Odd Turbulence - December 5, 2025

This 51-minute lecture by Vincenzo Vitelli explores the fascinating concept of "Odd Turbulence" and introduces a novel mechanism for pattern formation in turbulent systems. Discover how turbulent cascades can be harnessed to generate patterns through a fully nonlinear mechanism, rather than through traditional linear instability of homogeneous states. Learn about the non-dissipative arrest of turbulent cascades where energy accumulates at intermediate scales, and how this process is influenced by odd viscosity—a non-dissipative transport coefficient common in chiral fluids from bioactive to quantum systems. Understand how odd viscosity functions as a scale-dependent Coriolis-like force that leads to two-dimensionalization of flow and suppression of intermittency through parity-breaking waves. Explore applications of cascade-induced patterns in various natural systems including atmospheric flows, stellar plasma like solar wind, and processes involving mass cascades such as pulverization and coagulation of objects or droplets.