Persistence of Memory in Drop Breakup: The Breakdown of Universality
Pankaj Doshi,1*
Itai Cohen,2
Wendy W. Zhang,3
Michael Siegel,4
Peter Howell,5
Osman A. Basaran,1
Sidney R. Nagel3
A low-viscosity drop breaking apart inside a viscous fluid is
encountered when air bubbles, entrained in thick syrup or honey,
rise and break apart. Experiments, simulations, and theory show
that the breakup under conditions in which the interior viscosity
can be neglected produces an exceptional form of singularity.
In contrast to previous studies of drop breakup, universality
is violated so that the final shape at breakup retains an imprint
of the initial and boundary conditions. A finite interior viscosity,
no matter how small, cuts off this form of singularity and produces
an unexpectedly long and slender thread. If exterior viscosity
is large enough, however, the cutoff does not occur because
the minimum drop radius reaches subatomic dimensions first.
2 Physics and Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
3 The Physics Department and the James Franck Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
4 Department of Mathematical Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA.
5 Mathematical Institute, 24–29 Saint Giles', Oxford OX 13LB, UK.
* Present address: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: wzhang{at}uchicago.edu
