Mixing-induced activity in open flows

Abstract

We develop a theory describing how a convectively unstable active field in an open flow is transformed into absolutely unstable by local mixing. Presenting the mixing region as one with a locally enhanced effective diffusion allows us to find the linear transition point to an unstable global mode analytically. We derive the critical exponent that characterizes weakly nonlinear regimes beyond the instability threshold and compare it with numerical simulations of a full two-dimensional flow problem. The obtained scaling law turns out to be universal as it depends neither on geometry nor on the nature of the mixing region.