Snezhana I. Abarzhi

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                          Research Resume

Research interests, expertise, focus field, main contribution, key results, and goals

My research interests are in: Theoretical and Applied Physics – dynamics of plasmas, fluids, materials; Applied Mathematics – applied analysis, partial differential equations, boundary value problems, dynamical systems; in Scientific Computing; in Data Science.

My research expertise is in theoretical analysis of complex processes and their – far from equilibrium, nonlinear, non-local, multi-scale, multi-phase, statistically unsteady – dynamics. The focus is on instabilities, interfaces, mixing.

My contribution to the field is in the development of physics based mathematically rigorous theoretical approaches for instabilities, interfaces, and mixing.

My key results are: the new fluid instabilities; the inertial mechanisms of interface stabilization; the special self-similarity class in interfacial mixing; the order in Rayleigh-Taylor mixing; the theory of interface dynamics; the fundamentals of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities.

My goals in research are to: explore symmetries of unstable processes; discover concepts cutting through complexity of the problem; develop methods of predicting far from equilibrium dynamics; and, ultimately, ensure progress of science, technology and society.

 

Interface dynamics: the mechanisms of stabilization and destabilization

Relevant papers: Abarzhi et al (in processing); Abarzhi 2024a; Abarzhi 2023b; Ilyin & Abarzhi 2022a,b; Ilyin & Abarzhi 2021; Ilyin et al 2021a,b; Abarzhi et al 2019a; Ilyin et al 2020; Ilyin et al 2019; Ilyin et al 2018; Abarzhi et al 2015.

Relevant video recordings: Abarzhi 2024; Abarzhi 2023b,c.

Interfacial transport and mixing are far from equilibrium processes coupling kinetic to macroscopic scales. They are common to occur in plasmas, fluids, and materials, over celestial events to atoms. Their understanding has crucial importance for science, mathematics and engineering, and for technology, energy and environment. We focus on the long-standing problem of stability of a phase boundary, i.e., an interface. The phases of matter (plasma, fluid, material) are broadly defined: These can be the distinct kinds of matter and the same kind of matter with distinct thermodynamic and electrodynamic properties. The matter may also experience phase transition, change in chemical composition, be out of thermodynamic equilibrium, and have a non-diffusive interfacial transports.

We developed the general theoretical framework to systematically study the interface stability and the flow fields’ structure, discovered the new mechanisms of stabilization and destabilization of the inertial and accelerated dynamics, elaborated the new diagnostics that directly link microscopic transport at the interface to macroscopic fields in the bulk, and charted perspectives for future research.

Particularly, by direct linking of the interface stability to the flow fields’ structure, we found that the interfacial inertial dynamics is stable when it conserves the fluxes of mass, momentum and energy; the stabilization is due to the inertial effect, leading to small oscillations of the velocity of the interface as a whole. This mechanism is absent in the classic Landau’s dynamics, which postulates the constancy of the interface velocity and the Landau- Darrieus instability. An energy imbalance can destabilize the inertial dynamics, which is fully consistent with the classic results. In reactive fluids, the energy imbalance can be due to chemical reactions. For accelerated dynamics, the interface stability is determined by the interplay of the effects of inertia and buoyancy. A new hydrodynamic instability is found that develops when the gravity value exceeds a threshold. The unstable dynamics conserves the fluxes of mass, momentum and energy, has potential velocity fields in the bulk and is shear-free at the interface. The qualitative, quantitative and formal properties of this new instability differ dramatically from those of the accelerated Landau-Darrieus instability (LDI) and the Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI). Its potential applications include inertial confinement fusion, type-Ia supernova, flames, environmental flows, and fossil fuel industry.

 

Dynamics of plasmas, fluids, materials: fluid instabilities and interfacial mixing

Relevant papers: Abarzhi 2024b; Abarzhi 2023a,c; Abarzhi et al. 2023; Abarzhi et al 2022a,b; Abarzhi & Williams 2020; Abarzhi et al 2019b; Anisimov et al 2013; Abarzhi 2010a; Abarzhi 2008.

Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability develops when fluids of different densities are accelerated against the density gradient. We observe it when watching water flowing out from an overturned cup. Extensive interfacial mixing of the fluids ensues with time. This non-equilibrium process governs a broad variety of natural phenomena and technological applications, at astrophysical and at atomistic scales and in high- to low- energy-density regimes. Examples include inertial confinement and magnetic fusion, light-matter interaction and material transformation under impact, supernovae and accretion discs, stellar and planetary convection, premixed and non-premixed combustion, supersonic flows and non-canonical boundary layers, atmosphere and ocean, as well as industrial applications in aerodynamics, oil production, free-space optical communications, and nano-fabrication.

Even with nearly two hundred RT-related papers published each year in peer-reviewed mathematical, scientific and engineering journals, our knowledge of the mixing process is still limited. On the side of experiments, it is a challenge to systematically probe and gather precise and accurate data on RT flow, owing to its sensitive and transient dynamics. On the side of simulations, numerical modeling of RT instability and mixing is a severe task for both Eulerian and Lagrangian methods even for illustrative simulations using leadership-class computers. It is because the numerical solution has to track interfaces, accurately account for the dynamics at small scales, capture dissipation and shocks, and span substantial dynamic range in space and time. On the side of acquiring knowledge from data, a systematic interpretation of RT flows from experimental and numerical data alone is neither easy nor straightforward, and requires identification of a set of robust parameters that can be precisely diagnosed in the observations. On the side of theoretical analysis, evolution of RT flows is an intellectually rich theoretical problem, as it has to balance numerous competing requirements and demands due attention to the multi-scale, nonlinear, non-local and statistically unsteady character of the dynamics. We wish to identify universal asymptotic solutions if they exist, establish whether memory of deterministic and initial conditions persists, and capture the order prevalent in RT flows. Despite these challenges, significant success has been achieved in the past decades on the sides of experiments, technology, simulations, and theory in our understanding of RT instabilities and mixing. Group theory approach provides accurate solutions of the scale-dependent and the self-similar RT dynamics for various conditions and explains a broad range of experiments and simulations in fluids, plasmas, materials.

 

Self-similar Rayleigh-Taylor mixing: scaling, invariance, correlations, spectra, statistics

Relevant papers: Abarzhi a,b (in processing); Abarzhi 2024b; Abarzhi 2023a,c; Abarzhi & Sreenivasan 2022; Abarzhi 2021; Pandian et al 2021; Meshkov & Abarzhi 2019; Abarzhi et al 2019a; Pandian et al 2017a,b; Swisher et al 2015; Abarzhi et al 2013; Anisimov et al 2013; Sreenivasan & Abarzhi 2013; Abarzhi & Rosner 2010; Abarzhi 2010a,b; Abarzhi et al 2007; Abarzhi et al 2005.

Relevant conference proceedings: Abarzhi 2011.

Relevant video recordings: Abarzhi 2023a,d.

To understand the fundamentals of RT mixing one has to go above and beyond the domain of idealized canonical considerations. RT mixing is inhomogeneous (i.e. the flow fields are essentially non-uniform, even in a statistical sense), anisotropic (i.e. the dynamics in the direction of acceleration differ from those in the normal plane), non-local (i.e. the flow evolution depends on the initial conditions and on the contributions from all the scales) and statistically unsteady (i.e. the mean values of the flow quantities vary with time, and there are also the time-dependent fluctuations around these means). Its properties depart from those of canonical turbulence. Capturing fundamentals of RT mixing can improve our knowledge of realistic turbulent processes and can help to elaborate the methods of control of the non-equilibrium dynamics in nature and technology.

I developed the new theoretical concepts - the invariance of the modified rate of momentum loss for variable acceleration, and the invariance of the rate of momentum loss for constant acceleration - in order to describe the transports of mass, momentum and energy in RT mixing and to capture its anisotropic, non-uniform and statistically unsteady character.

For variable acceleration, by analyzing symmetries of RT dynamics, we  discovered a special class of self-similar solutions and  identified their scaling, correlations and spectra. We  found that dynamics of RT mixing can vary from super-ballistics to sub-diffusion depending on the acceleration and can retain memory of deterministic conditions for any acceleration. These rich dynamic properties considerably impact the understanding and control of RT relevant phenomena in fluids, plasmas, materials, and reveal conditions at which turbulence can be realized in RT mixing. Particularly, they reveal the new mechanism of energy accumulation and transport at small scales in supernovae.

