Diffusion of heavy particles in turbulent flows

Relative dispersion of tracers - i.e. very small, neutrally buoyant particles-, is particularly efficient in incompressible turbulent flows. Due to the non smooth behaviour of velocity differences in the inertial range, the separation distance between two trajectories, R(t)=X1(t)-X2(t) , grows as a power of time superdiffusively, R2(t)t3 , as first observed by L.F. Richardson [1]. This now well established result has no counterpart in the theory of heavy particle suspensions, namely finite-size particles with a mass density much larger that of the carrier fluid.

A Numerical Comparison Between Degenerate Parabolic and Quasilinear Hyperbolic Models of Cell Movements Under Chemotaxis

We consider two models which were both designed to describe the movement of eukaryotic cells responding to chemical signals. Besides a common standard parabolic equation for the diffusion of a chemoattractant, like chemokines or growth factors, the two models differ for the equations describing the movement of cells. The first model is based on a quasilinear hyperbolic system with damping, the other one on a degenerate parabolic equation. The two models have the same stationary solutions, which may contain some regions with vacuum.

A hybrid mathematical model for self-organizing cell migration in the zebrafish lateral line

In this paper we propose a discrete in continuous mathematical model for the morphogenesis of the posterior lateral line system in zebrafish. Our model follows closely the results obtained in recent biological experiments. We rely on a hybrid description: discrete for the cellular level and continuous for the molecular level. We prove the existence of steady solutions consistent with the formation of particular biological structure, the neuromasts.