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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Investigating the Three-dimensional Flow Separation Induced by a Model Vocal Fold Polyp
Published on: February 3, 2014
Riemannian geometry of irrotational vortex acoustics
1Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801-3080, USA. ufischer@uiuc.edu
Abstract:
We consider acoustic propagation in an irrotational vortex, using the technical machinery of differential geometry to investigate the "acoustic geometry" that is probed by the sound waves. The acoustic space-time curvature of a constant circulation hydrodynamical vortex leads to deflection of phonons at appreciable distances from the vortex core. The scattering angle for phonon rays is shown to be quadratic in the small quantity Gamma/2pi(cb), where Gamma is the vortex circulation, c the speed of sound, and b the impact parameter.
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