Dimensionality influence on passive scalar transport

We numerically investigate the advection of a passive scalar through an interface placed inside a decaying shearless turbulent mixing layer. We consider the system in both two and three dimensions. The dimensionality produces a different time scaling of the diffusion, which is faster in the two-dimensional case. Two intermittent fronts are generated at the margins of the mixing layer. During the decay these fronts present a sort of propagation in both the direction of the scalar flow and the opposite direction. In two dimensions, the propagation of the fronts exhibits a significant asymmetry with respect to the initial position of the interface and is deeper for the front merged in the high energy side of the mixing. In three dimensions, the two fronts remain nearly symmetrically placed. Results concerning the scalar spectra exponents are also presented.