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Fluctuation dynamos in supersonic turbulence at ${\rm Pm} \gtrsim 1$

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2026-02-18 v2

Abstract

Fluctuation dynamos provide a robust mechanism for amplifying weak seed magnetic fields in turbulent astrophysical plasmas. However, their behaviour in the highly compressible regimes characteristic of the interstellar medium remains incompletely understood. Using high-resolution 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of supersonic turbulence with rms Mach number Mrms11\mathcal{M}_{\rm rms} \approx 11, we explore fluctuation dynamos across magnetic Prandtl numbers Pm=110{\rm Pm} = 1-10. At Pm=1{\rm Pm}=1, dynamo growth is slower and saturates at lower magnetic-to-kinetic energy ratios, with amplification in the kinematic phase dominated by compression rather than line stretching. In contrast, at Pm=10{\rm Pm}=10, vortical stretching emerges as the dominant mechanism, yielding faster growth, higher saturation levels, and stronger suppression of density--magnetic field correlations by magnetic pressure. This transition is reflected in the correlation coefficient between density and magnetic field strength, which is strongly positive at Pm=1{\rm Pm}=1 but decreases significantly at higher Pm{\rm Pm}. Across all runs, the ratio of velocity-to-magnetic integral scales is 3.4\sim 3.4, in the saturated phase, independent of Pm{\rm Pm}, while the ratio of viscous to resistive dissipation scales increases with the increase in Pm{\rm Pm}. Synthetic Faraday rotation measures reveal coherence lengths of \simone-fourth to one-third of the forcing scale across the range of Pm{\rm Pm} explored. Using these coherence scales, we discuss the potential contribution of fluctuation dynamos to Faraday rotation expected from turbulent, gas-rich young disk galaxies.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.01138,
  title  = {Fluctuation dynamos in supersonic turbulence at ${\rm Pm} \gtrsim 1$},
  author = {Ameya Uday Nagdeo and Sharanya Sur and Bhargav Vaidya},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.01138},
  year   = {2026}
}

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Published in ApJ