scholarly journals Turbulent transport coefficients in galactic dynamo simulations using singular value decomposition

2019 ◽  
Vol 491 (3) ◽  
pp. 3870-3883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhijit B Bendre ◽  
Kandaswamy Subramanian ◽  
Detlef Elstner ◽  
Oliver Gressel

ABSTRACT Coherent magnetic fields in disc galaxies are thought to be generated by a large-scale (or mean-field) dynamo operating in their interstellar medium. A key driver of mean magnetic field growth is the turbulent electromotive force (EMF), which represents the influence of correlated small-scale (or fluctuating) velocity and magnetic fields on the mean field. The EMF is usually expressed as a linear expansion in the mean magnetic field and its derivatives, with the dynamo tensors as expansion coefficients. Here, we adopt the singular value decomposition (SVD) method to directly measure these turbulent transport coefficients in a simulation of the turbulent interstellar medium that realizes a large-scale dynamo. Specifically, the SVD is used to least-square fit the time series data of the EMF with that of the mean field and its derivatives, to determine these coefficients. We demonstrate that the spatial profiles of the EMF reconstructed from the SVD coefficients match well with that taken directly from the simulation. Also, as a direct test, we use the coefficients to simulate a 1D mean-field dynamo model and find an overall similarity in the evolution of the mean magnetic field between the dynamo model and the direct simulation. We also compare the results with those which arise using simple regression and the ones obtained previously using the test-field method, to find reasonable qualitative agreement. Overall, the SVD method provides an effective post-processing tool to determine turbulent transport coefficients from simulations.

2020 ◽  
Vol 494 (4) ◽  
pp. 4854-4866 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prasun Dhang ◽  
Abhijit Bendre ◽  
Prateek Sharma ◽  
Kandaswamy Subramanian

ABSTRACT We explore the magneto-rotational instability (MRI)-driven dynamo in a radiatively inefficient accretion flow (RIAF) using the mean field dynamo paradigm. Using singular value decomposition (SVD) we obtain the least-squares fitting dynamo coefficients α and γ by comparing the time series of the turbulent electromotive force and the mean magnetic field. Our study is the first one to show the poloidal distribution of these dynamo coefficients in global accretion flow simulations. Surprisingly, we obtain a high value of the turbulent pumping coefficient γ, which transports the mean magnetic flux radially outwards. This would have implications for the launching of magnetized jets that are produced efficiently in presence a large-scale poloidal magnetic field close to the compact object. We present a scenario of a truncated disc beyond the RIAF where a large-scale dynamo-generated poloidal magnetic field can aid jet launching close to the black hole. Magnitude of all the calculated coefficients decreases with radius. Meridional variations of αϕϕ, responsible for toroidal to poloidal field conversion, is very similar to that found in shearing box simulations using the ‘test field’ (TF) method. By estimating the relative importance of α-effect and shear, we conclude that the MRI-driven large-scale dynamo, which operates at high latitudes beyond a disc scale height, is essentially of the α − Ω type.


2013 ◽  
Vol 723 ◽  
pp. 529-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Favier ◽  
P. J. Bushby

AbstractMean-field dynamo theory suggests that turbulent convection in a rotating layer of electrically conducting fluid produces a significant $\alpha $-effect, which is one of the key ingredients in any mean-field dynamo model. Provided that this $\alpha $-effect operates more efficiently than (turbulent) magnetic diffusion, such a system should be capable of sustaining a large-scale dynamo. However, in the Boussinesq model that was considered by Cattaneo & Hughes (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 553, 2006, pp. 401–418) the dynamo produced small-scale, intermittent magnetic fields with no significant large-scale component. In this paper, we consider the compressible analogue of the rotating convective layer that was considered by Cattaneo & Hughes (2006). Varying the horizontal scale of the computational domain, we investigate the dependence of the dynamo upon the rotation rate. Our simulations indicate that these turbulent compressible flows can drive a small-scale dynamo but, even when the layer is rotating very rapidly (with a mid-layer Taylor number of $Ta= 1{0}^{8} $), we find no evidence for the generation of a significant large-scale component of the magnetic field on a dynamical time scale. Like Cattaneo & Hughes (2006), we measure a negligible (time-averaged) $\alpha $-effect when a uniform horizontal magnetic field is imposed across the computational domain. Although the total horizontal magnetic flux is a conserved quantity in these simulations, the (depth-dependent) horizontally averaged magnetic field always exhibits strong fluctuations. If these fluctuations are artificially suppressed within the code, we measure a significant mean electromotive force that is comparable to that found in related calculations in which the $\alpha $-effect is measured using the test-field method, even though we observe no large-scale dynamo action.


1990 ◽  
Vol 140 ◽  
pp. 113-114
Author(s):  
G. Rüdiger

Besides the mean flow the alpha is the other input quantity for any mean-field dynamo model. It describes the generation of turbulent electromotive force <u × B> from a large-scale field <B> for a given turbulence. The necessary helicity of the turbulence results from the joint action of Coriolis force and density stratification. The standard estimate of 1 km/s for alpha in galaxies is a surely well-established approximation. One of the essentials, however, remains open. Due to the extremely anisotropic structure of disks the tensorial character of alpha can no longer be ignored. In stellar applications anisotropy in the α-tensor leads to a preferred excitation of non-axisymmetric magnetic fields. That is true for α2 -dynamos if the alpha parallel to the rotation axis, α||, is much smaller than that in the equatorial plane, α⊥. The idea is that also for disk-like configurations a similar behaviour makes the existence of the observed large-scale non-axisymmetric magnetic BSS modes understandable within the frame of the mean-field dynamo theory.