For sustained acceleration, it has been found that the invariant, scaling and spectral properties of RT mixing differ substantially from those of isotropic and homogeneous turbulence. In particular, the invariance of the rate of momentum loss leads to non-dissipative momentum transfer in physical space, to 1/2 and 3/2 power-law scale-dependences of the velocity and Reynolds number and to non-Kolmogorov spectra. At the same time, viscous and dissipation scales of the mixing flow remain finite and are set by the flow acceleration. By generalizing Kolmogorov’s ideas on statistical symmetries of turbulent flows to non-canonical circumstances of self-similar RT dynamics, it has been discovered that RT mixing exhibits more order, and has steeper spectra, stronger correlations, and weaker fluctuations when compared to canonical turbulence.

Accurate description of fluctuations in RT mixing is a challenge, since the fluctuations are ‘frozen’ to deterministic conditions, and since RT mixing is a statistically unsteady process. To describe the random character of the statistically unsteady RT dynamics, we  employed invariant measures, and  identified robust diagnostic parameters of the dynamics. For variable acceleration, the transition has been found from Rayleigh-Taylor-type to Richtmyer-Meshkov type of self-similar mixing with variations of the acceleration parameters. For constant acceleration, our approach has resolved the so-called alpha problem – a central puzzled RT community for some twenty years.

Our theoretical analysis is consistent with the existing experiments and simulations including high Reynolds number RT mixing flows in high energy density plasmas and in strongly accelerated gases and liquids, and low-Reynolds number RT mixing in fluids. Detailed quantitative and qualitative comparison of our theoretical results with experiments and simulations shows that scale coupling in RT mixing flow has a complex character. On one hand, strongly accelerated high Reynolds number mixing flows may indeed keep a significant degree of order. On the other, at low-to-moderate Reynolds numbers, statistically steady RT flows may resemble properties of canonical turbulence. The ordered character and re-laminarization of strongly accelerated RT mixing is the principal result that is discovered by our theory and that may help to comprehend the fundamentals of a variety of natural phenomena (such as early Universe evolution, supernova explosions and stellar and planetary convection) and to better control the technological applications (such as mixing mitigation in inertial confinement fusion).

 

Scale-dependent Rayleigh-Taylor dynamics: conservation laws, boundary value problem, and group theory

Relevant papers: Rahimyar et al 2023; Hill & Abarzhi 2023; Chan et al 2023; Abarzhi et al 2022a,b; Hill & Abarzhi 2022; Hwang et al 2021; Williams & Abarzhi 2021; Hill & Abarzhi 2020a,b; Naveh et al 2020; Abarzhi et al 2019a; Hill et al 2019 a,b; Pandian et al 2017; Bhowmick & Abarzhi 2016; Velikovich et al 2014a,b; Abarzhi 2008a,b; Herrmann et al 2008; Herrmann & Abarzhi 2007; Abarzhi et al 2006; Abarzhi & Herrmann 2005; Abarzhi et al 2003a,b; Abarzhi 2003; Abarzhi 2002a,b; Abarzhi 2001a,b; Abarzhi 2000; Abarzhi 1999a,b,c; Oparin & Abarzhi 1999; Abarzhi 1998; Abarzhi 1996a,b; Abarzhi & Inogamov 1995, Inogamov & Abarzhi 1995.

Relevant book chapters: Williams et al 2021; Hwang & Abarzhi 2020a,b,c; Abarzhi & Herrmann 2003; Abarzhi 2003.

Rayleigh-Taylor dynamics is governed by the conservation laws, which are nonlinear partial differential (Navier-Stokes or Euler) equations, and requires solution of a boundary value problem at a freely evolving discontinuity (interface) with account for the initial and boundary conditions at the discontinuity and at the boundaries of the domain. In the past, these problems were attacked by brilliant scientists and mathematicians, including Fermi, von Neumann, Chandrasekhar, Birkhoff, Garabedian, Taylor, and Richtmyer.

