A stochastic approach to the solution of magnetohydrodynamic equations

The construction of stochastic solutions is a powerful method to obtain localized solutions in configuration or Fourier space and for parallel computation with domain decomposition. Here a stochastic solution is obtained for the magnetohydrodynamics equations. Some details are given concerning the numerical implementation of the solution which is illustrated by an example of generation of long-range magnetic fields by a velocity source.Comment: 21 pages Latex, 5 figure

Stochastic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in space dimensions d≥2d\ge 2

Interplay of kinematic and magnetic forcing in a model of a conducting fluid with randomly driven magnetohydrodynamic equations has been studied in space dimensions $d\ge 2$ by means of the renormalization group. A perturbative expansion scheme, parameters of which are the deviation of the spatial dimension from two and the deviation of the exponent of the powerlike correlation function of random forcing from its critical value, has been used in one-loop approximation. Additional divergences have been taken into account which arise at two dimensions and have been inconsistently treated in earlier investigations of the model. It is shown that in spite of the additional divergences the kinetic fixed point associated with the Kolmogorov scaling regime remains stable for all space dimensions $d\ge 2$ for rapidly enough falling off correlations of the magnetic forcing. A scaling regime driven by thermal fluctuations of the velocity field has been identified and analyzed. The absence of a scaling regime near two dimensions driven by the fluctuations of the magnetic field has been confirmed. A new renormalization scheme has been put forward and numerically investigated to interpolate between the $\epsilon$ expansion and the double expansion.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Stochastic Flux-Freezing and Magnetic Dynamo

We argue that magnetic flux-conservation in turbulent plasmas at high magnetic Reynolds numbers neither holds in the conventional sense nor is entirely broken, but instead is valid in a novel statistical sense associated to the "spontaneous stochasticity" of Lagrangian particle tra jectories. The latter phenomenon is due to the explosive separation of particles undergoing turbulent Richardson diffusion, which leads to a breakdown of Laplacian determinism for classical dynamics. We discuss empirical evidence for spontaneous stochasticity, including our own new numerical results. We then use a Lagrangian path-integral approach to establish stochastic flux-freezing for resistive hydromagnetic equations and to argue, based on the properties of Richardson diffusion, that flux-conservation must remain stochastic at infinite magnetic Reynolds number. As an important application of these results we consider the kinematic, fluctuation dynamo in non-helical, incompressible turbulence at unit magnetic Prandtl number. We present results on the Lagrangian dynamo mechanisms by a stochastic particle method which demonstrate a strong similarity between the Pr = 1 and Pr = 0 dynamos. Stochasticity of field-line motion is an essential ingredient of both. We finally consider briefly some consequences for nonlinear MHD turbulence, dynamo and reconnectionComment: 29 pages, 10 figure