Friction-induced scale-selection in the extended Cahn-Hilliard model for zonal staircase
Abstract
In this work, we describe a possible mechanism to set the radial scale of zonal flows, which may be applicable to the E×B staircase found in the global full-f simulations such as in Dif-Pradalier et al., [Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 085004 (2015)0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.114.085004]. One-dimensional numerical simulation results of the Cahn-Hilliard model-extended to include zonal flow friction-can be understood from a heuristic nonlinear analysis. The staircase step size Δ is found to decrease as the dimensionless zonal flow friction μ increases. It scales like Δ∼logμ^{α}, with α≃-0.41, up to a constant offset.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Theoretical and Computational Physics
Solidification and crystal growth phenomena
Nonlinear Dynamics and Pattern Formation
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Physical review. E
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Volume
- 113
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- L023201–L023201
- Publication date
- 27 January 2026
- Language
- EN