I  developed and successfully applied the original theoretical approach based on group theory to capture the scale-dependent dynamics of the early-time and late-time nonlinear Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities. The strength of group theory consideration is that it strictly obeys conservation laws, allows for a solution of a boundary value problem, clearly outlines the theoretical approximation, and is applicable in a broad range of parameters and conditions. First proposed in the mid-1990th this approach enabled the understanding of fundamental properties of nonlinear Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) and Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instabilities, and the derivation of analytical solutions for these nonlinear boundary value problems. It accurately described local properties of interface evolution, such as asymptotic dynamics of the front, as well as its global properties, such as classification of interactions and pattern formation. The group theory approach was the first to introduce the concept of coherent structures in the RT/RM research field, and to identify a set of invariant measures of unstable interfacial dynamics. This approach also clearly outlined the range of applicability and limitations of the main stream heuristic models, and suggested a set of robust parameters that should be precisely quantified in observations.

We were the first to find that there is a family of regular asymptotic solutions describing nonlinear dynamics of the interface in 3D and 2D RTI and RMI. We  established the relation between non-local and singular character of the flow evolution and the multiplicity of regular asymptotic solutions, and  showed that the number of family parameters is set by the flow symmetry. We were the first to analyze stability of the regular asymptotic solutions, and to identify the similarities and differences in the asymptotic dynamics of 3D and 2D RTI and RMI. For instance, both RT and RM structure tend to conserve isotropy in the plane, the dynamics of highly symmetric 3D flows is universal, and the dimensional 3D–2D crossover is discontinuous. In both RTI and RMI, nonlinear evolution is essentially multi-scale and is characterized by independent contributions of the wavelength and the amplitude of the front. Yet the shape of the RT-bubble is curved as the flow is steady, and shape of RM-bubble is flattened as the flow decelerates. We were the first to solve the early-time linearized and late-time non-linear scale-dependent Rayleigh-Taylor dynamics with variable acceleration. We  discovered the direct link between the nonlinear asymptotic solutions and the interfacial shear,  found the essentially interfacial character of Rayleigh-Taylor dynamics, and  identified the transition from Rayleigh-Taylor type to Richtmyer-Meshkov type of dynamics with the variation of the acceleration parameters.

For pattern formation, the group theory approach found that in 2D and 3D the interactions  essentially distinct characters and that in 3D with hexagonal symmetry the growth of horizontal scales may not occur. We were the first to identify the effect of interference of the waves constituting the initial perturbation on order and disorder of the Rayleigh-Taylor and Richtmyer-Meshkov dynamics and to study this effect qualitatively and quantitatively.

Qualitative and quantitative results found within the group theory approach  been confirmed in accurate experiments and simulations. These include multi-pole interactions in 3D RTI, flattening of RM bubbles, curved shape of RT bubbles, ‘universality’ of highly symmetric 3D flows, discontinuity of the dimensional 3D–2D crossover, etc. Our analysis suggested new directions for interpretation of experimental and numerical data sets, as well as for improvement of experimental diagnostics and numerical modeling techniques.

Our current research interests are focused on the problem of evolution of a phase boundary with and without fluxes of scalar and vector fields across it, and on connection between these fluxes and vortical structures at the interface and in the bulk. This approach opens new avenues for rigorous consideration of a broad range of nonlinear problems in multi-phase flows previously inaccessible to analysis, including instability of flames, non-Boussinesq convection, and ablative RTI. We are also interested in space- and time-variable accelerations.

 

Far from equilibrium dynamics and Lagrangian modeling of matter at the extremes

Relevant papers: Wright & Abarzhi 2021; Abarzhi et al 2020; Abarzhi et al 2019a; Dell et al 2017; Pandian et al 2017; Dell et al 2015; Stanic et al 2013; Stanic et al 2012; Cassibry et al 2012; Zybin et al 2006; Zhakhovsky et al 2006.

Relevant book chapters: Wright & Abarzhi 2021.

Relevant conference proceedings: Stanic et al 2011; Zybin et al 2006; Zhakhovsky et al 2006.

One of my research interests is to understand connections between Lagrangian (kinetic) and Eulerian (continuous) descriptions in non-equilibrium systems. This is a fundamental scientific problem, since at micro-scopic and meso-scales, the non-equilibrium dynamics depart from the scenario of quasi-statistic Boltzmann equation. This difference becomes even more dramatic under conditions of high energy density, for instance, in inertial confinement and magneto-inertial fusion. To understand the coupling of microscopic to macroscopic scales, we  applied the theoretical analysis and the particle simulations.

