Magnetic helicity fluxes in dynamos from rotating inhomogeneous turbulence

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Brandenburg, Axel, Vishniac, Ethan T.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Brandenburg, Axel
Vishniac, Ethan T.
author_facet Brandenburg, Axel
Vishniac, Ethan T.
contents We analyze direct numerical simulations of large-scale dynamos in inhomogeneous nonhelically driven rotating turbulence with and without shear. The forcing is modulated so that the turbulent intensity peaks in the middle of the computational domain and drops to nearly zero at the two ends above and below the midplane. A large-scale dynamo is driven by an $α$ effect of opposite signs in the two hemispheres. In the presence of shear, the hemispheric magnetic helicity flux from small-scale fields becomes important and can even overcompensate for the magnetic helicity transferred by the $α$ effect between large and small scales. This effect has not previously been observed in nonshearing simulations. Our numerical simulations show that the hemispheric magnetic helicity fluxes are nearly independent of the magnetic Reynolds number, but those between large and small scales, and the consequent dynamo effect, are still found to decrease with increasing Reynolds number -- just like in nonshearing dynamos. However, in contrast to nonshearing dynamos, where the generated mean magnetic field declines with increasing magnetic Reynolds number, it is now found to remain independent of it. This suggests that catastrophic dynamo quenching is alleviated by the shear-induced hemispheric small-scale magnetic helicity fluxes that can even overcompensate the fluxes between large and small scales and thereby cause resistive contributions.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_17402
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Magnetic helicity fluxes in dynamos from rotating inhomogeneous turbulence
Brandenburg, Axel
Vishniac, Ethan T.
Plasma Physics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Fluid Dynamics
We analyze direct numerical simulations of large-scale dynamos in inhomogeneous nonhelically driven rotating turbulence with and without shear. The forcing is modulated so that the turbulent intensity peaks in the middle of the computational domain and drops to nearly zero at the two ends above and below the midplane. A large-scale dynamo is driven by an $α$ effect of opposite signs in the two hemispheres. In the presence of shear, the hemispheric magnetic helicity flux from small-scale fields becomes important and can even overcompensate for the magnetic helicity transferred by the $α$ effect between large and small scales. This effect has not previously been observed in nonshearing simulations. Our numerical simulations show that the hemispheric magnetic helicity fluxes are nearly independent of the magnetic Reynolds number, but those between large and small scales, and the consequent dynamo effect, are still found to decrease with increasing Reynolds number -- just like in nonshearing dynamos. However, in contrast to nonshearing dynamos, where the generated mean magnetic field declines with increasing magnetic Reynolds number, it is now found to remain independent of it. This suggests that catastrophic dynamo quenching is alleviated by the shear-induced hemispheric small-scale magnetic helicity fluxes that can even overcompensate the fluxes between large and small scales and thereby cause resistive contributions.
title Magnetic helicity fluxes in dynamos from rotating inhomogeneous turbulence
topic Plasma Physics
Astrophysics of Galaxies
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Fluid Dynamics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.17402