2020 ◽  
Vol 493 (1) ◽  
pp. 1249-1260
Author(s):  
G Rüdiger ◽  
M Schultz

ABSTRACT A conducting Taylor–Couette flow with quasi-Keplerian rotation law containing a toroidal magnetic field serves as a mean-field dynamo model of the Tayler–Spruit type. The flows are unstable against non-axisymmetric perturbations which form electromotive forces defining α effect and eddy diffusivity. If both degenerated modes with m = ±1 are excited with the same power then the global α effect vanishes and a dynamo cannot work. It is shown, however, that the Tayler instability produces finite α effects if only an isolated mode is considered but this intrinsic helicity of the single-mode is too low for an α2 dynamo. Moreover, an αΩ dynamo model with quasi-Keplerian rotation requires a minimum magnetic Reynolds number of rotation of Rm ≃ 2000 to work. Whether it really works depends on assumptions about the turbulence energy. For a steeper-than-quadratic dependence of the turbulence intensity on the magnetic field, however, dynamos are only excited if the resulting magnetic eddy diffusivity approximates its microscopic value, ηT ≃ η. By basically lower or larger eddy diffusivities the dynamo instability is suppressed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinne Simard ◽  
Paul Charbonneau

We present a non-kinematic axisymetric α2Ω mean-field dynamo model in which the complete α-tensor and mean differential rotation profile are both extracted from a global magnetohydrodynamical simulation of solar convection producing cycling large-scale magnetic fields. The nonlinear backreaction of the Lorentz force on differential rotation is the only amplitude-limiting mechanism introduced in the mean-field model. We compare and contrast the amplitude modulation patterns characterizing this mean-field dynamo, to those already well-studied in the context of non-kinematic αΩ models using a scalar α-effect. As in the latter, we find that large quasi-periodic modulation of the primary cycle are produced at low magnetic Prandtl number (Pm), with the ratio of modulation period to the primary cycle period scaling inversely with Pm. The variations of differential rotation remain well within the bounds set by observed solar torsional oscillations. In this low-Pm regime, moderately supercritical solutions can also exhibit aperiodic Maunder Minimum-like periods of strongly reduced cycle amplitude. The inter-event waiting time distribution is approximately exponential, in agreement with solar activity reconstructions based on cosmogenic radioisotopes. Secular variations in low-latitude surface differential rotation during Grand Minima, as compared to epochs of normal cyclic behavior, are commensurate in amplitude with historical inferences based on sunspot drawings. Our modeling results suggest that the low levels of observed variations in the solar differential rotation in the course of the activity cycle may nonetheless contribute to, or perhaps even dominate, the regulation of the magnetic cycle amplitude.


2020 ◽  
Vol 496 (4) ◽  
pp. 4749-4759
Author(s):  
Axel Brandenburg ◽  
Ray S Furuya

ABSTRACT We study the prospects of detecting magnetic helicity in galaxies by observing the dust polarization of the edge-on galaxy NGC 891. Our numerical results of mean-field dynamo calculations show that there should be a large-scale component of the rotationally invariant parity-odd B polarization that we predict to be negative in the first and third quadrants, and positive in the second and fourth quadrants. The large-scale parity-even E polarization is predicted to be negative near the axis and positive further away in the outskirts. These properties are shown to be mostly a consequence of the magnetic field being azimuthal and the polarized intensity being maximum at the centre of the galaxy and are not a signature of magnetic helicity.


1991 ◽  
Vol 130 ◽  
pp. 135-139
Author(s):  
D.D. Sokoloff ◽  
A. Shukurov ◽  
A.A. Ruzmaikin

AbstractWe discuss the methods and results of analysis of nonlinear mean-field dynamo models based on α-quenching in two asymptotic regimes, namely for weakly and highly supercritical excitation. In the former case the spatial distribution of the steady-state magnetic field is close to that given by the neutrally stable eigenfunction of the corresponding kinematic dynamo. In the latter case the magnetic field distribution within the main part of the dynamo volume is presumably determined by the balance between the Lorentz and Coriolis forces while near the boundaries boundary layers arise in which the field adjusts itself to the boundary conditions. The asymptotic behaviour of the highly supercritical αω-dynamos is sensitive to the particular form of dependence of the mean helicity on magnetic field while α2-dynamos are less sensitive to this dependence.


1991 ◽  
Vol 130 ◽  
pp. 112-116
Author(s):  
David Moss

AbstractRecent observations seem to have detected large scale nonaxisymmetric structures on active giant stars. These structures are plausibly associated with underlying, dynamo generated, nonaxisymmetric magnetic fields. Such developments have motivated the development of a computer code to solve the nonlinear mean field dynamo equation in spherical geometry with no imposed geometrical symmetries. The nonlinearity is a simple α-quenching. The nature of the stable solutions found depends quite sensitively on the assumed spatial distribution of both α-eflect and differential rotation, and also on the degree of supercriticality of the dynamo. Such a dynamo model with stable, purely nonaxisymmetric solutions is described in this paper.


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