Geometric mixing.

Arrieta J; Cartwright JHE; Gouillart E; Piro N; Piro O; Tuval I

doi:10.1098/rsta.2020.0168

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Journal article

Geometric mixing.

Arrieta J Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats, CSIC-Universitat de les Illes Balears, 07190 Esporles, Spain.
Cartwright JHE Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra, CSIC-Universidad de Granada, 18100 Armilla, Granada, Spain.
Gouillart E Joint Unit CNRS Saint-Gobain, 93303 Aubervilliers, France.
Piro N École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
Piro O Departament de Física, Universitat de les Illes Balears, 07071 Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Tuval I Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avançats, CSIC-Universitat de les Illes Balears, 07190 Esporles, Spain.

2020-08-09

Published in:

Philosophical transactions. Series A, Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences. - 2020

English Mixing fluids often involves a periodic action, like stirring one's tea. But reciprocating motions in fluids at low Reynolds number, in Stokes flows where inertia is negligible, lead to periodic cycles of mixing and unmixing, because the physics, molecular diffusion excepted, is time reversible. So how can fluid be mixed in such circumstances? The answer involves a geometric phase. Geometric phases are found everywhere in physics as anholonomies, where after a closed circuit in the parameters, some system variables do not return to their original values. We discuss the geometric phase in fluid mixing: geometric mixing. This article is part of the theme issue 'Stokes at 200 (part 2)'.

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