In particular, we were the first to conduct molecular dynamic simulations of RMI in solids and to find the dependence of the material melting on the strength and orientation of the shock. We also were the first to systematically study the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability induced by strong shocks for fluids with contrasting densities and with small and large amplitude initial perturbations imposed at the fluid interface by means of Lagrangian approach.

We  employed the Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics Code (SPHC) to ensure the shock capturing and the interface tracking, and to accurately account for the dissipation processes. We  achieved excellent agreement with existing experiments and with theoretical analyses including zero-order theory that describes the post-shock background motion of the fluids, linear theory that provides RMI growth-rate in a broad range of the Mach and Atwood numbers, and highly nonlinear theory that describes the nonlinear evolution of RM bubble front. Particularly, the nonlinear dynamics is shown to  the essentially multi-scale and interfacial character. We  further found that for strong-shock-driven RMI a significant part of the shock deposited energy goes into compression and background motion of the fluids, and only a small fraction of it remains for interfacial mixing. According to our results, the initial perturbation amplitude is a key factor of RMI evolution that strongly influences the dynamics of the interface, in the fluid bulk, and the transmitted shock.

One interesting result is a non-monotone dependence of the initial growth-rate of RMI on the initial amplitude and the maximum initial growth-rate of strong-shock-driven RMI. It suggests that the amount of energy that can be deposited by the shock at the interface is finite and depends only on the shock strength, the density ratio, and the adiabatic indexes. We  developed a theoretical model for the RMI growth-rate and  achieved the excellent, within 3 significant digits and free from adjustable parameters, agreement with accurate experiments.

We  further found that in addition to vortical structures at the interface, the vector and scalar fields in the fluid bulk are non-uniform at small scales. These heterogeneities include the reverse cumulative jets, the checkerboard velocity patterns, the shock-focusing effects, the localized hot (cold) spots with temperature substantially higher (smaller) than that in the ambient, and the high and the low pressure regions. These small-scale heterogeneities can play a critical role for energy transport and accumulation at small scales in supernovae.

For the near future, we would like to further understand the coupling of microscopic to meso- and macroscopic scales in shock-driven multiphase flows and apply this knowledge to describe the non-equilibrium transport in fluids, plasmas, and materials, and to conduct detailed quantitative and qualitative comparisons of the Lagrangian (kinetic) and Eulerian (continuous) simulations results with one another and with the theory.

 

Dynamical systems: Influence of heterogeneities and noise on pattern formation and chaos

Relevant papers: Nepomnyashchy & Abarzhi 2010; Abarzhi et al 2007.

Relevant book chapters: Fedotov & Abarzhi 2006; Abarzhi et al 2003.

Pattern forming systems exhibits some universal features of the nonlinear dynamics. For ideal spatially extended systems, this universality is well captured by low-dimensional models. Realistic systems are often multi-scale and inhomogeneous. This raises a problem on qualitative and quantitative correspondence between the idealized low-dimensional description and the realistic multi-scale phenomenon. This problem can be viewed on one hand as a sensitivity of the model results to heterogeneities and noise, and, on the other hand, -- as a control of a pattern formation and chaos development by means of heterogeneities. We considered the effect of heterogeneities on the dynamics of nonlinear wave patterns within the framework of a complex Ginzburg-Landau equation with parametric non-resonant forcing. The forcing preserves the gauge invariance of the system and is non-intrusive. We found that the forcing results in occurrence of traveling waves with new dispersion properties, leads to appearance of waves with quasi-periodic and an-harmonic spatial structures, and may completely suppress development of intermittent chaos.

 

Data analysis and design of experiments and simulations

Relevant papers: Abarzhi c (in processing); Suchandra et al (in processing); Abarzhi & Williams (in processing); Abarzhi et al 2025; Abarzhi & Williams 2024a,b; Wiliams & Abarzhi 2023; Williams & Abarzhi 2022; Pfefferle & Abarzhi 2022; Jacobs et al 2021; Pfefferle & Abarzhi 2020; Abarzhi & Sreenivasan 2020; Swisher et al 2015; Anisimov et al 2013; Orlov et al 2010; Fisher et al 2008; Abarzhi 2008; Orlov et al 2007a,b.

Relevant book chapters: Rahimyar & Abarzhi (in processing); Williams & Abarzhi 2024; Hwang et al 2020; Tieszen et al 2004.

Relevant conference proceedings: Orlov et al 2007.

For traditional physical systems (that are stable, single-scale, ‘linear,’ local and are bounded in a narrow parameter regime) an optimally designed experiment ensures statistical quality of collected data. The systems that are studied in contemporary physics are often non-equilibrium, multi-scale, nonlinear, non-local and multi-parameter. In these systems the formulation and solution of the optimization problem is a formidable task, and the statistical quality is a challenge to evaluate. The problem complexity can be reduced when symmetry principles are applied. We  successfully employed the principles of symmetry theory in experiments and simulations in order to identify a set of robust parameters and a useful metrics that should be precisely diagnosed. We found that, beyond their important role in understanding fundamental properties of nature, the symmetry principles can also serve to identify the quantitative criteria for the estimate of the quality and information capacity of experimental and numerical data sets, and to elaborate the new methods for mitigation and control of complex processes in technology, such as fusion and nano-electronics. Furthermore, we showed how to leverage modern technologies in order to achieve significant improvement in precision, accuracy, dynamic range and reproducibility of data.


Quantitative biology: topological comparison of protein structures

Relevant conference proceedings: Upadhyay et al 2011.

Comparison of protein structures has critical importance for understanding the functionality, specificity, flexibility, and evolution of proteins. Existing comparison methods usually optimize a global structural similarity. The original highly efficient method TOPOFIT is topology based and is capable to align protein structures and produce elastic alignments through the Delaunay tessellations, with representations employing Voronoi polyhedrons and Delaunay simplexes. The method naturally detects and finds non-sequential alignments and flexible alignments, with accuracy over-performing that of other methods. We set the comparison of protein structures as a mathematical and computational problem of finding error-tolerant largest common sub-graphs of the Delaunay tessellation graphs representing the compared proteins. We found the statistically confident quantitative metrics for evaluating protein alignments, and confirmed and justified this metrics in the computational experiments involving the non-homologous proteins and the large structure families. This research was within the collaborative project ‘Accurate protein structural comparisons by TOPOFIT’ (PI Prof. Ilyin, Boston College & Northeastern University, USA).

 

Condensed matter physics: spin dynamics of low-dimensional magnetic systems (PhD, MS)

Relevant papers: Abarzhi et al 1993; Abarzhi 1993; Abarzhi et al 1992; Abarzhi & Chubukov 1990.

PhD Thesis advisors: Prof. Anisimov (Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Academy of Sciences), Prof. Prozorova (Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems, Academy of Sciences).

Low-dimensional non-collinear magnetic systems are characterized by strong influence of frustrations and quantum fluctuations on their ground state and spectral properties. To understand these influences, we  considered static and dynamical properties of quasi one-dimensional antiferromagnets on a stacked triangular lattice. Previous studies interpreted experimental spectra of these compounds either as a direct observation of the so-called Haldane (2016 Nobel Laureate) gap in 1D spin chain or as an influence of 2D frustrations. We  employed the 3D Heisenberg spin model and a phenomenological 3D model to understand the microscopic and macroscopic properties of the system. We found the key parameter – the ratio between the relativistic anisotropy and weak exchange interaction – that governs the system dynamics, and showed that re-normalized 3D spin-wave theory adequately describes the experiments in either quasi-1D or quasi-2D limit. We conducted test experiments, employed direct measurements and confirmed the new qualitative and quantitative results predicted the theory, including transversal magnetization in an oblique magnetic field, dependences of the dynamics on the parameter, and quantum phase transition.


Statistical physics: spin glass theory of nonlinear Hopfiled model (MS)

Hopfield model is a standard model of neutral networks. We introduced a Hamiltonian system extending the Hopfield model with the nonlinearity. Statistical attributes of the extended nonlinear model were investigated by employing the spin glass theory. The sustainability of the ground states under the thermal noise was analyzed by using the replica method. We found that the nonlinearity can substantially enlarge the information capacity of the standard Hopfield model and increase the ratio of the thermally stable states to all ground states.

