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Title: Dynamic scaling for the growth of non-equilibrium fluctuations during thermophoretic diffusion in microgravity

Abstract

Diffusion processes are widespread in biological and chemical systems, where they play a fundamental role in the exchange of substances at the cellular level and in determining the rate of chemical reactions. Recently, the classical picture that portrays diffusion as random uncorrelated motion of molecules has been revised, when it was shown that giant non-equilibrium fluctuations develop during diffusion processes. Under microgravity conditions and at steady-state, non-equilibrium fluctuations exhibit scale invariance and their size is only limited by the boundaries of the system. Here in this work, we investigate the onset of non-equilibrium concentration fluctuations induced by thermophoretic diffusion in microgravity, a regime not accessible to analytical calculations but of great relevance for the understanding of several natural and technological processes. A combination of state of the art simulations and experiments allows us to attain a fully quantitative description of the development of fluctuations during transient diffusion in microgravity. Both experiments and simulations show that during the onset the fluctuations exhibit scale invariance at large wave vectors. In a broader range of wave vectors simulations predict a spinodal-like growth of fluctuations, where the amplitude and length-scale of the dominant mode are determined by the thickness of the diffuse layer.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Univ. degli Studi di Milano (Italy). Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Mediche e Medicina Traslazionale
  2. New York Univ., New York, NY (United States). Courant Inst. of Mathematical Sciences
  3. Univ. degli Studi di Milano (Italy). Dipartimento di Fisica
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
New York Univ. (NYU), NY (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1441145
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0008271
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Scientific Reports
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 5; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; 59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Citation Formats

Cerbino, Roberto, Sun, Yifei, Donev, Aleksandar, and Vailati, Alberto. Dynamic scaling for the growth of non-equilibrium fluctuations during thermophoretic diffusion in microgravity. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1038/srep14486.
Cerbino, Roberto, Sun, Yifei, Donev, Aleksandar, & Vailati, Alberto. Dynamic scaling for the growth of non-equilibrium fluctuations during thermophoretic diffusion in microgravity. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14486
Cerbino, Roberto, Sun, Yifei, Donev, Aleksandar, and Vailati, Alberto. Wed . "Dynamic scaling for the growth of non-equilibrium fluctuations during thermophoretic diffusion in microgravity". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14486. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1441145.
@article{osti_1441145,
title = {Dynamic scaling for the growth of non-equilibrium fluctuations during thermophoretic diffusion in microgravity},
author = {Cerbino, Roberto and Sun, Yifei and Donev, Aleksandar and Vailati, Alberto},
abstractNote = {Diffusion processes are widespread in biological and chemical systems, where they play a fundamental role in the exchange of substances at the cellular level and in determining the rate of chemical reactions. Recently, the classical picture that portrays diffusion as random uncorrelated motion of molecules has been revised, when it was shown that giant non-equilibrium fluctuations develop during diffusion processes. Under microgravity conditions and at steady-state, non-equilibrium fluctuations exhibit scale invariance and their size is only limited by the boundaries of the system. Here in this work, we investigate the onset of non-equilibrium concentration fluctuations induced by thermophoretic diffusion in microgravity, a regime not accessible to analytical calculations but of great relevance for the understanding of several natural and technological processes. A combination of state of the art simulations and experiments allows us to attain a fully quantitative description of the development of fluctuations during transient diffusion in microgravity. Both experiments and simulations show that during the onset the fluctuations exhibit scale invariance at large wave vectors. In a broader range of wave vectors simulations predict a spinodal-like growth of fluctuations, where the amplitude and length-scale of the dominant mode are determined by the thickness of the diffuse layer.},
doi = {10.1038/srep14486},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
number = 1,
volume = 5,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Wed Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

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