Scaling and energy transfer in rotating turbulence

The inertial-range properties of quasi-stationary hydrodynamic turbulence under solid-body rotation are studied via high-resolution direct numerical simulations. For strong rotation the nonlinear energy cascade exhibits depletion and a pronounced anisotropy with the energy flux proceeding mainly perpendicularly to the rotation axis. This corresponds to a transition towards a quasi-two-dimensional flow similar to a linear Taylor-Proudman state. In contrast to the energy spectrum along the rotation axis which does not scale self-similarly, the perpendicular spectrum displays an inertial range with k(perpendicular to)(-2). - behavior. A new phenomenology gives a rationale for the observations. The scaling exponents zeta(p) of structure functions up to order p=8 measured perpendicular to the rotation axis indicate reduced intermittency with increasing rotation rate. The proposed phenomenology is consistent with the inferred asymptotic non-intermittent behavior zeta(p) = p/2.