We consider the generation of gravitational waves by primordial helical inverse cascade magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence produced by bubble collisions at the electroweak phase transition. We extend the previous study \cite{kgr08} by considering both currently discussed models of MHD turbulence. For popular electroweak phase transition parameter values, the generated gravitational wave spectrum is only weakly dependent on the MHD turbulence model. Compared to the unmagnetized electroweak phase transition case, the spectrum of MHD-turbulence-generated gravitational waves peaks at lower frequency with larger amplitude and can be detected by the proposed Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
Direct numerical simulations of turbulent Hall dynamos are presented. The evolution of an initially weak and small scale magnetic field in a system maintained in a stationary turbulent regime by a stirring force at a macroscopic scale is studied to explore the conditions for exponential growth of the magnetic energy. Scaling of the dynamo efficiency with the Reynolds numbers is studied, and the resulting total energy spectra are found to be compatible with a Kolmogorov type law. A faster growth of large scale magnetic fields is observed at intermediate intensities of the Hall effect.
We consider gravitational waves (GWs) generated by primordial inverse-cascade helical magneto-hydrodynamical (MHD) turbulence produced by bubble collisions at the electroweak phase transitions (EWPT). Compared to the unmagnetized EWPT case, the spectrum of MHD-turbulence-generated GWs peaks at lower frequency with larger amplitude and can be detected by the proposed Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA).
Goldreich-Sridhar model of incompressible turbulence provides an elegant approach to describing strong MHD turbulence. It relies on the fact that interacting Alfvenic waves are independent and have random polarization. However, in case of strong interaction a spontaneous local assymetry can arise. We used direct numerical simulations to show that polarization alignment occurs and it grows larger at smaller scales. This effect would lead to a shallower spectrum and stronger anisotropy. Even small changes in these two properties will have important astrophysical consequencies, e.g. for the cosmi…
In Paper I (Fiege & Pudritz, 1999), we constructed models of filamentary molecular clouds that are truncated by a realistic external pressure and contain a rather general helical magnetic field. We address the stability of our models to gravitational fragmentation and axisymmetric MHD-driven instabilities. By calculating the dominant modes of axisymmetric instability, we determine the dominant length scales and growth rates for fragmentation. We find that the role of pressure truncation is to decrease the growth rate of gravitational instabilities by decreasing the self-gravitating mass per un…
Kraichnan (1965) proposed that MHD turbulence occurs as a result of collisions between oppositely directed Alfvén wave packets. Recent work has generated some controversy over the nature of non linear couplings between colliding Alfvén waves. We find that the resolution to much of the confusion lies in the existence of a new type of turbulence, intermediate turbulence, in which the cascade of energy in the inertial range exhibits properties intermediate between those of weak and strong turbulent cascades. Some properties of intermediate MHD turbulence are: (i) in common with weak turbulent cas…
Extragalactic jets are inferred to harbor dynamically important, organized magnetic fields which presumably aid in the collimation of the relativistic jet flows. We here explore by means of grid-adaptive, high resolution numerical simulations the morphology of AGN jets pervaded by helical field and flow topologies. We concentrate on morphological features of the bow shock and the jet beam behind the Mach disk, for various jet Lorentz factors and magnetic field helicities. We investigate the influence of helical magnetic fields on jet beam propagation in overdense external medium. We use the AM…
In astrophysical situations, e.g. in the interstellar medium (ISM), neutrals can provide viscous damping on scales much larger than the magnetic diffusion scale. Through numerical simulations, we have found that the magnetic field can have a rich structure below the dissipation cutoff scale. This implies that magnetic fields in the ISM can have structures on scales much smaller than parsec scales. Our results show that the magnetic energy contained in a wavenumber band is independent of the wavenumber and magnetic structures are intermittent and extremely anisotropic. We discuss the relation b…
We discuss a few recent developments that are important for understanding of MHD turbulence. First, MHD turbulence is not so messy as it is usually believed. In fact, the notion of strong non-linear coupling of compressible and incompressible motions along MHD cascade is not tenable. Alfven, slow and fast modes of MHD turbulence follow their own cascades and exhibit degrees of anisotropy consistent with theoretical expectations. Second, the fast decay of turbulence is not related to the compressibility of fluid. Rates of decay of compressible and incompressible motions are very similar. Third,…
We present a phenomenological model of imbalanced MHD turbulence in an incompressible magnetofluid. The steady-state cascades, of waves traveling in opposite directions along the mean magnetic field, carry unequal energy fluxes to small length scales, where they decay due to viscous and resistive dissipation. The inertial-range scalings are well-understood when both cascades are weak. We study the case when both cascades are, in a sense, strong. The inertial-range of this imbalanced cascade has the following properties: (i) the ratio of the r.m.s. Elsasser amplitudes is independent of scale, a…
Recently it was found that helical magnetized flows efficiently amplify Alfvén waves (Rogava et al. 2003, A&A, v.399, p.421). This robust and manifold nonmodal effect was found to involve regimes of transient algebraic growth (for purely ejectional flows), and exponential instabilities of both usual and parametric nature. However the study was made in the incompressible limit and an important question remained open - whether this amplification is inherent to swirling MHD flows per se and what is the degree of its dependence on the incompressibility condition. In this paper, in order to clear u…
The feature of the spectrum of primordial magnetic field is studied by using renormalization group analysis in magnetohydrodynamics. Taking account of the renormalized resistivity at the fixed point, we show that the scaling of the typical scale with time obeys $L(t) \sim t^{2/5}$ for random initial condition.
We summarise basic properties of MHD turbulence. First, MHD turbulence is not so messy as it is believed. In fact, the notion of strong non-linear coupling of compressible and incompressible motions along MHD cascade is not tenable. Alfven, slow and fast modes of MHD turbulence follow their own cascades and exhibit degrees of anisotropy consistent with theoretical expectations. Second, the fast decay of turbulence is not related to the compressibility of fluid. Rates of decay of compressible and incompressible motions are very similar. Third, the properties of Alfven and slow modes are similar…
We present numerical studies of 3-dimensional electron magnetohydrodynamic (EMHD) turbulence. We investigate cascade timescale and anisotropy of freely decaying strong EMHD turbulence with zero electron skin depth. Cascade time scales with $k^{-4/3}$. Our numerical results clearly show scale-dependent anisotropy. We discuss that the observed anisotropy is consistent with $k_{\|} \propto k_{\perp}^{1/3}$, where $k_{\|}$ and $k_{\perp}$ are wave numbers parallel and perpendicular to (local) mean magnetic field, respectively.
A numerical model of isotropic homogeneous turbulence with helical forcing is investigated. The resulting flow, which is essentially the prototype of the alpha^2 dynamo of mean-field dynamo theory, produces strong dynamo action with an additional large scale field on the scale of the box (at wavenumber k=1; forcing is at k=5). This large scale field is nearly force-free and exceeds the equipartition value. As the magnetic Reynolds number R_m increases, the saturation field strength and the growth rate of the dynamo increase. However, the time it takes to built up the large scale field from equ…
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) of differential rotation under the simultaneous presence of axial and azimuthal components of the (current-free) magnetic field is considered. For rotation with uniform specific angular momentum the MHD equations for axisymmetric perturbations are solved in a local short-wave approximation. All the solutions are overstable for B_z \cdot B_ϕ\neq 0 with eigenfrequencies approaching the viscous frequency. For more flat rotation laws the results of the local approximation do not comply with the results of a global calculation of the MHD instability of Taylor…
We have carried out numerical simulations of freely decaying magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in three dimensions, which can be applied to the evolution of stochastic magnetic fields in the early Universe. For helical magnetic fields an inverse cascade effect is observed in which magnetic helicity and energy is transfered from smaller scales to larger scales, accompanied by power law growth in the characteristic length scale of the magnetic field. The magnetic field quickly reaches a scaling regime with self-similar evolution, and power law behaviour at high wavenumbers. We also find power…
Recent advances in understanding of the basic properties of compressible Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence call for revisions of some of the generally accepted concepts. First, MHD turbulence is not so messy as it is usually believed. In fact, the notion of strong non-linear coupling of compressible and incompressible motions is not tenable. Alfven, slow and fast modes of MHD turbulence follow their own cascades and exhibit degrees of anisotropy consistent with theoretical expectations. Second, the fast decay of turbulence is not related to the compressibility of fluid. Rates of decay of co…
This paper proposes a new phenomenology for strong incompressible MHD turbulence with nonzero cross helicity. This phenomenology is then developed into a quantitative Fokker-Planck model that describes the time evolution of the anisotropic power spectra of the fluctuations propagating parallel and anti-parallel to the background magnetic field. It is found that in steady state the power spectra of the magnetic field and total energy are steeper than a Kolmogorov spectrum and become increasingly steep as C/E increases, where C is the cross helicity and E is the fluctuation energy. Increasing C …
We perform direct numerical simulations of three-dimensional freely decaying magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. For helical magnetic fields an inverse cascade effect is observed in which power is transfered from smaller scales to larger scales. The magnetic field reaches a scaling regime with self-similar evolution, and power law behavior at high wavenumbers. We also find power law decay in the magnetic and kinematic energies, and power law growth in the characteristic length scale of the magnetic field.
