Emergence of Multiscaling in a Random-Force Stirred Fluid

We consider the transition to strong turbulence in an infinite fluid stirred by a Gaussian random force. The transition is defined as a first appearance of anomalous scaling of normalized moments of velocity derivatives (dissipation rates) emerging from the low-Reynolds-number Gaussian background. It is shown that, due to multiscaling, strongly intermittent rare events can be quantitatively described in terms of an infinite number of different Reynolds numbers reflecting a multitude of anomalous scaling exponents. The theoretically predicted transition disappears at R-lambda <= 3. The developed theory is in quantitative agreement with the outcome of large-scale numerical simulations.