Related papers: Why dynamos are prone to reversals
Astrophysical objects with negligible resistivity are often threaded by large scale magnetic fields. The generation of these fields is somewhat mysterious, since a magnetic field in a perfectly conducting fluid cannot change the flux…
The theory of large scale dynamos is reviewed with particular emphasis on the magnetic helicity constraint in the presence of closed and open boundaries. In the presence of closed or periodic boundaries, helical dynamos respond to the…
We study activity waves of the kind that determine cyclic magnetic activity of various stars, including the Sun, as a more general physical rather than a purely astronomical problem. We try to identify resonances which are expected to occur…
An update is given on the current status of solar and stellar dynamos. At present, it is still unclear why stellar cycle frequencies increase with rotation frequency in such a way that their ratio increases with stellar activity. The…
We supplement the mean field dynamo growth equation with the total magnetic helicity evolution equation. This provides an explicitly time dependent model for alpha quenching in dynamo theory. For dynamos without shear, this approach…
Long-term variations of solar activity, including the Grand minima, are believed to result from temporal variations of dynamo parameters. The simplest approximation of dynamo waves is applied to show that cyclic variations of the parameters…
We develop a model based on 3D mean-field MHD for the generation of large scale magnetic fields in fully convective objects like low-mass stars, brown dwarfs and possibly gaseous planets. The dynamo process is of alpha^2 type and thus…
The paper deals with a simple spherical mean-field dynamo model of $\alpha^2$-type in the case of high electrical conductivity. A spherically symmetric distribution of turbulent motions is assumed inside a spherical fluid body surrounded by…
We discuss a solar dynamo model of Tayler-Spruit type whose Omega-effect is conventionally produced by a solar-like differential rotation but whose alpha-effect is assumed to be periodically modulated by planetary tidal forcing. This…
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…
Until recently, the existence of oscillatory mean-field dynamos of the alpha^2-type with spherically symmetric and isotropic alpha was an open question. We find such dynamos by means of an evolutionary strategy, and we illustrate the…
The dynamo effect is the most popular candidate to explain the non-primordial magnetic fields of astrophysical objects. Although many systematic studies of parameters have already been made to determine the different dynamical regimes…
Using the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) description, we develop a nonlinear dynamo model that couples the evolution of the large scale magnetic field with turbulent dynamics of the plasma at small scale by electromotive force (e.m.f.) in the…
Convection driven geodynamo models in rotating spherical geometry have regimes in which reversals occur. However, reversing dynamo models are usually found in regimes where the kinetic and magnetic energy is comparable, so that inertia is…
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…
We study the evolution of galactic magnetic fields using 3D smoothed particle magnetohydrodynamics (SPMHD) simulations of galaxies with an imposed spiral potential. We consider the appearance of reversals of the field, and amplification of…
In recent years, several optimal dynamos have been discovered. They minimize the magnetic energy dissipation or, equivalently, maximize the growth rate at a fixed magnetic Reynolds number. In the optimal dynamo of Willis (2012, Phys. Rev.…
We discuss the applicability of the kinematic $\alpha$-effect formalism at high magnetic Reynolds numbers. In this regime the underlying flow is likely to be a small-scale dynamo, leading to the exponential growth of fluctuations.…
Helicity and \alpha effect driven by the nonaxisymmetric Tayler instability of toroidal magnetic fields in stellar radiation zones are computed. In the linear approximation a purely toroidal field always excites pairs of modes with…
We present a new scenario for magnetic field amplification where an electrically conducting fluid is confined in a differentially rotating, spherical shell with thin aspect-ratio. When the angular momentum sufficiently decreases outwards,…