Conformation statistics of a deformable material line in two-dimensional turbulence.

We have observed the fluctuations of the centerline position of a thin column of water injected into a turbulent soap film. As the turbulence intensity increases, the second order structure function of the centerline position increments undergoes a change between different power law scaling regimes. These scalings indicate that the centerline position makes a continuous transition from an analytic to a non-analytic function. Cusps and other singular configurations of the column occur at higher turbulent intensities. Since the column supports random wave patterns, we propose that this experiment could serve as a test bed for theories of wave turbulence in one dimension.