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The Batchelor--Howells--Townsend spectrum: three-dimensional case

Given a velocity field $u(x,t)$, we consider the evolution of a passive tracer $θ$ governed by $\partial_tθ+ u\cdot\nablaθ= Δθ+ g$ with time-independent source $g(x)$. When $\|u\|$ is small in some sense, Batchelor, Howells and Townsend (1959, J.\ Fluid Mech.\ 5:134; henceforth BHT) predicted that the tracer spectrum scales as $|θ_k|^2\propto|k|^{-4}|u_k|^2$. Following our recent work for the two-dimensional case, in this paper we prove that the BHT scaling does hold probabilistically, asymptotically for large wavenumbers and for small enough random synthetic three-dimensional incompressible velocity fields $u(x,t)$. We also relaxed some assumptions on the velocity and tracer source, allowing finite variances for both and full power spectrum for the latter.