp^*, David A. Egolf^†, and Eberhard Bodenschatz^‡

Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853-2501

Werner Pesch

Physikalisches Institut der Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany

^*Present address: Center for Nonlinear Dynamics, the University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712.
^†Present address: Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545.
^‡Email address: eb22@cornell.edu.