Multifractal clustering in compressible flows

A quantitative relationship is found between the multifractal properties of the asymptotic mass distribution in a random dissipative system and the long-time fluctuations of the local stretching rates of the dynamics. It captures analytically the fine aspects of the strongly intermittent clustering of dynamical trajectories. Applied to a simple compressible hydrodynamical model with known stretching-rate statistics, the relation produces a nontrivial spectrum of multifractal dimensions that is confirmed numerically.