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Collapse and winding of an asymmetric annulus of vorticity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2006

A. J. Peurrung
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
J. Notte
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
J. Fajans
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

Abstract

The dynamics of an asymmetric annulus of vorticity in an incompressible, inviscid twodimensional fluid are experimentally studied using a pure electron plasma. A strict fluid analogy requires that the plasma system behave like an ideal fluid in a frictionless cylindrical container. For certain parameters the asymmetric annulus undergoes a complex evolution which is quite different from that of a symmetric annulus. During the first ‘active’, phase the symmetries grow until the annulus collapses, leaving a large vortex at the device centre. In the second, ‘passive’, phase the remainder of the annulus winds around this central vortex into an ever tighter spiral. Finally, slow shear instabilities destroy the structure of the highly evolved spiral.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1993 Cambridge University Press

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