Numerical study of dynamo action at low magnetic Prandtl numbers

We present a three--pronged numerical approach to the dynamo problem at low magnetic Prandtl numbers $P_M$. The difficulty of resolving a large range of scales is circumvented by combining Direct Numerical Simulations, a Lagrangian-averaged model, and Large-Eddy Simulations (LES). The flow is generated by the Taylor-Green forcing; it combines a well defined structure at large scales and turbulent fluctuations at small scales. Our main findings are: (i) dynamos are observed from $P_M=1$ down to $P_M=10^{-2}$; (ii) the critical magnetic Reynolds number increases sharply with $P_M^{-1}$ as turbulence sets in and then saturates; (iii) in the linear growth phase, the most unstable magnetic modes move to small scales as $P_M$ is decreased and a Kazantsev $k^{3/2}$ spectrum develops; then the dynamo grows at large scales and modifies the turbulent velocity fluctuations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Dissipative structures in a nonlinear dynamo

This paper gives new results concerning magnetic field generation leading to a steady equilibrated state, the so-called Archontis dynamo. A combination of numerical work, analysis of PDEs and functional analysis is used to derive information on scaling laws for dissipative structures in the dynamo.This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Geophysical and Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, Volume 105, Issue 6, 2011, available online on 2 Dec 2010: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03091929.2010.513332.Author's accepted manuscriptThis paper considers magnetic field generation by a fluid flow in a system referred to as the Archontis dynamo: a steady nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) state is driven by a prescribed body force. The field and flow become almost equal and dissipation is concentrated in cigar-like structures centred on straight-line separatrices. Numerical scaling laws for energy and dissipation are given that extend previous calculations to smaller diffusivities. The symmetries of the dynamo are set out, together with their implications for the structure of field and flow along the separatrices. The scaling of the cigar-like dissipative regions, as the square root of the diffusivities, is explained by approximations near the separatrices. Rigorous results on the existence and smoothness of solutions to the steady, forced MHD equations are given.Royal SocietyCNRSLeverhulme TrustAgence Nationale de la Recherche, FranceRussian foundation for basic researc

Kinematic dynamo action in large magnetic Reynolds number flows driven by shear and convection

Copyright © 2001 Cambridge University Press. Published version reproduced with the permission of the publisher.A numerical investigation is presented of kinematic dynamo action in a dynamically driven fluid flow. The model isolates basic dynamo processes relevant to field generation in the Solar tachocline. The horizontal plane layer geometry adopted is chosen as the local representation of a differentially rotating spherical fluid shell at co-latitude ϑ; the unit vectors x^, y^ and z^ point east, north and vertically upwards respectively. Relative to axes moving easterly with the local bulk motion of the fluid the rotation vector Ω lies in the (y,z)-plane inclined at an angle ϑ to the z-axis, while the base of the layer moves with constant velocity in the x-direction. An Ekman layer is formed on the lower boundary characterized by a strong localized spiralling shear flow. This basic state is destabilized by a convective instability through uniform heating at the base of the layer, or by a purely hydrodynamic instability of the Ekman layer shear flow. The onset of instability is characterized by a horizontal wave vector inclined at some angle ε to the x-axis. Such motion is two-dimensional, dependent only on two spatial coordinates together with time. It is supposed that this two-dimensionality persists into the various fully nonlinear regimes in which we study large magnetic Reynolds number kinematic dynamo action. When the Ekman layer flow is destabilized hydrodynamically, the fluid flow that results is steady in an appropriately chosen moving frame, and takes the form of a row of cat's eyes. Kinematic magnetic field growth is characterized by modes of two types. One is akin to the Ponomarenko dynamo mechanism and located close to some closed stream surface; the other appears to be associated with stagnation points and heteroclinic separatrices. When the Ekman layer flow is destabilized thermally, the well-developed convective instability far from onset is characterized by a flow that is intrinsically time-dependent in the sense that it is unsteady in any moving frame. The magnetic field is concentrated in magnetic sheets situated around the convective cells in regions where chaotic particle paths are likely to exist; evidence for fast dynamo action is obtained. The presence of the Ekman layer close to the bottom boundary breaks the up-down symmetry of the layer and localizes the magnetic field near the lower boundary

The onset of thermal convection in Ekman–Couette shear flow with oblique rotation

