IIT Kanpur researchers revisit 70-year-old plasma relaxation problem in outer space and have proposed a universal mechanism for turbulent relaxation, which can be applied to a wide range of fluids, including plasmas and complex fluids. 

This principle, called the Principle of Vanishing Nonlinear Transfer (PVNLT), explains how a turbulent system attains a steady, stable state of relaxation when the driving force is switched off. 

The study “Universal turbulent relaxation of fluids and plasmas by the principle of vanishing nonlinear transfers” has been published in Physical Review E (Letters) journal. 

The team, comprising of Prof. Supratik Banerjee, and researchers Arijit Halder, and Nandita Pan, from the Department of Physics, IIT Kanpur, illustrate this concept using the example of mixing milk in a cup of coffee.