4,162 research outputs found
Turbulent dynamo with advective magnetic helicity flux
Many astrophysical bodies harbor magnetic fields that are thought to be
sustained by a dynamo process. However, it has been argued that the production
of large-scale magnetic fields by mean-field dynamo action is strongly
suppressed at large magnetic Reynolds numbers owing to the conservation of
magnetic helicity. This phenomenon is known as {\it catastrophic quenching}.
Advection of magnetic fields by stellar and galactic winds toward the outer
boundaries and away from the dynamo is expected to alleviate such quenching.
Here we explore the relative roles played by advective and turbulent--diffusive
fluxes of magnetic helicity in the dynamo. In particular, we study how the
dynamo is affected by advection. We do this by performing direct numerical
simulations of a turbulent dynamo of type driven by forced
turbulence in a Cartesian domain in the presence of a flow away from the
equator where helicity changes sign. Our results indicate that in the presence
of advection, the dynamo, otherwise stationary, becomes oscillatory. We confirm
an earlier result for turbulent--diffusive magnetic helicity fluxes that for
small magnetic Reynolds numbers (\Rm\lesssim 100...200, based on the
wavenumber of the energy-carrying eddies) the magnetic helicity flux scales
less strongly with magnetic Reynolds number (\Rm^{-1/2}) than the term
describing magnetic helicity destruction by resistivity (\Rm^{-1}). Our new
results now suggest that for larger \Rm the former becomes approximately
independent of \Rm, while the latter falls off more slowly. We show for the
first time that both for weak and stronger winds, the magnetic helicity flux
term becomes comparable to the resistive term for \Rm\gtrsim 1000, which is
necessary for alleviating catastrophic quenching.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Kinematic alpha effect in isotropic turbulence simulations
Using numerical simulations at moderate magnetic Reynolds numbers up to 220
it is shown that in the kinematic regime, isotropic helical turbulence leads to
an alpha effect and a turbulent diffusivity whose values are independent of the
magnetic Reynolds number, \Rm, provided \Rm exceeds unity. These turbulent
coefficients are also consistent with expectations from the first order
smoothing approximation. For small values of \Rm, alpha and turbulent
diffusivity are proportional to \Rm. Over finite time intervals meaningful
values of alpha and turbulent diffusivity can be obtained even when there is
small-scale dynamo action that produces strong magnetic fluctuations. This
suggests that small-scale dynamo-generated fields do not make a correlated
contribution to the mean electromotive force.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter
The alpha effect with imposed and dynamo-generated magnetic fields
Estimates for the nonlinear alpha effect in helical turbulence with an
applied magnetic field are presented using two different approaches: the
imposed-field method where the electromotive force owing to the applied field
is used, and the test-field method where separate evolution equations are
solved for a set of different test fields. Both approaches agree for stronger
fields, but there are apparent discrepancies for weaker fields that can be
explained by the influence of dynamo-generated magnetic fields on the scale of
the domain that are referred to as meso-scale magnetic fields. Examples are
discussed where these meso-scale fields can lead to both drastically
overestimated and underestimated values of alpha compared with the kinematic
case. It is demonstrated that the kinematic value can be recovered by resetting
the fluctuating magnetic field to zero in regular time intervals. It is
concluded that this is the preferred technique both for the imposed-field and
the test-field methods.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, published versio
Turbulent transport in hydromagnetic flows
The predictive power of mean-field theory is emphasized by comparing theory
with simulations under controlled conditions. The recently developed test-field
method is used to extract turbulent transport coefficients both in kinematic as
well as nonlinear and quasi-kinematic cases. A striking example of the
quasi-kinematic method is provided by magnetic buoyancy-driven flows that
produce an alpha effect and turbulent diffusion.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, topical issue of Physica Scripta on turbulent
mixing and beyon
Vorticity production through rotation, shear and baroclinicity
In the absence of rotation and shear, and under the assumption of constant
temperature or specific entropy, purely potential forcing by localized
expansion waves is known to produce irrotational flows that have no vorticity.
