Dynamics of passive-scalar turbulence

Abstract

We present the first study of the dynamic scaling or multiscaling of passive-scalar turbulence. For the Kraichnan version of passive-scalar turbulence we show analytically, in both Eulerian and quasi-Lagrangian frameworks, that simple dynamic scaling is obtained but with different dynamic exponents. By developing the multifractal model we show that dynamic multiscaling occurs in passive-scalar turbulence only if the advecting velocity field is itself multifractal. We substantiate our results by detailed numerical simulations in shell models of passive-scalar advection.