Turbulent fluxes of entropy and internal energy in temperature stratified flows

We derive equations for the mean entropy and the mean internal energy in the low-Mach-number temperature stratified turbulence (i.e., for turbulent convection or stably stratified turbulence), and show that turbulent flux of entropy is given by ${\bf F}_s=\overline{\rho} \, \overline{{\bf u} s}$, where $\overline{\rho}$ is the mean fluid density, $s$ are fluctuations of entropy and overbars denote averaging over an ensemble of turbulent velocity field, ${\bf u}$. We demonstrate that the turbulent flux of entropy is different from the turbulent convective flux, ${\bf F}_c=\overline{T} \, \overline{\rho} \, \overline{{\bf u} s}$, of the fluid internal energy, where $\overline{T}$ is the mean fluid temperature. This turbulent convective flux is well-known in the astrophysical and geophysical literature, and it cannot be used as a turbulent flux in the equation for the mean entropy. This result is exact for low-Mach-number temperature stratified turbulence and is independent of the model used. We also derive equations for the velocity-entropy correlation, $\overline{{\bf u} s}$, in the limits of small and large Peclet numbers, using the quasi-linear approach and the spectral tau approximation, respectively. This study is important in view of different applications to the astrophysical and geophysical temperature stratified turbulence.Comment: 10 pages, Journal of Plasma Physics, 2015, in pres

Enhancement of small-scale turbulent dynamo by large-scale shear

Small-scale dynamos are ubiquitous in a broad range of turbulent flows with large-scale shear, ranging from solar and galactic magnetism to accretion disks, cosmology and structure formation. Using high-resolution direct numerical simulations we show that in non-helically forced turbulence with zero mean magnetic field, large-scale shear supports small-scale dynamo action, i.e., the dynamo growth rate increases with shear and shear enhances or even produces turbulence, which, in turn, further increases the dynamo growth rate. When the production rates of turbulent kinetic energy due to shear and forcing are comparable, we find scalings for the growth rate $\gamma$ of the small-scale dynamo and the turbulent velocity $u_{\rm rms}$ with shear rate $S$ that are independent of the magnetic Prandtl number: $\gamma \propto |S|$ and $u_{\rm rms} \propto |S|^{2/3}$. For large fluid and magnetic Reynolds numbers, $\gamma$, normalized by its shear-free value, depends only on shear. Having compensated for shear-induced effects on turbulent velocity, we find that the normalized growth rate of the small-scale dynamo exhibits the scaling, $\widetilde{\gamma}\propto |S|^{2/3}$, arising solely from the induction equation for a given velocity field.Comment: Improved version submitted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters, 6 pages, 5 figure

The negative effective magnetic pressure in stratified forced turbulence

To understand the basic mechanism of the formation of magnetic flux concentrations, we determine by direct numerical simulations the turbulence contributions to the mean magnetic pressure in a strongly stratified isothermal layer with large plasma beta, where a weak uniform horizontal mean magnetic field is applied. The negative contribution of turbulence to the effective mean magnetic pressure is determined for strongly stratified forced turbulence over a range of values of magnetic Reynolds and Prandtl numbers. Small-scale dynamo action is shown to reduce the negative effect of turbulence on the effective mean magnetic pressure. However, the turbulence coefficients describing the negative effective magnetic pressure phenomenon are found to be converged for magnetic Reynolds numbers between 60 and 600, which is the largest value considered here. In all these models the turbulent intensity is arranged to be nearly independent of height, so the kinetic energy density decreases with height due to the decrease in density. In a second series of numerical experiments, the turbulent intensity increases with height such that the turbulent kinetic energy density is nearly independent of height. Turbulent magnetic diffusivity and turbulent pumping velocity are determined with the test-field method for both cases. The vertical profile of the turbulent magnetic diffusivity is found to agree with what is expected based on simple mixing length expressions. Turbulent pumping is shown to be down the gradient of turbulent magnetic diffusivity, but it is twice as large as expected. Corresponding numerical mean-field models are used to show that a large-scale instability can occur in both cases, provided the degree of scale separation is large enough and hence the turbulent magnetic diffusivity small enough.Comment: 15 pages, 18 figures, 2 tables, ApJ, accepte

