Related papers: Importance of magnetic helicity in dynamos
Dynamos in the Sun and other bodies tend to produce magnetic fields that possess magnetic helicity of opposite sign at large and small scales, respectively. The build-up of magnetic helicity at small scales provides an important saturation…
In turbulent dynamos the production of large-scale magnetic fields is accompanied by a separation of magnetic helicity in scale. The large- and small-scale parts increase in magnitude. The small-scale part can eventually work against the…
At large magnetic Reynolds numbers, magnetic helicity evolution plays an important role in astrophysical large-scale dynamos. The recognition of this fact led to the development of the dynamical alpha quenching formalism, which predicts…
The small-scale magnetic helicity produced as a by-product of the large-scale dynamo is believed to play a major role in dynamo saturation. In a mean-field model the generation of small-scale magnetic helicity can be modelled by using the…
Magnetic helicity fluxes in turbulently driven alpha^2 dynamos are studied to demonstrate their ability to alleviate catastrophic quenching. A one-dimensional mean-field formalism is used to achieve magnetic Reynolds numbers of the order of…
Large scale dynamos produce small scale current helicity as a waste product that quenches the large scale dynamo process (alpha effect). This quenching can be catastrophic (i.e.intensify with magnetic Reynolds number) unless one has fluxes…
A number of problems of solar and stellar dynamo theory are briefly reviewed and the current status of possible solutions is discussed. Results of direct numerical simulations are described in view of mean-field dynamo theory and the…
Magnetic helicity effects are discussed in laboratory and astrophysical settings. First, dynamo action in Taylor-Green flows is discussed for different boundary conditions. However, because of the lack of scale separation with respect to…
The standard theory of the solar cycle in terms of an alpha-Omega dynamo hinges on a proper understanding of the nonlinear alpha effect. Boundary conditions play a surprisingly important role in determining the magnitude of alpha. For…
Much work on turbulent three-dimensional dynamos has been done using triply periodic domains, in which there are no magnetic helicity fluxes. Here we present simulations where the turbulent intensity is still nearly homogeneous, but now…
It is shown that the turbulent dynamo $\alpha$-effect converts magnetic helicity from the turbulent field to the mean field when the turbulence is electromagnetic while the magnetic helicity of the mean-field is transported across space…
A new simulation set-up is proposed for studying mean field dynamo action. The model combines the computational advantages of local cartesian geometry with the ability to include a shear profile that resembles the sun's differential…
Three closely related stumbling blocks of solar mean field dynamo theory are discussed: how dominant are the small scale fields, how is the alpha effect quenched, and whether magnetic and current helicity fluxes alleviate the quenching? It…
We present the results of simulations of forced turbulence in a slab where the mean kinetic helicity has a maximum near the mid-plane, generating gradients of magnetic helicity of both large and small-scale fields. We also study systems…
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 construct a magnetic helicity conserving dynamo theory which incorporates a calculated magnetic helicity current. In this model the fluid helicity plays a small role in large scale magnetic field generation. Instead, the dynamo process…
Some common properties of helical magnetic fields in decaying and driven turbulence are discussed. These include mainly the inverse cascade that produces fields on progressively larger scales. Magnetic helicity also restricts the evolution…
In helical hydromagnetic turbulence with an imposed magnetic field (which is constant in space and time) the magnetic helicity of the field within a periodic domain is no longer an invariant of the ideal equations. Alternatively, there is a…
The role of magnetic helicity in astrophysical large-scale dynamos is reviewed and compared with cases where there is no energy supply and an initial magnetic field can only decay. In both cases magnetic energy tends to get redistributed to…
The evolution of magnetic fields is studied using simulations of forced helical turbulence with strong imposed shear. After some initial exponential growth, the magnetic field develops a large scale travelling wave pattern. The resulting…