Depression of Nonlinearity in Decaying Isotropic MHD Turbulence

Journal Article · Fri Mar 07 00:00:00 EST 2008 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.100.095005· OSTI ID:21123653

Servidio, S; Matthaeus, W H ^[1]; Dmitruk, P ^[1]

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1. Bartol Research Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, Deleware 19716 (United States)

Spectral method simulations show that undriven magnetohydrodynamic turbulence spontaneously generates coherent spatial correlations of several types, associated with local Beltrami fields, directional alignment of velocity and magnetic fields, and antialignment of magnetic and fluid acceleration components. These correlations suppress nonlinearity to levels lower than what is obtained from Gaussian fields, and occur in spatial patches. We suggest that this rapid relaxation leads to non-Gaussian statistics and spatial intermittency.

• OSTI ID: 21123653
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 100, Issue 9; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.095005; (c) 2008 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ACCELERATION
CORRELATIONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
NONLINEAR PROBLEMS
RELAXATION
SIMULATION
STATISTICS
TURBULENCE
VELOCITY