Tangling clustering instability for small particles in temperature stratified turbulence

We study particle clustering in a temperature stratified turbulence with small finite correlation time. It is shown that the temperature stratified turbulence strongly increases the degree of compressibility of particle velocity field. This results in the strong decrease of the threshold for the excitation of the tangling clustering instability even for small particles. The tangling clustering instability in the temperature stratified turbulence is essentially different from the inertial clustering instability that occurs in non-stratified isotropic and homogeneous turbulence. While the inertial clustering instability is caused by the centrifugal effect of the turbulent eddies, the mechanism of the tangling clustering instability is related to the temperature fluctuations generated by the tangling of the mean temperature gradient by the velocity fluctuations. Temperature fluctuations produce pressure fluctuations and cause particle clustering in regions with increased pressure fluctuations. It is shown that the growth rate of the tangling clustering instability is much larger than that of the inertial clustering instability. It is found that depending on the parameters of the turbulence and the mean temperature gradient there is a preferential particle size at which the particle clustering due to the tangling clustering instability is more effective. The particle number density inside the cluster after the saturation of this instability can be in several orders of magnitude larger than the mean particle number density. It is also demonstrated that the evaporation of droplets drastically change the tangling clustering instability, e.g., it increases the instability threshold in the droplet radius. The tangling clustering instability is of a great importance, e.g., in atmospheric turbulence with temperature inversions.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, REVTEX4-1, revised versio

Magnetic flux concentrations from dynamo-generated fields

The mean-field theory of magnetized stellar convection gives rise to the two possibility of distinct instabilities: the large-scale dynamo instability, operating in the bulk of the convection zone, and a negative effective magnetic pressure instability (NEMPI) operating in the strongly stratified surface layers. The latter might be important in connection with magnetic spot formation, but the growth rate of NEMPI is suppressed with increasing rotation rates, although recent direct numerical simulations (DNS) have shown a subsequent increase in the growth rate. We examine quantitatively whether this increase in the growth rate of NEMPI can be explained by an alpha squared mean-field dynamo, and whether both NEMPI and the dynamo instability can operate at the same time. We use both DNS and mean-field simulations (MFS) to solve the underlying equations numerically either with or without an imposed horizontal field. We use the test-field method to compute relevant dynamo coefficients. DNS show that magnetic flux concentrations are still possible up to rotation rates above which the large-scale dynamo effect produces mean magnetic fields. The resulting DNS growth rates are quantitatively well reproduced with MFS. As expected, for weak or vanishing rotation, the growth rate of NEMPI increases with increasing gravity, but there is a correction term for strong gravity and large turbulent magnetic diffusivity. Magnetic flux concentrations are still possible for rotation rates above which dynamo action takes over. For the solar rotation rate, the corresponding turbulent turnover time is about 5 hours, with dynamo action commencing in the layers beneath.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, submitted to A&

Turbulent reconnection of magnetic bipoles in stratified turbulence

We consider strongly stratified forced turbulence in a plane-parallel layer with helicity and corresponding large-scale dynamo action in the lower part and non-helical turbulence in the upper. The magnetic field is found to develop strongly concentrated bipolar structures near the surface. They form elongated bands with a sharp interface between opposite polarities. Unlike earlier experiments with imposed magnetic field, the inclusion of rotation does not strongly suppress the formation of these structures. We perform a systematic numerical study of this phenomenon by varying magnetic Reynolds number, scale separation ratio, and Coriolis number. We focus on the formation of a current sheet between bipolar regions where reconnection of oppositely oriented field lines occurs. We determine the reconnection rate by measuring either the inflow velocity in the vicinity of the current sheet or by measuring the electric field in the reconnection region. We demonstrate that for large Lundquist numbers, S>10^3, the reconnection rate is nearly independent of S in agreement with results of recent numerical simulations performed by other groups in simpler settings.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figure