Abstract

In an idealized way, some turbulent flows can be pictured by assemblies of many vortices characterized by a set of particle distribution functions. Ultrasound provides a useful, nonintrusive, tool to study the spatial structure of vorticity in flows. This is analogous to the use of elastic neutron scattering to determine liquid structure. We express the dispersion relation, as well as the scattering cross section, of sound waves propagating in a liquid of identical vortices as a function of vortex pair correlation functions. In two dimensions, formal analogies with ionic liquids are pointed out.