Physical Review Journal Club: Tracking the Rotation of Light Magnetic Particles in Turbulence
Thursday, January 15, 2026 at 10 a.m. ET
Video Link
The Physical Review Journal Club returns in January with a talk by Chunlai Wu (Eindhoven University of Technology) on their recent Physical Review Fluids paper, “Tracking the Rotation of Light Magnetic Particles in Turbulence.” After the presentation, ask your questions in a live Q&A session, moderated by Guido Boffetta (Associate Editor, Physical Review Fluids). Registration is free and a video recording will be provided to all registrants.
Summary:
Particle-laden turbulence is notoriously hard to interrogate experimentally because the dispersed phase can both respond to and modify the smallest, most intermittent structures of the flow. A particularly rich (and under-measured) piece of this puzzle is particle rotation: the angular dynamics of small particles are tightly linked to turbulent vorticity and to the dynamics of intense vortex filaments.
In this Journal Club, Chunlai Wu will present a new experimental framework that turns light magnetic particles into vorticity-sensitive probes, and, potentially, into localized actuators, by combining high-accuracy optical tracking with externally imposed rotating magnetic fields. Beyond offering a new route to quantify angular dynamics in turbulent flows, the approach opens the door to actively modulating turbulence via externally applied magnetic fields, while linking measurement and control in a single experimental platform.
Read ahead:
Tracking the Rotation of Light Magnetic Particles in Turbulence
Chunlai Wu, Rudie P. J. Kunnen, Ziqi Wang, Xander M. de Wit, Federico Toschi, and
Herman J. H. Clercx
Phys. Rev. Fluids 10, 114903
