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Inverse cascade of magnetic helicity in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence.

W. Müller,S. K. Malapaka,A. Busse

Published 2012 in Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics

ABSTRACT

The nonlinear dynamics of magnetic helicity HM, which is responsible for large-scale magnetic structure formation in electrically conducting turbulent media, is investigated in forced and decaying three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. This is done with the help of high-resolution direct numerical simulations and statistical closure theory. The numerically observed spectral scaling of HM is at variance with earlier work using a statistical closure model [Pouquet et al., J. Fluid Mech. 77, 321 (1976)]. By revisiting this theory, a universal dynamical balance relation is found that includes the effects of kinetic helicity as well as kinetic and magnetic energies on the inverse cascade of HM and explains the above-mentioned discrepancy. Consideration of the result in the context of mean-field dynamo theory suggests a nonlinear modification of the α-dynamo effect, which is important in the context of magnetic-field excitation in turbulent plasmas.

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