Statistical Physics of Fluid Turbulence

The Eyink group in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the Johns Hopkins University is looking to support a full-time PhD student in theoretical physics starting September 2020. This project, part of an international collaboration funded by the Simons Foundation, will tackle the problem of hydrodynamic turbulence by exploiting approaches from statistical physics, field theory and theoretical condensed matter physics.

The application deadline for Department of Physics and Astronomy is 1st December 2019, but pre-screening of candidates will take place before this date. Interested candidates should use the form below to submit a full CV / resume, along with a brief statement on research interests (roughly half a page) by 22nd November 2019. Professor Eyink will inform candidates no later than 30th November 2019, whether he will support their application. Informal inquires can be made via [Email Address Removed]. The position will be very competitively awarded.

Further information can be found below:
• JHU Department of Physics & Astronomy, http://physics-astronomy.jhu.edu
• Admissions to JHU-PHA: https://physics-astronomy.jhu.edu/graduate/admissions/
• Simons Turbulence Project: https://engineering.jhu.edu/ams/2019/09/18/the-simons-foundation/#.XZpkvy2ZMqK
• Simons Foundation: https://www.simonsfoundation.org

The richness of fluid turbulence continues to pose a major challenge to theoretical physics. Due to the wide range of length and time scales involved, the number of degrees of freedom is so large that detailed simulation of real turbulent flows is challenging. This project exploits novel statistical physics approaches, including non-perturbative renormalization group methods, to explore how fluids become turbulent and their properties in the strongly fluctuating turbulent state itself. Turbulence has two potentially universal scaling regimes: transition (presumably a critical phenomenon) and fully-developed turbulence (an asymptotic high Reynolds-number regime presumably controlled by anomalies and associated phenomena). This project tackles fluid turbulence by detailed exploration of these two scaling regimes and of turbulent mean flow/large-scale flow interactions in the intermediate regime to form a complete narrative of turbulence from non-equilibrium statistical physics.

The effort at Johns Hopkins will focus on high-Reynolds turbulence, with emphasis on renormalization group approaches to turbulent dissipation and singularities, stochasticity that emerges spontaneously from deterministic dynamics, and fluctuation-dissipation relations that connect randomness and singularities with turbulent dissipation. Due to a commonality of conceptual and mathematical tools, however, there are close synergies between these directions and others in the Simons turbulence project, with personnel actively and collaboratively engaged in multiple topics.