Simulations of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in a homogeneous shearing box have shown that the asymptotic strength of the magnetic field declines steeply with increasing resolution. Here I model the MRI driven dynamo as a large scale dynamo driven by the vertical magnetic helicity flux. This growth is balanced by large scale mixing driven by a secondary instability. The saturated magnetic energy density depends almost linearly on the vertical height of the typical eddies. The MRI can drive eddies with arbitrarily large vertical wavenumber, so the eddy thickness is either set by diffusive effects, by the magnetic tension of a large scale vertical field component, or by magnetic buoyancy effects. In homogeneous, zero magnetic flux, simulations only the first effect applies and the saturated limit of the dynamo is determined by explicit or numerical diffusion. The exact result depends on the numerical details, but is consistent with previous work, including the claim that the saturated field energy scales as the gas pressure to the one quarter power (which we interpret as an artifact of numerical dissipation). The magnetic energy density in a homogeneous shearing box will tend to zero as the resolution of the simulation increases, but this has no consequences for the dynamo or for angular momentum transport in real accretion disks. The claim that the saturated state depends on the magnetic Prandtl number may also be an artifact of simulations in which microphysical transport coefficients set the MRI eddy thickness. Finally, the efficiency of the MRI dynamo is a function of the ratio of the Alfvén velocity to the product of the pressure scale height and the local shear. As this approaches unity from below the dynamo reaches maximum efficiency.
The saturation mechanism of Magneto-Rotational Instability (MRI) is examined through analytical quasilinear theory and through nonlinear computation of a single mode in a rotating disk. We find that large-scale magnetic field is generated through the alpha effect (the correlated product of velocity and magnetic field fluctuations) and causes the MRI mode to saturate. If the large-scale plasma flow is allowed to evolve, the mode can also saturate through its flow relaxation. In astrophysical plasmas, for which the flow cannot relax because of gravitational constraints, the mode saturates throug…
The magnetorotational instability (MRI), also known as the Balbus -- Hawley instability, is thought to have an important role on the initiation of turbulence and angular momentum transport in accretion discs. In this work, we investigate the effect of the magnetic field gradient in the azimuthal direction on MRI. We solve the magnetohydrodynamic equations by including the azimuthal component of the field gradient. We find the dispersion relation and calculate the growth rates of the instability numerically. The inclusion of the azimuthal magnetic field gradient produces a new unstable region o…
We investigated the impacts of magnetorotational instability (MRI) on the dynamics of weakly magnetized, rapidly rotating core-collapse by conducting high resolution MHD simulations in axisymmetry with simplified neutrino transfer. We found that an initially sub-magnetar class magnetic field is drastically amplified by MRI and substantially affects the dynamics thereafter. Although the magnetic pressure is not strong enough to eject matter, the amplified magnetic field efficiently transfers angular momentum from higher to lower latitudes, which causes the expansion of the heating region at low…
We discuss the relevance of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). Our recent numerical studies show that in CCSNe, the MRI is terminated by parasitic instabilities of the Kelvin-Helmholtz type. To determine whether the MRI can amplify initially weak magnetic fields to dynamically relevant strengths in CCSNe, we performed three-dimensional simulations of a region close to the surface of a differentially rotating proto-neutron star in non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics with two different numerical codes. We find that under the conditions prevailing in proto-neu…
Magnetorotational turbulence and magnetically driven disc winds are often considered as separate processes. However, realistic astrophysical discs are expected to be subject to both effects, although possibly at different times and locations. We investigate here the potential link between these two phenomena using a mixed numerical and analytical approach. We show in particular that large-scale MRI modes which dominate strongly magnetised discs (plasma beta~10) naturally produce magnetically driven outflows in the nonlinear regime. We show that these outflows share many similarities with local…
Numerical simulations of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) with zero initial net flux in a non-stratified isothermal cubic domain are used to demonstrate the importance of magnetic boundary conditions.In fully periodic systems the level of turbulence generated by the MRI strongly decreases as the magnetic Prandtl number (Pm), which is the ratio of kinematic viscosity and magnetic diffusion, is decreased. No MRI or dynamo action below Pm=1 is found, agreeing with earlier investigations. Using vertical field conditions, which allow the generation of a net toroidal flux and magnetic helicit…
Mergers of binary neutron stars likely lead to the formation of a hypermassive neutron star (HMNS), which is metastable and eventually collapses to a black hole. This merger scenario is thought to explain the phenomenology of short gamma-ray bursts (SGRBs). The very high energies observed in SGRBs have been suggested to stem from neutrino-antineutrino annihilation and/or from very strong magnetic fields created during or after the merger by mechanisms like the magnetorotational instability (MRI). Here, we report on results that show for the first time the development of the MRI in HMNSs in thr…
We present a linear perturbation analysis of the magnetorotational instability in the presence of the cosmic rays. Dynamical effects of the cosmic rays are considered by a fluid description and the diffusion of cosmic rays is only along the magnetic field lines. We show an enhancement in the growth rate of the unstable mode because of the existence of cosmic rays. But as the diffusion of cosmic rays increases, we see that the growth rate decreases. Thus, cosmic rays have a destabilizing role in the magnetorotational instability of the accretion discs.
This letter investigates the transport properties of MHD turbulence induced by the magnetorotational instability at large Reynolds numbers Re when the magnetic Prandtl number Pm is larger than unity. Three MHD simulations of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in the unstratified shearing box with zero net flux are presented. These simulations are performed with the code Zeus and consider the evolution of the rate of angular momentum transport as Re is gradually increased from 3125 to 12500 while simultaneously keeping Pm=4. To ensure that the small scale features of the flow are well reso…
Particle acceleration during the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in a collisionless accretion disk was investigated by using a particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation. We discuss the important role that magnetic reconnection plays not only on the saturation of MRI but also on the relativistic particle generation. The plasma pressure anisotropy of $p_{\perp} > p_{\para}$ induced by the action of MRI dynamo leads to rapid growth in magnetic reconnection, resulting in the fast generation of nonthermal particles with a hard power-law spectrum. This efficient particle acceleration mechanism involved …
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) can be a powerful mechanism amplifying the magnetic field in core-collapse supernovae. Whether initially weak magnetic fields can be amplified by this instability to dynamically relevant strengths is still a matter of debate. One of the main uncertainties concerns the process that terminates the growth of the instability. Parasitic instabilities of both Kelvin-Helmholtz and tearing-mode type have been suggested to play a crucial role in this process, disrupting MRI channel flows and quenching magnetic field amplification. We perform two-dimensional and t…
We investigate the stability of incompressible, exact, non-ideal magnetorotational (MRI) modes against parasitic instabilities. Both Kelvin-Helmholtz and tearing-mode parasitic instabilities may occur in the dissipative regimes accessible to current numerical simulations. We suppose that a primary MRI mode saturates at an amplitude such that its fastest parasite has a growth rate comparable to its own. The predicted alpha parameter then depends critically on whether the fastest primary and parasitic modes fit within the computational domain and whether non-axisymmetric parasitic modes are allo…
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) is a promising mechanism to amplify the magnetic field in fast rotating protoneutron stars. The diffusion of neutrinos trapped in the PNS induces a transport of momentum, which can be modelled as a viscosity on length-scales longer than the neutrino mean free path. This neutrino-viscosity can slow down the growth of MRI modes to such an extent that a minimum initial magnetic field strength of $\gtrsim 10^{12}\, {\rm G}$ is needed for the MRI to grow on a sufficiently short time-scale to potentially affect the explosion. It is uncertain whether the magnet…
Magnetorotational instability (MRI) in a convectively-stable layer around the neutrinosphere is simulated by a three-dimensional model of supernova core. To resolve MRI-unstable modes, a thin layer approximation considering only the radial global stratification is adopted. Our intriguing finding is that the convectively-stable layer around the neutrinosphere becomes fully-turbulent due to the MRI and its nonlinear penetration into the strongly-stratified MRI-stable region. The intensity of the MRI-driven turbulence increases with magnetic flux threading the core, but is limited by a free energ…
Previous studies of the nonlinear regime of the magnetorotational instability in one particular type of shearing box model -- unstratified with no net magnetic flux -- find that without explicit dissipation (viscosity and resistivity) the saturation amplitude decreases with increasing numerical resolution. We show that this result is strongly dependent on the vertical aspect ratio of the computational domain $L_z/L_x$. When $L_z/L_x\lesssim 1$, we recover previous results. However, when the vertical domain is extended $L_z/L_x \gtrsim 2.5$, we find the saturation level of the stress is greatly…
We carried out 2D-axisymmetric MHD simulations of core-collapse supernovae for rapidly-rotating magnetized progenitors. By changing both the strength of the magnetic field and the spatial resolution, the evolution of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) and its impacts upon the dynamics are investigated. We found that the MRI greatly amplifies the seed magnetic fields in the regime where not the Alfvén mode but the buoyant mode plays a primary role in the exponential growth phase. The MRI indeed has a powerful impact on the supernova dynamics. It makes the shock expansion faster and the exp…
We analyze the linear growth of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in the short time limit using nonmodal methods. Our findings are quite different to standard results, illustrating that shearing wave energy can grow at the maximum MRI rate, $-dΩ/d \ln r,$ for any choice of azimuthal and vertical wavelengths. In addition, by comparing the growth of shearing waves with static structures, we show that over short time-scales shearing waves will always be dynamically more important than static structures in the ideal limit. By demonstrating that fast linear growth is possible at all wavelengt…
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) plays a crucial role for cosmic structure formation by enabling turbulence in Keplerian disks which would be otherwise hydrodynamically stable. With particular focus on MRI experiments with liquid metals, which have small magnetic Prandtl numbers, it has been shown that the helical version of this instability (HMRI) has a scaling behaviour that is quite different from that of the standard MRI (SMRI). We discuss the relation of HMRI to SMRI by exploring various parameter dependencies. We identify the mechanism of transfer of instability between modes thro…
At the end of their birth process, neutron stars can be subject to a magnetorotational instability in which a conversion of kinetic energy of differential rotation into radiation and kinetic energies is expected to occur at the Alfvén timescale of few ms. This birth energy conversion predicts the observed large velocity of neutron stars if during the evolving of this instability the periods are of few ms and the magnetic fields reach values of $10^{16}$G.
We performed the first numerical simulations of magnetorotational instability from a sub-magnetar-class seed magnetic field in core collapse supernovae. As a result of axisymmetric ideal MHD simulations, we found that the magnetic field is greatly amplified to magnetar-class strength. In saturation phase, a substantial part of the core is dominated by turbulence, and the magnetic field possesses dominant large scale components, comparable to the size of the proto-neutron star. A pattern of coherent chanel flows, which generally appears during exponential growth phase in previous local simulati…
The merger of two neutron stars may give birth to a long-lived hypermassive neutron star. If it harbours a strong magnetic field of magnetar strength, its spin-down could explain several features of short gamma-ray burst afterglows. The magnetorotational instability (MRI) has been proposed as a mechanism to amplify the magnetic field to the required strength. Previous studies have, however, neglected neutrinos, which may have an important impact on the MRI by inducing a viscosity and drag. We investigate the impact of these neutrino effects on the linear growth of the MRI by applying a local s…
Geometrically thick tori with constant specific angular momentum have been widely used in the last decades to construct numerical models of accretion flows onto black holes. Such discs are prone to a global non-axisymmetric hydrodynamic instability, known as Papaloizou-Pringle instability (PPI), which can redistribute angular momentum and also lead to an emission of gravitational waves. It is, however, not clear yet how the development of the PPI is affected by the presence of a magnetic field and by the concurrent development of the magnetorotational instability (MRI). We present a numerical …
Angular momentum transport and particle acceleration during the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in a collisionless accretion disk are investigated using three-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation. We show that the kinetic MRI can provide not only high energy particle acceleration but also enhancement of angular momentum transport. We find that the plasma pressure anisotropy inside the channel flow with $p_{\|} > p_{\perp}$ induced by active magnetic reconnection suppresses the onset of subsequent reconnection, which in turn leads to high magnetic field saturation and enhancement o…
The Magnetorotational Instability (MRI) has long been considered a plausibly ubiquitous mechanism to destabilize otherwise stable Keplerian flows to support radially outward transport of angular momentum. Such an efficient transport process would allow fast accretion in astrophysical objects such as stars and black holes to release copious kinetic energy that powers many of the most luminous sources in the universe. But the standard MRI under a purely vertical magnetic field has heretofore never been directly measured despite numerous efforts over more than a decade. Here we report an unambigu…
A differentially rotating hypermassive neutron star (HMNS) is a metastable object which can be formed in the merger of neutron-star binaries. The eventual collapse of the HMNS into a black hole is a key element in generating the physical conditions expected to accompany the launch of a short gamma-ray burst. We investigate the influence of magnetic fields on HMNSs by performing three-dimensional simulations in general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamics. In particular, we provide direct evidence for the occurrence of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in HMNS interiors. For the first time i…
The magneto-rotational instability (MRI) is considered to be a promising mechanism to amplify the magnetic field in fast rotating protoneutron stars. In contrast to accretion disks, radial buoyancy driven by entropy and lepton fraction gradients is expected to have a dynamical role as important as rotation and shear. We investigate the poorly known impact of buoyancy on the non-linear phase of the MRI, by means of three dimensional numerical simulations of a local model in the equatorial plane of a protoneutron star. The use of the Boussinesq approximation allows us to utilise a shearing box m…
Clusters of galaxies are embedded in halos of optically thin, gravitationally stratified, weakly magnetized plasma at the system's virial temperature. Due to radiative cooling and anisotropic heat conduction, such intracluster medium (ICM) is subject to local instabilities, which are combinations of the thermal, magnetothermal and heat-flux-driven buoyancy instabilities. If the ICM rotates significantly, its stability properties are substantially modified and, in particular, also the magnetorotational instability (MRI) can play an important role. We study simple models of rotating cool-core cl…
We conduct a global, weakly nonlinear analysis of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in a Taylor-Couette flow. This is a multiscale perturbative treatment of the nonideal, axisymmetric MRI near threshold, subject to realistic radial boundary conditions and cylindrical geometry. We analyze both the standard MRI, initialized by a constant vertical background magnetic field, and the helical MRI, with an azimuthal background field component. This is the first weakly nonlinear analysis of the MRI in a global Taylor-Couette geometry, as well as the first weakly nonlinear analysis of the helical…
The standard magnetorotational instability (SMRI) is a promising mechanism for turbulence and rapid accretion in astrophysical disks. It is a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instability that destabilizes otherwise hydrodynamically stable disk flow. Due to its microscopic nature at astronomical distances and stringent requirements in laboratory experiments, SMRI has remained unconfirmed since its proposal, despite its astrophysical importance. Here we report a nonaxisymmetric MHD instability in a modified Taylor-Couette experiment. To search for SMRI, a uniform magnetic field is imposed along the rot…
We investigate the evolution of hydromagnetic perturbations in a small section of accretion disks. It is known that molecular viscosity is negligible in accretion disks. Hence, it has been argued that a mechanism, known as Magnetorotational Instability (MRI), is responsible for transporting matter in the presence of weak magnetic field. However, there are some shortcomings, which question effectiveness of MRI. Now the question arises, whether other hydromagnetic effects, e.g. transient growth (TG), can play important role to bring nonlinearity in the system, even at weak magnetic fields. Other…
We study the magnetorotational instability (MRI) using nonmodal stability techniques. Despite the spectral instability of many forms of the MRI, this proves to be a natural method of analysis that is well-suited to deal with the non-self-adjoint nature of the linear MRI equations. We find that the fastest growing linear MRI structures on both local and global domains can look very different to the eigenmodes, invariably resembling waves shearing with the background flow (shear waves). In addition, such structures can grow many times faster than the least stable eigenmode over long time periods…
We investigate stochastic particle acceleration in accretion flows. It is believed that the magnetorotational instability (MRI) generates turbulence inside accretion flows and that cosmic rays (CRs) are accelerated by the turbulence. We calculate equations of motion for CRs in the turbulent fields generated by MRI with the shearing box approximation without back reaction to the field. The results show that the CRs randomly gain or lose their energies through the interaction with the turbulent fields. The CRs diffuse in the configuration space anisotropically: The diffusion coefficient in direc…
We investigate the evolution of hydromagnetic perturbations in a small section of accretion disks. It is known that molecular viscosity is negligible in accretion disks. Hence, it has been argued that Magnetorotational Instability (MRI) is responsible for transporting matter in the presence of weak magnetic field. However, there are some shortcomings, which question effectiveness of MRI. Now the question arises, whether other hydromagnetic effects, e.g. transient growth (TG), can play an important role to bring nonlinearity in the system, even at weak magnetic fields. Otherwise, whether MRI or…
Eccentric disks arise in such astrophysical contexts as tidal disruption events, but it is unknown whether the magnetorotational instability (MRI), which powers accretion in circular disks, operates in eccentric disks as well. We examine the linear evolution of unstratified, incompressible MRI in an eccentric disk orbiting a point mass. We consider vertical modes of wavenumber $k$ on a background flow with uniform eccentricity $e$ and vertical Alfvén speed $v_\mathrm A$ along an orbit with mean motion $n$. We find two mode families, one with dominant magnetic components, the other with dominan…
The evolution of current sheets in accretion flows undergoing magnetorotational instability (MRI) is examined through two and three dimensional numerical modelling of the resistive MHD equations in global cylindrical geometry. With an initial uniform magnetic field aligned in the vertical ($z$) direction, MRI produces radially extended toroidal (azimuthal) current sheets. In both 2D and 3D when axisymmetric modes dominate, these current sheets attract each other and merge in the poloidal ($rz$) plane, driving magnetic reconnection when the Lundquist number $S > 3 \times 10^2$, making it a poss…
The initial magnetic field of previous magnetorotational instability (MRI) simulations has always included a significant system-scale component, even if stochastic. However, it is of conceptual and practical interest to assess whether the MRI can grow when the initial field is turbulent. The ubiquitous presence of turbulent or random flows in astrophysical plasmas generically leads to a small-scale dynamo (SSD), which would provide initial seed turbulent velocity and magnetic fields in the plasma that becomes an accretion disc. Can the MRI grow from these more realistic initial conditions? To …
We report the first direct evidence for the axisymmetric standard magnetorotational instability (SMRI) from a combined experimental and numerical study of a magnetized liquid-metal shear flow in a Taylor-Couette cell with independently rotating and electrically conducting end caps. When a uniform vertical magnetic field $B_i$ is applied along the rotation axis, the measured radial magnetic field $B_r$ on the inner cylinder increases linearly with a small magnetic Reynolds number $Rm$ due to the magnetization of the residue Ekman circulation. Onset of the axisymmetric SMRI is identified from th…
Though usually treated in isolation, the magnetorotational and gravitational instabilities (MRI and GI) may coincide at certain radii and evolutionary stages of protoplanetary discs and active galactic nuclei. Their mutual interactions could profoundly influence several important processes, such as accretion variability and outbursts, fragmentation and disc truncation, or large-scale magnetic field production. Direct numerical simulations of both instabilities are computationally challenging and remain relatively unexplored. In this paper, we aim to redress this neglect via a set of 3D vertica…
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) is a shear instability and thus its sensitivity to the shear parameter $q = - d\lnΩ/d\ln r $ is of interest to investigate. Motivated by astrophysical disks, most (but not all) previous MRI studies have focused on the Keplerian value of $ q=1.5$. Using simulation with 8 vertical density scale heights, we contribute to the subset of studies addressing the the effect of varying $q$ in stratified numerical simulations. We discuss why shearing boxes cannot easily be used to study $q>2$ and thus focus on $q<2$. As per previous simulations, which were either u…
We venture for the comparison between growth rates for magnetorotational instability (MRI) and hydrodynamics instability in the presence of an extra force in the local Keplerian accretion flow. The underlying model is described by the Orr-Sommerfeld and Squire equations in the presence of rotation, magnetic field and an extra force, plausibly noise with a nonzero mean. We obtain MRI using Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approximation without extra force for purely vertical magnetic field and vertical wavevector of the perturbations. Expectedly, MRI is active within a range of magnetic field, w…
In collisionless and weakly collisional plasmas, such as hot accretion flows onto compact objects, the magnetorotational instability (MRI) can differ significantly from the standard (collisional) MRI. In particular, pressure anisotropy with respect to the local magnetic-field direction can both change the linear MRI dispersion relation and cause nonlinear modifications to the mode structure and growth rate, even when the field and flow perturbations are small. This work studies these pressure-anisotropy-induced nonlinearities in the weakly nonlinear, high-ion-beta regime, before the MRI satura…
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) is a fundamental process of accretion disk physics, but its saturation mechanism remains poorly understood despite considerable theoretical and computational effort. We present a multiple scales analysis of the non-ideal MRI in the weakly nonlinear regime -- that is, when the most unstable MRI mode has a growth rate asymptotically approaching zero from above. Here, we develop our theory in a local, Cartesian channel. Our results confirm the finding by Umurhan et al. (2007) that the perturbation amplitude follows a Ginzburg-Landau equation. We further fin…
The phenomenological Disc Instability Model has been successful in reproducing the observed light curves of dwarf nova outbursts by invoking an enhanced Shakura-Sunyaev $α$ parameter $\sim0.1-0.2$ in outburst compared to a low value $\sim0.01$ in quiescence. Recent thermodynamically consistent simulations of magnetorotational (MRI) turbulence with appropriate opacities and equation of state for dwarf nova accretion discs have found that thermal convection enhances $α$ in discs in outburst, but only near the hydrogen ionization transition. At higher temperatures, convection no longer exists and…
Turbulence and dynamo induced by the magnetorotational instability (MRI) are analyzed using quasi-linear statistical simulation methods. It is found that homogenous turbulence is unstable to a large scale dynamo instability, which saturates to an inhomogenous equilibrium with a strong dependence on the magnetic Prandtl number (Pm). Despite its enormously reduced nonlinearity, the dependence of the angular momentum transport on Pm in the quasi-linear model is qualitatively similar to that of nonlinear MRI turbulence. This indicates that recent convergence problems may be related to large scale …
The extent to which angular momentum transport in accretion discs is primarily local or non-local and what determines this is an important avenue of study for understanding accretion engines. Taking a step along this path, we analyze simulations of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) by calculating energy and stress power spectra in stratified isothermal shearing box simulations in several new ways. We divide our boxes in two regions, disc and corona where the disc is the MRI unstable region and corona is the magnetically dominated region. We calculate the fractional power in different qua…
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) occurs when a weak magnetic field destabilises a rotating, electrically conducting fluid with inwardly increasing angular velocity. The MRI is essential to astrophysical disk theory where the shear is typically Keplerian. Internal shear layers in stars may also be MRI unstable, and they take a wide range of profiles, including near-critical. We show that the fastest growing modes of an ideal magnetofluid are three-dimensional provided the shear rate, $S$, is near the two-dimensional onset value, $S_c$. For a Keplerian shear, three-dimensional modes are u…
The intermittent small-scale structure of turbulence governs energy dissipation in many astrophysical plasmas and is often believed to have universal properties for sufficiently large systems. In this work, we argue that small-scale turbulence in accretion disks is universal in the sense that it is insensitive to the magnetorotational instability (MRI) and background shear, and therefore indistinguishable from standard homogeneous magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence at small scales. We investigate the intermittency of current density, vorticity, and energy dissipation in numerical simulations…
We present two-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of the fully kinetic collisionless magnetorotational instability (MRI) in weakly magnetized (high $β$) pair plasma. The central result of this numerical analysis is the emergence of a self-induced turbulent regime in the saturation state of the collisionless MRI, which can only be captured for large enough simulation domains. One of the underlying mechanisms for the development of this turbulent state is the drift-kink instability (DKI) of the current sheets resulting from the nonlinear evolution of the channel modes. The onset of t…
Insufficient numerical resolution of grid-based, direct numerical simulations (DNS) hampers the development of instabilitydriven turbulence at small (unresolved) scales. As an alternative to DNS, sub-grid models can potentially reproduce the effects of turbulence at small scales in terms of the resolved scales, and hence can capture physical effects with less computational resources. We present a new sub-grid model, the MHD-instability-induced-turbulence (MInIT) mean-field model. MInIT is a physically motivated model based on the evolution of the turbulent (Maxwell, Reynolds, and Faraday) stre…
Angular momentum transport in accretion disk has been the focus of intense research in theoretical astrophysics for many decades. In the past twenty years, MHD turbulence driven by the magnetorotational instability has emerged as an efficient mechanism to achieve that goal. Yet, many questions and uncertainties remain, among which the saturation level of the turbulence. The consequences of the magnetorotational instability for planet formation models are still being investigated. This lecture, given in September 2012 at the school "Role and mechanisms of angular momentum transport in the forma…
Hot accretion flows contain collisionless plasmas that are believed to be capable of accelerating particles to very high energies, as a result of turbulence generated by the magnetorotational instability (MRI). We conduct unstratified shearing-box simulations of the MRI turbulence in ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD), and inject energetic (relativistic) test particles in simulation snapshots to conduct a detailed investigation on particle diffusion and stochastic acceleration. We consider different amount of net vertical magnetic flux to achieve different disk magnetizations levels at saturated …
We analyze a linear perturbation scheme for a two-dimensional background plasma, which is rotating with a differential frequency and is embedded in a poloidal magnetic field. The main two assumptions of the present study, which in turn are related, are that the plasma profile is axially symmetric, both in the background and the perturbation approximation, where the azimuthal magnetic field is requested to vanish identically and secondly the angular frequency on the magnetic surface function only still holds in the non-stationary regime, which, on the steady background equilibrium, is ensured b…
