We present the first study on the amplification of magnetic fields by the turbulent dynamo in the highly subsonic regime, with Mach numbers ranging from 10−3 to 0.4. We find that for the lower Mach numbers the saturation efficiency of the dynamo, (Emag/Ekin)sat, increases as the Mach number decreases. Even in the case when injection of energy is purely through longitudinal forcing modes, (Emag/Ekin)sat≳10−2 at a Mach number of 10−3. We apply our results to magnetic field amplification in the early Universe and predict that a turbulent dynamo can amplify primordial magnetic fields to ≳10−16 Gauss on scales up to 0.1 pc and ≳10−13 Gauss on scales up to 100 pc. This produces fields compatible with lower limits of the intergalactic magnetic field inferred from blazar γ-ray observations.
@article{arxiv.2101.08256,
title = {Efficient highly-subsonic turbulent dynamo and growth of primordial magnetic fields},
author = {Radhika Achikanath Chirakkara and Christoph Federrath and Pranjal Trivedi and Robi Banerjee},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2101.08256},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
9 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters