Hydrodynamic fluctuations near a Hopf bifurcation: Stochastic onset of vortex shedding behind a circular cylinder

We investigate hydrodynamic fluctuations in the flow past a circular cylinder near the critical Reynolds number Re_{c} for the onset of vortex shedding. Starting from the fluctuating Navier-Stokes equations, we perform a perturbation expansion around Re_{c} to derive analytical expressions for the statistics of the fluctuating lift force. Molecular-level simulations using the direct simulation Monte Carlo method support the theoretical predictions of the lift power spectrum and amplitude distribution. Notably, we have been able to collect sufficient statistics at distances Re/Re_{c}-1=O(10^{-3}) from the instability that confirm the appearance of non-Gaussian fluctuations, and we observe that they are associated with intermittent vortex shedding. These results emphasize how unavoidable thermal-noise-induced fluctuations become dramatically amplified in the vicinity of oscillatory flow instabilities and that their onset is fundamentally stochastic.