Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is the result of parity-time symmetry breaking
Abstract
Parity-Time (PT)-symmetry is being actively investigated as a fundamental property of observables in quantum physics. We show that the governing equations of the classical two-fluid interaction and the incompressible fluid system are PT-symmetric, and the well-known Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is the result of spontaneous PT-symmetry breaking. It is expected that all classical conservative systems governed by Newton's law admit PT-symmetry, and the spontaneous breaking thereof is a generic mechanism for classical instabilities. Here discovering the PT-symmetry of systems in fluid dynamics and plasma physics and identifying the PT-symmetry breaking responsible for instabilities enable new techniques to classical physics and enrich the physics of PT-symmetry.
- Authors:
-
- Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States); Univ. of Science and Technology of China, Hefei (China)
- Beijing Jiaotong Univ., Beijing (China)
- Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States)
- Univ. of Science and Technology of China, Hefei (China)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1511479
- Grant/Contract Number:
- NSFC-11575186; 2017LH002; AC02-09CH11466
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physics of Plasmas
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 26; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 1070-664X
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
Citation Formats
Qin, Hong, Zhang, Ruili, Glasser, Alexander S., and Xiao, Jianyuan. Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is the result of parity-time symmetry breaking. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1063/1.5088498.
Qin, Hong, Zhang, Ruili, Glasser, Alexander S., & Xiao, Jianyuan. Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is the result of parity-time symmetry breaking. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5088498
Qin, Hong, Zhang, Ruili, Glasser, Alexander S., and Xiao, Jianyuan. Mon .
"Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is the result of parity-time symmetry breaking". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5088498. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1511479.
@article{osti_1511479,
title = {Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is the result of parity-time symmetry breaking},
author = {Qin, Hong and Zhang, Ruili and Glasser, Alexander S. and Xiao, Jianyuan},
abstractNote = {Parity-Time (PT)-symmetry is being actively investigated as a fundamental property of observables in quantum physics. We show that the governing equations of the classical two-fluid interaction and the incompressible fluid system are PT-symmetric, and the well-known Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is the result of spontaneous PT-symmetry breaking. It is expected that all classical conservative systems governed by Newton's law admit PT-symmetry, and the spontaneous breaking thereof is a generic mechanism for classical instabilities. Here discovering the PT-symmetry of systems in fluid dynamics and plasma physics and identifying the PT-symmetry breaking responsible for instabilities enable new techniques to classical physics and enrich the physics of PT-symmetry.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5088498},
journal = {Physics of Plasmas},
number = 3,
volume = 26,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Mar 04 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Mon Mar 04 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}
Web of Science
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Works referencing / citing this record:
PT-symmetry entails pseudo-Hermiticity regardless of diagonalizability
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