https://doi.org/10.1140/epje/i2014-14105-3
Regular Article
Static versus dynamic analysis of the influence of gravity on concentration non-equilibrium fluctuations
1
Laboratoire des Fluides Complexes et leurs Réservoirs - UMR5150, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, 64600, Anglet, France
2
Department of Physics, University of Fribourg, CH-1700, Fribourg, Switzerland
* e-mail: fabrizio.croccolo@univ-pau.fr
Received:
26
June
2014
Revised:
2
September
2014
Accepted:
14
October
2014
Published online:
6
November
2014
In a binary fluid mixture subject to gravity and a stabilizing concentration gradient, concentration non-equilibrium fluctuations are long-ranged. While the gradient leads to an enhancement of the respective equilibrium fluctuations, the effect of gravity is a damping of fluctuations larger than a “characteristic” size. This damping is visible both in the fluctuation power spectrum probed by static and the temporal correlation function probed by dynamic light scattering. One aspect of the “characteristic” size can be appreciated by the dynamic analysis; in fact at the corresponding “characteristic” wave vector q * one can observe a maximum of the fluctuation time constant indicating the more persistent fluctuation of the system. Also in the static analysis a “characteristic” size can be extracted from the crossover wave vector. According to common theoretical concepts, the result should be the same in both cases. In the present work we provide evidence for a systematic difference in the experimentally observed “characteristic” size as obtained by static and dynamic measurements. Our observation thus points out the need for a more refined theory of non-equilibrium concentration fluctuations.
Key words: Topical Issue: Thermal non-equilibrium phenomena in multi-component fluids
© EDP Sciences, SIF, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2014