Here we study the production of vorticity under idealized conditions when there
is rotation, shear, or baroclinicity, to address the problem of vorticity
generation in the interstellar medium in a systematic fashion. We use
three-dimensional periodic box numerical simulations to investigate the various
effects in isolation. We find that for slow rotation, vorticity production in
an isothermal gas is small in the sense that the ratio of the root-mean-square
values of vorticity and velocity is small compared with the wavenumber of the
energy-carrying motions. For Coriolis numbers above a certain level, vorticity
production saturates at a value where the aforementioned ratio becomes
comparable with the wavenumber of the energy-carrying motions. Shear also
raises the vorticity production, but no saturation is found. When the
assumption of isothermality is dropped, there is significant vorticity
production by the baroclinic term once the turbulence becomes supersonic. In
galaxies, shear and rotation are estimated to be insufficient to produce
significant amounts of vorticity, leaving therefore only the baroclinic term as
the most favorable candidate. We also demonstrate vorticity production visually
as a result of colliding shock fronts.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, Accepted for publication in A&
Magnetic instability in a sheared azimuthal flow
We study the magneto-rotational instability of an incompressible flow which
rotates with angular velocity Omega(r)=a+b/r^2 where r is the radius and
and b are constants. We find that an applied magnetic field destabilises the
flow, in agreement with the results of Rudiger & Zhang 2001. We extend the
investigation in the region of parameter space which is Rayleigh stable. We
also study the instability at values of magnetic Prandtl number which are much
larger and smaller than Rudiger & Zhang. Large magnetic Prandtl numbers are
motivated by their possible relevance in the central region of galaxies
(Kulsrud & Anderson 1992). In this regime we find that increasing the magnetic
Prandtl number greatly enhances the instability; the stability boundary drops
below the Rayleigh line and tends toward the solid body rotation line. Very
small magnetic Prandtl numbers are motivated by the current MHD dynamo
experiments performed using liquid sodium and gallium. Our finding in this
regime confirms Rudiger & Zhang's conjecture that the linear magneto-rotational
instability and the nonlinear hydrodynamical instability (Richard & Zahn 1999)
take place at Reynolds numbers of the same order of magnitude.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Polar branches of stellar activity waves: dynamo models and observations
[Abridged abstract:] Stellar activity data provide evidence of activity wave
branches propagating polewards rather than equatorwards (the solar case).
Stellar dynamo theory allows polewards propagating dynamo waves for certain
governing parameters. We try to unite observations and theory, restricting our
investigation to the simplest mean-field dynamo models. We suggest a crude
preliminary systematization of the reported cases of polar activity branches.
Then we present results of dynamo model simulations which contain magnetic
structures with polar dynamo waves, and identify the models which look most
promising for explaining the latitudinal distribution of spots in dwarf stars.
Those models require specific features of stellar rotation laws, and so
observations of polar activity branches may constrain internal stellar
rotation. Specifically, we find it unlikely that a pronounced poleward branch
can be associated with a solar-like internal rotation profile, while it can be
more readily reproduced in the case of a cylindrical rotation law appropriate
for fast rotators. We stress the case of the subgiant component of the active
close binary HR 1099 which, being best investigated, presents the most severe
problems for a dynamo interpretation. Our best model requires dynamo action in
two layers separated in radius. Observations of polar activity branches provide
valuable information for understanding stellar activity mechanisms and internal
rotation, and thus deserve intensive observational and theoretical
investigation. Current stellar dynamo theory seems sufficiently robust to
accommodate the phenomenology.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables, accepted by Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Mean-field diffusivities in passive scalar and magnetic transport in irrotational flows
Certain aspects of the mean-field theory of turbulent passive scalar
transport and of mean-field electrodynamics are considered with particular
emphasis on aspects of compressible fluids. It is demonstrated that the total
mean-field diffusivity for passive scalar transport in a compressible flow may
well be smaller than the molecular diffusivity. This is in full analogy to an
old finding regarding the magnetic mean-field diffusivity in an electrically
conducting turbulently moving compressible fluid. These phenomena occur if the
irrotational part of the motion dominates the vortical part, the P\`eclet or
magnetic Reynolds number is not too large, and, in addition, the variation of
the flow pattern is slow. For both the passive scalar and the magnetic cases
several further analytical results on mean-field diffusivities and related
quantities found within the second-order correlation approximation are
presented, as well as numerical results obtained by the test-field method,
which applies independently of this approximation. Particular attention is paid
to non-local and non-instantaneous connections between the turbulence-caused
terms and the mean fields. Two examples of irrotational flows, in which
interesting phenomena in the above sense occur, are investigated in detail. In
particular, it is demonstrated that the decay of a mean scalar in a
compressible fluid under the influence of these flows can be much slower than
without any flow, and can be strongly influenced by the so-called memory
effect, that is, the fact that the relevant mean-field coefficients depend on
the decay rates themselves.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, published on PR
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