MONTREAL/April 29, 2008—
Computer enhanced NGC 598 galaxy image (Elmegreen et al 1992 “Optical Tracers of Spiral Wave Resonances in Galaxies, II. Hidden Three-Arm Spirals in a Sample of 18 Galaxies”. The Astronomical Journal Supplementary Series, 79:37-48, March 1992).
For more than a century, researchers have believed Nobel Prize winner J.J. Thomson’s theory on the stability of vortex rings was mathematically sound, but nobody had been able to produce it in the real world…. until now. 125 years after its theoretical discovery, a team of researchers at Concordia University, led by Dr. George Vatistas, has finally been able to physically validate it in a laboratory environment.
It was almost 20 years ago that Vatistas encountered the phenomenon for the very first time while researching another subject. In 1989, he was exploring the properties of water vortices by spinning up liquid in tall slender cylinders. Instead of the relatively smooth-sided funnel he was expecting, large waves undulated up the length of his whirlpool, obstructing the view of the central core he wanted to study.
In an attempt to minimize this visual noise, Vatistas lowered the liquid height to work with a much shallower pool. When he spun up the liquid again, the core – when viewed from above - eventually resolved into a polygonal triangular shape. Proving that sometimes the most exciting discoveries come by chance Vatistas said “I knew I was seeing something incredible, but at that time I wasn’t yet able to prove it was the physical embodiment of Thomson’s theory. Now, with the development of more sophisticated technology and the help of my colleagues Kamran Siddiqui and Hamid Ait Abderrahmane, we can absolutely prove this is the case.”
To understand the theory, picture a satellite image of a hurricane. The eye is the core of a huge whirling mass of air which extends out from the centre of the storm. Pressure differences at the edge between the air inside and outside the eye can actually spin off other vortices, in the form of tornadoes, which orbit the eye until such time as they dissipate. Thomson said that under ideal circumstances naturally occurring stable systems of up to 6 vortices (and potentially 7) could rotate around the core of a larger spinning mass.
This physical validation allows scientists to take physics into directions they were unable to before, from the physics of the very small (quantum) to the physics of enormously large (galaxies). This theory is used in the study of anything in the universe that rotates, from water to stars to electrons to acoustics in sound waves. The real-world applications are limitless and can be applied towards areas like the forecasting of tornado development before it appears on radars to the design of airplane wings. In other contexts companies will be able to build more efficient and quieter components in machinery such as turbines.
This groundbreaking research will be featured in the May issue of Physical Review Letters, the world's foremost physics letters journal. For more information contact Dr. George Vatistas at vatistas@encs.concordia.ca or 514.848.2424 ext. 3158.
Link to PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
- 30 -
Source :
Tanya Churchmuch
Senior Media Relations Advisor
Concordia University