Copyright © 2003 Cambridge University Press. Published version reproduced with the permission of the publisher.The onset of convection of a Boussinesq fluid in a horizontal plane layer is studied. The system rotates with constant angular velocity Ω, which is inclined at an angle ϑ to the vertical. The layer is sheared by keeping the upper boundary fixed, while the lower boundary moves parallel to itself with constant velocity U0 normal to the plane containing the rotation vector and gravity g (i.e. U0 || g × Ω). The system is characterized by five dimensionless parameters: the Rayleigh number Ra, the Taylor number τ2, the Reynolds number Re (based on U0), the Prandtl number Pr and the angle ϑ. The basic equilibrium state consists of a linear temperature profile and an Ekman–Couette flow, both dependent only on the vertical coordinate z. Our linear stability study involves determining the critical Rayleigh number Rac as a function of τ and Re for representative values of ϑ and Pr. Our main results relate to the case of large Reynolds number, for which there is the possibility of hydrodynamic instability. When the rotation is vertical ϑ = 0 and τ >> 1, so-called type I and type II Ekman layer instabilities are possible. With the inclusion of buoyancy Ra ≠ 0 mode competition occurs. On increasing τ from zero, with fixed large Re, we identify four types of mode: a convective mode stabilized by the strong shear for moderate τ, hydrodynamic type I and II modes either assisted (Ra > 0) or suppressed (Ra < 0) by buoyancy forces at numerically large τ, and a convective mode for very large τ that is largely uninfluenced by the thin Ekman shear layer, except in that it provides a selection mechanism for roll orientation which would otherwise be arbitrary. Significantly, in the case of oblique rotation ϑ _= 0, the symmetry associated with U0 ↔ −U0 for the vertical rotation is broken and so the cases of positive and negative Re exhibit distinct stability characteristics, which we consider separately. Detailed numerical results were obtained for the representative case ϑ = π/4. Though the overall features of the stability results are broadly similar to the case of vertical rotation , their detailed structure possesses a surprising variety of subtle differences

Depletion of Nonlinearity in Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence: Insights from Analysis and Simulations

We build on recent developments in the study of fluid turbulence [Gibbon \textit{et al.} Nonlinearity 27, 2605 (2014)] to define suitably scaled, order-$m$ moments, $D_m^{\pm}$, of $\omega^\pm= \omega \pm j$, where $\omega$ and $j$ are, respectively, the vorticity and current density in three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). We show by mathematical analysis, for unit magnetic Prandtl number $P_M$, how these moments can be used to identify three possible regimes for solutions of the MHD equations; these regimes are specified by inequalities for $D_m^{\pm}$ and $D_1^{\pm}$. We then compare our mathematical results with those from our direct numerical simulations (DNSs) and thus demonstrate that 3D MHD turbulence is like its fluid-turbulence counterpart insofar as all solutions, which we have investigated, remain in \textit{only one of these regimes}; this regime has depleted nonlinearity. We examine the implications of our results for the exponents $q^{\pm}$ that characterize the power-law dependences of the energy spectra $\mathcal{E}^{\pm}(k)$ on the wave number $k$, in the inertial range of scales. We also comment on (a) the generalization of our results to the case $P_M \neq 1$ and (b) the relation between $D_m^{\pm}$ and the order-$m$ moments of gradients of hydrodynamic fields, which are used in characterizing intermittency in turbulent flows.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

DIAL: a web server for the pairwise alignment of two RNA three-dimensional structures using nucleotide, dihedral angle and base-pairing similarities

DIAL (dihedral alignment) is a web server that provides public access to a new dynamic programming algorithm for pairwise 3D structural alignment of RNA. DIAL achieves quadratic time by performing an alignment that accounts for (i) pseudo-dihedral and/or dihedral angle similarity, (ii) nucleotide sequence similarity and (iii) nucleotide base-pairing similarity

Dynamo action at low magnetic Prandtl numbers: mean flow vs. fully turbulent motion

We compute numerically the threshold for dynamo action in Taylor-Green swirling flows. Kinematic calculations, for which the flow field is fixed to its time averaged profile, are compared to dynamical runs for which both the Navier-Stokes and the induction equations are jointly solved. The kinematic instability is found to have two branches, for all explored Reynolds numbers. The dynamical dynamo threshold follows these branches: at low Reynolds number it lies within the low branch while at high kinetic Reynolds number it is close to the high branch.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure