Extraordinary Spatial Symmetry Breaking in Rapidly Rotating Convective Oblate Spheroidal Boussinesq Fluids

Wednesday 18 Nov 2026, 14:00 → 15:00 Asia/Shanghai

Tsung-Dao Lee Institute/S4F-SW - Open Area (Tsung-Dao Lee Institute)

Dali Kong（孔大力）

Title: Extraordinary Spatial Symmetry Breaking in Rapidly Rotating Convective Oblate Spheroidal Boussinesq Fluids

Time: 14:00-15:00 (UTC+8), 18 November 2026, Wednesday

Host: Darius Modirrousta-Galian

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Abstract: Many problems of geophysical and astrophysical convection systems have been widely formulated and analyzed in rapidly rotating spheres or spherical shells. The Coriolis force and spherical geometry combine to produce unique linear and nonlinear symmetries in the convection patterns. However, the equilibrium shape of a self-gravitating, rotating fluid body is essentially NON-SPHERICAL because of the centrifugal force. In such geometries, especially when the departure from sphericity is significant, the general spatial symmetries for rotating convection and their breaking were not understood. In the recent paper [Li and Kong, Phys. Rev. Fluids 8, L011501 (2023)], it was found that the most unstable mode at the linear onset of convection in a rotating oblate spheroid could be equatorially symmetric and axisymmetric, a result not previously found for any spherical rotating convection system. Based on the linear onset theory developed in [Li and Kong, Phys. Rev. Fluids 9, 113502 (2024)], we explored the transition to nonlinear convection in oblate spheroids using fully 3D numerical simulations. This talk discusses a previously unknown nonlinear spatial symmetry breaking in oblate-spheroidal convection dynamics. Strong equatorially antisymmetric flow can disrupt the quasi-geostrophic state of turbulent convection when the convection strength exceeds a nonlinear critical level. This extraordinary spatial symmetry breaking is attributed to the curvature effects of the spheroidal boundaries.

Bio: Dr. Dali Kong graduated from the Department of Astronomy, Nanjing University, in 2008 and obtained his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Exeter in 2012. He joined the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory in 2017 after spending five years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, University of Exeter. Dr. Kong mainly works in planetary fluid dynamics and is particularly skilled at analyzing the dynamics of rapidly rotating systems.