 

Scientific program ‘Turbulent Mixing and Beyond’

Relevant research books: Abarzhi et al (in processing); Abarzhi & Glimm (in processing), Abarzhi & Goddard (in processing); Abarzhi 2025a,b; Abarzhi 2022; Abarzhi & Nepomnyashchy 2022; Abarzhi & Gekelman 2022; Abarzhi et al. 2021; Abarzhi et al 2019; Abarzhi & Gauthier 2017; Abarzhi et al 2013a,b; Abarzhi et al 2014; Abarzhi et al 2013; Abarzhi & Sreenivasan 2010; Abarzhi et al 2010; Abarzhi & Gauthier 2008.

Relevant editorial papers: Abarzhi a,b (in processing); Abarzhi 2025; Abarzhi 2022a,b; Abarzhi & Gekelman 2022; Abarzhi & Goddard 2019; Abarzhi 2018; Gautier et al 2018; Abarzhi et al 2015; Abarzhi et al 2013a,b,c,d; Gauthier et al 2013; Abarzhi & Sreenivasan 2010a,b; Abarzhi et al 2010; Gauthier et al 2010; Abarzhi et al 2008.

Relevant proceedings with ISBN: Abarzhi et al 2017; Abarzhi et al 2014; Abarzhi et al 2011; Abarzhi et al 2009; Abarzhi 2007.

Relevant conference proceedings: Abarzhi & Goddard 2023; Abarzhi 2023; Abarzhi et al 2017; Abarzhi et al 2014; Abarzhi et al 2011; Abarzhi et al 2009; Abarzhi 2007.

Relevant video / audio recordings: Abarzhi & Goddard 2023a,b; Abarzhi 2019 a,b; Abarzhi 2012; Abarzhi & Sreenivasan 2017; Abarzhi 2011; Abarzhi et al 2009; Abarzhi 2007.

We developed the program ‘Turbulent Mixing and Beyond’ (TMB) to bring together researchers from different areas of science, engineering and mathematics and to focus their attention on the fundamental problem of non-equilibrium dynamics and interfacial and turbulent mixing. Interfacial mixing and turbulent mixing are non-equilibrium processes that occur in a broad variety of natural phenomena and technological applications, ranging from astrophysical to atomistic scales and from high- to low- energy-density regimes. Examples include inertial confinement fusion, light–matter interaction, strong shock waves, explosions, supernovae and accretion discs, convection in stellar and planetary interiors, premixed and non-premixed combustion, hypersonic and supersonic flows — both wall-bounded and boundary-free — as well as the atmosphere and the ocean. A good grasp on interfacial mixing and turbulent mixing is crucial for the cutting-edge technology in laser micro-machining and free-space optical telecommunications, and for traditional industrial applications in the areas of aeronautics and aerodynamics. In some of these applications (e.g. combustion processes), turbulent mixing should be enhanced, whereas in some others (e.g. inertial confinement fusion) it should be mitigated. In all these circumstances, we  to understand the fundamentals of non-equilibrium dynamics, interfacial mixing and turbulent mixing, be able to gather high-quality data and derive knowledge from these data, and, ultimately, achieve a better control of these complex processes.

In 2007, with the support of international scientific community, national and international funding agencies and institutions, we founded the TMB program. The program goals are in the development of new ideas for understanding the fundamentals of non-equilibrium dynamics, interfacial mixing and turbulent mixing, in applications of novel approaches for description of a broad range of phenomena where these processes occur, and in the potential impact on technology development. The TMB program spans fluid dynamics, plasmas, high-energy-density physics, astrophysics, material science, combustion, Earth sciences, nonlinear physics, applied mathematics, probability, statistics, data processing, computations, optics and communications, and other areas. To date, the TMB community unites a few thousand researchers worldwide including scientists from academia, national laboratories, corporations and industry, at experienced and early stages of their carrier working. Google.com returns over ~7,000,000 results for ‘turbulent mixing and beyond’.

Please see for details the program web-site, the recordings and the video-interviews:
http://www.tmbw.org
http://www.tmbw.org/tmbconferences
https://vimeo.com/352943627
https://vimeo.com/48922680



© 2010 Snezhana I. Abarzhi

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