In this Letter, weak turbulence theory is used to investigate interactions among Alfven waves and fast and slow magnetosonic waves in collisionless low-beta plasmas. The wave kinetic equations are derived from the equations of magnetohydrodynamics, and extra terms are then added to model collisionless damping. These equations are used to provide a quantitative description of a variety of nonlinear processes, including "parallel" and "perpendicular" energy cascade, energy transfer between wave types, "phase mixing," and the generation of back-scattered Alfven waves.
We show in this article direct evidence for the presence of an inertial energy cascade, the most characteristic signature of hydromagnetic turbulence (MHD), in the solar wind as observed by the Ulysses spacecraft. After a brief rederivation of the equivalent of Yaglom's law for MHD turbulence, we show that a linear relation is indeed observed for the scaling of mixed third order structure functions involving Elsässer variables. This experimental result, confirming the prescription stemming from a theorem for MHD turbulence, firmly establishes the turbulent character of low-frequency velocity a…
The shell-to-shell energy transfer rates for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence are computed analytically, which shows local energy transfer rates from velocity to velocity, velocity to magnetic, magnetic to velocity, and magnetic to magnetic fields for nonhelical MHD in the inertial range. It is also found that for kinetic-energy dominated MHD fluid, there is a preferential shell-to-shell energy transfer from kinetic to magnetic energy; the transfer is reversed for magnetic-energy dominated MHD fluid. This property is the reason for the asymptotic value of Alfven ratio to be close to 0.5. T…
Turbulence is the most common state of astrophysical flows. In typical astrophysical fluids, turbulence is accompanied by strong magnetic fields, which has a large impact on the dynamics of the turbulent cascade. Recently, there has been a significant breakthrough on the theory of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. For the first time we have a scaling model that is supported by both observations and numerical simulations. We review recent progress in studies of both incompressible and compressible turbulence. We compare Iroshnikov-Kraichnan and Goldreich-Sridhar models, and discuss scalings…
We study semi-analytically and in a consistent manner, the generation of a mean velocity field $\bar{\mathbf{U}}$ by helical MHD turbulence, and the effect that this field can have on a Mean Field Dynamo. Assuming a prescribed, maximally helical small scale velocity field, we show that large scale flows can be generated in MHD turbulent flows, via small scale Lorentz force. These flows back-react on the mean electromotive force of a Mean Field Dynamo through new terms, leaving the original $α$ and $β$ terms explicitly unmodified. Cross-helicity plays the key role in interconnecting all the eff…
We investigate hydromagnetic turbulence of primordial magnetic fields using magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) in an expanding universe. We present the basic, covariant MHD equations, find solutions for MHD waves in the early universe, and investigate the equations numerically for random magnetic fields in two spatial dimensions. We find the formation of magnetic structures at larger and larger scales as time goes on. In three dimensions we use a cascade (shell) model, that has been rather successful in the study of certain aspects of hydrodynamic turbulence. Using such a model we find that after ${\c…
We study the evolution of growth and decay laws for the magnetic field coherence length xi, energy E_M and magnetic helicity H in freely decaying 3D MHD turbulence. We show that with certain assumptions, self-similarity of the magnetic power spectrum alone implies that xi~t^{1/2}. This in turn implies that magnetic helicity decays as H~t^{-2s}, where s=(xi_{diff}/xi_H)^2, in terms of xi_{diff}, the diffusion length scale, and xi_H, a length scale defined from the helicity power spectrum. The relative magnetic helicity remains constant, implying that the magnetic energy decays as E_M~t^{-1/2-2s…
In this paper we construct a self-consistent renormalization group procedure for MHD turbulence in which small wavenumber modes are averaged out, and effective mean magnetic field at large wavenumbers is obtained. In this scheme the mean magnetic field scales as $k^{-1/3}$, while the energy spectrum scales as $k^{-5/3}$ similar to that in fluid turbulence. We also deduce from the formalism that the magnitude of cascade rate decreases as the strength of the mean magnetic field is increased.
