Year: 1999
Type: article
Abstract: Magnetic vortices intermittently flow through preferred channels when they are forced in or out of a superconductor. We study this behavior using a cellular model, and find that the vortex flow can make braided rivers strikingly similar to aerial photographs of braided fluvial rivers, such as the Brahmaputra. By developing an analysis technique suitable for characterizing a self-affine (multi)fractal, the scaling properties of the braided vortex rivers in the model are compared with those of braided fluvial rivers. We suggest that avalanche dynamics leads to braiding in both cases.
Source: Physical Review Letters
Institutions: University of Houston, University of Copenhagen
Language: English
Subfield: Condensed Matter Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2041986990