Information-theoretic quantification of causality in turbulent flows*

Understanding causality among quantities of interest in turbulent flows is essential for physical understanding, modeling, and control. In this talk, we discuss a new method to quantify causality in turbulence based on information fluxes. The main properties of the method and its suitability for quantifying causality are highlighted. The method is non-intrusive and only requires the time history of the flow, which is convenient both computationally and experimentally. We leveraged the approach to investigate the causality of the energy cascade in isotropic turbulence. The results are validated against (the more expensive) causality with interventions, in which the system is modified, and the consequences are measured.