Related papers: Turbulent Cascades and the alpha Dynamo
The mechanism of large-scale dynamos in rigidly rotating stratified convection is explored by direct numerical simulations (DNS) in Cartesian geometry. A mean-field dynamo model is also constructed using turbulent velocity profiles…
The emergence of large-scale magnetic fields observed in the diffuse interstellar medium is explained by a turbulent dynamo. The underlying transport coefficients have previously been extracted from numerical simulations. So far, this was…
The generation of large-scale magnetic fields is generically accompanied by the more rapid growth of small-scale fields. The growing Lorentz force due to these fields back reacts on the turbulence to saturate the mean-field and small-scale…
The formation and evolution of a wide class of astrophysical objects is governed by turbulent, magnetized accretion disks. Understanding their secular dynamics is of primary importance. Apart from enabling mass accretion via the transport…
Some recent results and open issues in magnetic dynamo theory are addressed. The distinction between small-scale and mean-field dynamo (MFD) action in forced turbulent flows is emphasized. Though useful, the MFD has been controversial. This…
The emergence of a large scale magnetic field from randomly forced isotropic strongly helical flows is discussed in terms of the inverse cascade of magnetic helicity and the alpha-effect. In simulations of such flows the maximum field…
We present a self-consistent mean field theory of the dynamo in 3D and turbulent diffusion in 2D in weakly ionized gas. We find that in 3D, the backreaction does not alter the beta effect while it suppresses the alpha effect when the…
We use the mean-field dynamo equations to show that an incoherent alpha effect in mirror-symmetric turbulence in a shearing flow can generate a large scale, coherent magnetic field. We illustrate this effect with simulations of a few simple…
This article reproduces the Karl Schwarzschild lecture 2013. Some of the basic ideas of electrodynamics and magnetohydrodynamics of mean fields in turbulently moving conducting fluids are explained. It is stressed that the connection of the…
A concise review of observations of the $\alpha$ dynamo effect in laboratory plasmas is given. Unlike many astrophysical systems, the laboratory pinch plasmas are driven magnetically. When the system is overdriven, the resultant…
Using simulations of slowly rotating stratified turbulence, we show that the alpha effect responsible for the generation of astrophysical magnetic fields is proportional to the logarithmic gradient of kinetic energy density rather than that…
Context: Most solar and stellar dynamo models use the alpha-Omega scenario where the magnetic field is generated by the interplay between differential rotation (the Omega effect) and a mean electromotive force due to helical turbulent…
Numerical simulations of forced turbulence in elongated shearing boxes are carried out to demonstrate that a nonhelical turbulence in conjunction with a linear shear can give rise to a mean-field dynamo. Exponential growth of magnetic field…
Using a periodic box calculation it is shown that, owing to helicity conservation, a large scale field can only develop on a resistive timescale. This behaviour can be reproduced by a mean-field dynamo with alpha and eta_t quenchings that…
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…
In the mean-field theory of magnetic fields, turbulent transport, i.e. the turbulent electromotive force, is described by a combination of the alpha effect and turbulent magnetic diffusion, which are usually assumed to be proportional…
We show that an alpha effect is driven by the cosmic ray Bell instability exciting left-right asymmetric turbulence. Alfven waves of a preferred polarization have maximally helical motion, because the transverse motion of each mode is…
Mean-field dynamo theory, describing the evolution of large-scale magnetic fields, has been the mainstay of theoretical interpretation of magnetism in astrophysical objects such as the Sun for several decades. More recently,…
A joint effect of the density-stratified turbulence (or inhomogeneous turbulence) and a large-scale shear for arbitrary Mach numbers results in the $\alpha$ effect and mean-field dynamo action. These effects also produce the effective…
In an experiment in the Institute of Continuous Media Mechanics in Perm (Russia) an non--stationary screw dynamo is intended to be realized with a helical flow of liquid sodium in a torus. The flow is necessarily turbulent, that is, may be…