On the relation between viscoelastic and magnetohydrodynamic flows and their instabilities

We demonstrate a close analogy between a viscoelastic medium and an electrically conducting fluid containing a magnetic field. Specifically, the dynamics of the Oldroyd-B fluid in the limit of large Deborah number corresponds to that of a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) fluid in the limit of large magnetic Reynolds number. As a definite example of this analogy, we compare the stability properties of differentially rotating viscoelastic and MHD flows. We show that there is an instability of the Oldroyd-B fluid that is physically distinct from both the inertial and elastic instabilities described previously in the literature, but is directly equivalent to the magnetorotational instability in MHD. It occurs even when the specific angular momentum increases outwards, provided that the angular velocity decreases outwards; it derives from the kinetic energy of the shear flow and does not depend on the curvature of the streamlines. However, we argue that the elastic instability of viscoelastic Couette flow has no direct equivalent in MHD.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, to be published in J. Fluid Mec

Effects of fluctuation on alpha-omega dynamo models

We analyse the role of a fluctuating alpha-effect in alpha-omega dynamo models, and show that there is a mechanism for magnetic field generation, valid at large scale separation, deriving from the interaction of mean shear and a fluctuating alpha-effect. It is shown that this effect can act as a dynamo even in the absence of a mean alpha-effect, and that the timescale for dynamo waves is strongly affected by the presence of fluctuations.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Double-diffusive instabilities of a shear-generated magnetic layer

Previous theoretical work has speculated about the existence of double-diffusive magnetic buoyancy instabilities of a dynamically evolving horizontal magnetic layer generated by the interaction of forced vertically sheared velocity and a background vertical magnetic field. Here we confirm numerically that if the ratio of the magnetic to thermal diffusivities is sufficiently low then such instabilities can indeed exist, even for high Richardson number shear flows. Magnetic buoyancy may therefore occur via this mechanism for parameters that are likely to be relevant to the solar tachocline, where regular magnetic buoyancy instabilities are unlikely.Comment: Submitted to ApJ

The Evolution of a Double Diffusive Magnetic Buoyancy Instability

Recently, Silvers, Vasil, Brummell, & Proctor (2009), using numerical simulations, confirmed the existence of a double diffusive magnetic buoyancy instability of a layer of horizontal magnetic field produced by the interaction of a shear velocity field with a weak vertical field. Here, we demonstrate the longer term nonlinear evolution of such an instability in the simulations. We find that a quasi two-dimensional interchange instability rides (or "surfs") on the growing shear-induced background downstream field gradients. The region of activity expands since three-dimensional perturbations remain unstable in the wake of this upward-moving activity front, and so the three-dimensional nature becomes more noticeable with time.Comment: 9 pages; 3 figures; accepted to appear in IAU symposium 27

Nonlinear Competition Between Small and Large Hexagonal Patterns

Recent experiments by Kudrolli, Pier and Gollub on surface waves, parametrically excited by two-frequency forcing, show a transition from a small hexagonal standing wave pattern to a triangular ``superlattice'' pattern. We show that generically the hexagons and the superlattice wave patterns bifurcate simultaneously from the flat surface state as the forcing amplitude is increased, and that the experimentally-observed transition can be described by considering a low-dimensional bifurcation problem. A number of predictions come out of this general analysis.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, revised, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Large-scale Dynamo Action Driven by Velocity Shear and Rotating Convection

By incorporating a large-scale shear flow into turbulent rotating convection, we show that a sufficiently strong shear can promote dynamo action in flows that in the absence of shear do not act as dynamos. Our results are consistent with a dynamo driven by either the shear-current effect or by the interaction between a fluctuating $\alpha$-effect and the velocity shear; they are though inconsistent with either a classical $\alpha^2$ or $\alpha \omega$ mean field dynamo.Comment: 4 pages, 4 fig

A novel type of intermittency in a nonlinear dynamo in a compressible flow

The transition to intermittent mean--field dynamos is studied using numerical simulations of isotropic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence driven by a helical flow. The low-Prandtl number regime is investigated by keeping the kinematic viscosity fixed while the magnetic diffusivity is varied. Just below the critical parameter value for the onset of dynamo action, a transient mean--field with low magnetic energy is observed. After the transition to a sustained dynamo, the system is shown to evolve through different types of intermittency until a large--scale coherent field with small--scale turbulent fluctuations is formed. Prior to this coherent field stage, a new type of intermittency is detected, where the magnetic field randomly alternates between phases of coherent and incoherent large--scale spatial structures. The relevance of these findings to the understanding of the physics of mean--field dynamo and the physical mechanisms behind intermittent behavior observed in stellar magnetic field variability are discussed.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figure

Destruction of large-scale magnetic field in non-linear simulations of the shear dynamo

The Sun's magnetic field exhibits coherence in space and time on much larger scales than the turbulent convection that ultimately powers the dynamo. In the past the α-effect (mean-field) concept has been used to model the solar cycle, but recent work has cast doubt on the validity of the mean-field ansatz under solar conditions. This indicates that one should seek an alternative mechanism for generating large-scale structure. One possibility is the recently proposed ‘shear dynamo’ mechanism where large-scale magnetic fields are generated in the presence of a simple shear. Further investigation of this proposition is required, however, because work has been focused on the linear regime with a uniform shear profile thus far. In this paper we report results of the extension of the original shear dynamo model into the nonlinear regime. We find that whilst large-scale structure can initially persist into the saturated regime, in several of our simulations it is destroyed via large increase in kinetic energy. This result casts doubt on the ability of the simple uniform shear dynamo mechanism to act as an alternative to the α-effect in solar conditions.This work was supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, grant ST/L000636/1.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Oxford University Press via http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw49