The problem of the dynamo effect for a Kraichnan incompressible helicity-free velocity field is considered. Exploiting a quantum formalism first introduced by Kazantsev (A.P. Kazantsev, Sov. Phys. JETP 26, 1031-1034 (1968)), we show that a critical magnetic Reynolds number exists for the presence of dynamo. The value of the Prandtl number influences the spatial distribution of the magnetic field and its growth in time. The magnetic field correlation length is always the largest between the diffusive scale and the viscous scale of the flow. In the same way the field growth is characterized by a time scale that corresponds to the largest between the diffusive and the viscous characteristic time.
We study the dynamo instability for a Kazantsev-Kraichnan flow with three velocity components that depends only on two-dimensions u = (u(x, y, t), v(x, y, t), w(x, y, t)) often referred to as 2.5 dimensional (2.5D) flow. Within the Kazantsev-Kraichnan frame- work we derive the governing equations for the second order magnetic field correlation function and examine the growth rate of the dynamo instability as a function of the control parameters of the system. In particular we investigate the dynamo behaviour for large magnetic Reynolds numbers Rm and flows close to being two-dimensional and sh…
We consider the kinematic fluctuation dynamo problem in a flow that is random, white-in-time, with both solenoidal and potential components. This model is a generalization of the well-studied Kazantsev model. If both the solenoidal and potential parts have the same scaling exponent, then, as the compressibility of the flow increases, the growth rate decreases but remains positive. If the scaling exponents for the solenoidal and potential parts differ, in particular if they correspond to typical Kolmogorov and Burgers values, we again find that an increase in compressibility slows down the grow…
Hydromagnetic dynamo theory provides the prevailing theoretical description for the origin of magnetic fields in the universe. Here we consider the problem of kinematic, small-scale dynamo action driven by a random, incompressible, non-helical, homogeneous and isotropic flow. In the Kazantsev dynamo model the statistics of the driving flow are assumed to be instantaneously correlated in time. Here we compare the results of the model with the dynamo properties of a simulated flow that has equivalent spatial characteristics as the Kazantsev flow but different temporal statistics. In particular, …
We use direct and stochastic numerical simulations of the magnetohydrodynamic equations to explore the influence of turbulence on the dynamo threshold. In the spirit of the Kraichnan-Kazantsev model, we model the turbulence by a noise, with given amplitude, injection scale and correlation time. The addition of a stochastic noise to the mean velocity significantly alters the dynamo threshold. When the noise is at small (resp. large) scale, the dynamo threshold is decreased (resp. increased). For a large scale noise, a finite correlation time reinforces this effect.
We investigate the structure of magnetic field amplified by turbulent velocity fluctuations, in the framework of the kinematic Kazantsev-Kraichnan model. We consider Kolmogorov distribution of velocity fluctuations, and assume that both Reynolds number and magnetic Reynolds number are very large. We present the full numerical solution of the model for the spectra and the growth rates of magnetic fluctuations. We consider astrophysically relevant limits of large and small magnetic Prandtl numbers, and address both helical and nonhelical cases.
The small-scale kinematic dynamo in a two-dimensional chaotic flow is studied. The analytic approach is developed in framework of the Kraichnan-Kazantsev model. It is shown that the growth of magnetic field $\bm{B}$ fluctuations stops at large times in accordance with so-called anti-dynamo theorems. The value of $\bm{B}^2$ increased therewith in square of the magnetic Prandtl number times. The spatial structure of the correlation tensor of the magnetic field is found.
The correlation tensors of magnetic field in a two-dimensional chaotic flow of conducting fluid are studied. It is shown that there is a stage of resistive evolution where the field correlators grow exponentially with time what contradicts to the statements present in literature. The two- and four-point field correlation tensors are computed explicitly in this stage in the framework of Batchelor-Kraichnan-Kazantsev model. These tensors demonstrate highly intermittent statistics of the field fluctuations both in space and time.
We investigate magnetic field amplification in a turbulent velocity field with nonzero helicity, in the framework of the kinematic Kazantsev-Kraichnan model. We present the numerical solution of the model for the practically important case of Kolmogorov distribution of velocity fluctuations, with a large magnetic Reynolds number. We find that in contrast to the nonhelical case where growing magnetic fields are described by a few bound eigenmodes concentrated inside the inertial interval of the velocity field, in the helical case the number of bound eigenmodes considerably increases; moreover, …
Is the scaling, λ\sim Rm^{1/2}, for the growth rate of small-scale dynamo instability at low magnetic Prandtl numbers and large magnetic Reynolds numbers, Rm, valid in the vicinity of the threshold? Our analysis and even numerical solution (Malyshkin and Boldyrev, 2010) of the dynamo equations for a Gaussian white-noise velocity field (the Kazantsev-Kraichnan model) imply that the answer is negative. Contrary to the claim by Malyshkin and Boldyrev (2010), there are two different asymptotics for the dynamo growth rate: in the vicinity of the threshold and far from the threshold.
Amplification of magnetic field due to kinematic turbulent dynamo action is studied in the regime of small magnetic Prandtl numbers. Such a regime is relevant for planets and stars interiors, as well as for liquid metal laboratory experiments. A comprehensive analysis based on the Kazantsev-Kraichnan model is reported, which establishes the dynamo threshold and the dynamo growth rates for varying kinetic helicity of turbulent fluctuations. It is proposed that in contrast with the case of large magnetic Prandtl numbers, the kinematic dynamo action at small magnetic Prandtl numbers is significan…
We present a three--pronged numerical approach to the dynamo problem at low magnetic Prandtl numbers $P_M$. The difficulty of resolving a large range of scales is circumvented by combining Direct Numerical Simulations, a Lagrangian-averaged model, and Large-Eddy Simulations (LES). The flow is generated by the Taylor-Green forcing; it combines a well defined structure at large scales and turbulent fluctuations at small scales. Our main findings are: (i) dynamos are observed from $P_M=1$ down to $P_M=10^{-2}$; (ii) the critical magnetic Reynolds number increases sharply with $P_M^{-1}$ as turbul…
We investigate the Lagrangian mechanism of the kinematic ``fluctuation'' magnetic dynamo in turbulent plasma flow at small magnetic Prandtl numbers. The combined effect of turbulent advection and plasma resistivity is to carry infinitely many field lines to each space point, with the resultant magnetic field at that point given by the average over all the individual line vectors. As a consequence of the roughness of the advecting velocity, this remains true even in the limit of zero resistivity. We show that the presence of dynamo effect requires sufficient angular correlation of the passive l…
We study the amplification of magnetic fields during the formation of primordial halos. The turbulence generated by gravitational infall motions during the formation of the first stars and galaxies can amplify magnetic fields very efficiently and on short timescales up to dynamically significant values. Using the Kazantsev theory, which describes the so-called small-scale dynamo - a magnetohydrodynamical process converting kinetic energy from turbulence into magnetic energy - we can then calculate the growth rate of the small-scale magnetic field. Our calculations are based on a detailed chemi…
The small-scale dynamo is a process by which turbulent kinetic energy is converted into magnetic energy, and thus is expected to depend crucially on the nature of turbulence. In this work, we present a model for the small-scale dynamo that takes into account the slope of the turbulent velocity spectrum v(l) ~ l^theta, where l and v(l) are the size of a turbulent fluctuation and the typical velocity on that scale. The time evolution of the fluctuation component of the magnetic field, i.e., the small-scale field, is described by the Kazantsev equation. We solve this linear differential equation …
The present-day Universe is highly magnetized, even though the first magnetic seed fields were most probably extremely weak. To explain the growth of the magnetic field strength over many orders of magnitude fast amplification processes need to operate. The most efficient mechanism known today is the small-scale dynamo, which converts turbulent kinetic energy into magnetic energy leading to an exponential growth of the magnetic field. The efficiency of the dynamo depends on the type of turbulence indicated by the slope of the turbulence spectrum v(l) \propto l^{theta}, where v(l) is the eddy v…
Large ${\rm Pm}$ small-scale kinematic dynamo in protoneutron stars
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur(印度理工学院哈格普尔分校);Indian Institute of Technology Madras(印度理工学院马德拉斯分校);Université Paris Cité, Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, AIM(巴黎西岱大学、巴黎萨克雷大学、法国原子能和替代能源委员会、法国国家科学研究中心、天体物理学信息与方法研究所)
The turbulent dynamo is a powerful mechanism that converts turbulent kinetic energy to magnetic energy. A key question regarding the magnetic field amplification by turbulence, is, on what scale, $k_{\rm p}$, do magnetic fields become most concentrated? There has been some disagreement about whether $k_{\rm p}$ is controlled by the viscous scale, $k_ν$ (where turbulent kinetic energy dissipates), or the resistive scale, $k_η$ (where magnetic fields dissipate). Here we use direct numerical simulations of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence to measure characteristic scales in the kinematic phase of t…
(Abridged) The small-scale dynamo may play a substantial role in magnetizing the Universe under a large range of conditions, including subsonic turbulence at low Mach numbers, highly supersonic turbulence at high Mach numbers and a large range of magnetic Prandtl numbers Pm, i.e. the ratio of kinetic viscosity to magnetic resistivity. Low Mach numbers may in particular lead to the well-known, incompressible Kolmogorov turbulence, while for high Mach numbers, we are in the highly compressible regime, thus close to Burgers turbulence. In this study, we explore whether in this large range of cond…