On large-scale dynamos with stable stratification and the application to stellar radiative zones

Skoutnev, V; Squire, J; Bhattacharjee, A

doi:10.1093/mnras/stac2676

On large-scale dynamos with stable stratification and the application to stellar radiative zones

Journal Article · Thu Sep 22 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac2676· OSTI ID:2423837

Skoutnev, V ^[1]; ^[2]; Bhattacharjee, A ^[1]

Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
University of Otago, Dunedin (New Zealand)

Our understanding of large-scale magnetic fields in stellar radiative zones remains fragmented and incomplete. Such magnetic fields, which must be produced by some form of dynamo mechanism, are thought to dominate angular-momentum transport, making them crucial to stellar evolution. A major difficulty is the effect of stable stratification, which generally suppresses dynamo action. We explore the effects of stable stratification on mean-field dynamo theory with a particular focus on a non-helical large-scale dynamo (LSD) mechanism known as the magnetic shear-current effect. We find that the mechanism is robust to increasing stable stratification as long as the original requirements for its operation are met: a source of shear and non-helical magnetic fluctuations (e.g. from a small-scale dynamo). Both are plausibly sourced in the presence of differential rotation. Our idealized direct numerical simulations, supported by mean-field theory, demonstrate the generation of near equipartition large-scale toroidal fields. Additionally, a scan over magnetic Reynolds number shows no change in the growth or saturation of the LSD, providing good numerical evidence of a dynamo mechanism resilient to catastrophic quenching, which has been an issue for helical dynamos. These properties – the absence of catastrophic quenching and robustness to stable stratification – make the mechanism a plausible candidate for generating in situ large-scale magnetic fields in stellar radiative zones.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-09CH11466

OSTI ID:: 2423837

Journal Information:: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Journal Name: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 517; ISSN 1365-2966; ISSN 0035-8711

Publisher:: Oxford University PressCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (75)

Magnetic helicity in stellar dynamos: new numerical experiments Brandenburg, A.; Dobler, W.; Subramanian, K. Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol. 323, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1002/1521-3994(200207)323:2<99::AID-ASNA99>3.0.CO;2-B	journal	July 2002
Strong mean field dynamos require supercritical helicity fluxes Brandenburg, A.; Subramanian, K. Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol. 326, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1002/asna.200510362	journal	June 2005
A self-consistent treatment of the electromotive force in magnetohydrodynamics for large diffusivities Courvoisier, A.; Hughes, D. W.; Proctor, M. R. E. Astronomische Nachrichten, Vol. 331, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1002/asna.201011358	journal	July 2010
Variability of shelf and adjacent seas Ozmidov, R. V. Journal of Marine Systems, Vol. 3, Issue 4-5 https://doi.org/10.1016/0924-7963(92)90013-X	journal	August 1992
VEST: Abstract vector calculus simplification in Mathematica Squire, J.; Burby, J.; Qin, H. Computer Physics Communications, Vol. 185, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2013.08.021	journal	January 2014
Astrophysical magnetic fields and nonlinear dynamo theory Brandenburg, Axel; Subramanian, Kandaswamy Physics Reports, Vol. 417, Issue 1-4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physrep.2005.06.005	journal	October 2005
The Solar Tachocline Hughes, D. W.; Rosner, R.; Weiss, N. O. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511536243	book	May 2007
Stratified turbulence dominated by vortical motion Waite, Michael L.; Bartello, Peter Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 517 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022112004000977	journal	January 1999
The energy cascade in a strongly stratified fluid Lindborg, Erik Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 550, Issue -1 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022112005008128	journal	February 2006
Scaling analysis and simulation of strongly stratified turbulent flows Brethouwer, G.; Billant, P.; Lindborg, E. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 585 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022112007006854	journal	August 2007
The magnetic shear-current effect: generation of large-scale magnetic fields by the small-scale dynamo Squire, J.; Bhattacharjee, A. Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 82, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022377816000258	journal	March 2016
Advances in mean-field dynamo theory and applications to astrophysical turbulence Brandenburg, Axel Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 84, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022377818000806	journal	August 2018
Dynamo theories Rincon, François Journal of Plasma Physics, Vol. 85, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022377819000539	journal	August 2019
Sensitivity of stratified turbulence to the buoyancy Reynolds number Bartello, P.; Tobias, S. M. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 725 https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2013.170	journal	May 2013
Dynamics of stratified turbulence decaying from a high buoyancy Reynolds number Maffioli, A.; Davidson, P. A. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 786 https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2015.667	journal	December 2015
The dynamics of stratified horizontal shear flows at low Péclet number Cope, Laura; Garaud, P.; Caulfield, C. P. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 903 https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2020.600	journal	September 2020
Exploiting self-organized criticality in strongly stratified turbulence Chini, Gregory P.; Michel, Guillaume; Julien, Keith Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 933 https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2021.1060	journal	December 2021
Test-field method for mean-field coefficients with MHD background Rheinhardt, M.; Brandenburg, A. Astronomy and Astrophysics, Vol. 520 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201014700	journal	September 2010
Turbulent transport in radiative zones of stars Prat, V.; Lignières, F. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 551 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201220577	journal	February 2013
Shear mixing in stellar radiative zones Prat, V.; Lignières, F. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 566 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201423655	journal	June 2014
Constraining the efficiency of angular momentum transport with asteroseismology of red giants: the effect of stellar mass Eggenberger, P.; Lagarde, N.; Miglio, A. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 599 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201629459	journal	February 2017
γ Doradus stars as a test of angular momentum transport models Ouazzani, R. -M.; Marques, J. P.; Goupil, M. -J. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 626 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201832607	journal	June 2019
Asteroseismology of evolved stars to constrain the internal transport of angular momentum Eggenberger, P.; den Hartogh, J. W.; Buldgen, G. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 631 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201936348	journal	November 2019
Asteroseismology of evolved stars to constrain the internal transport of angular momentum den Hartogh, J. W.; Eggenberger, P.; Deheuvels, S. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 634 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202037568	journal	February 2020
Magnetorotational instability with smoothed particle hydrodynamics Wissing, Robert; Shen, Sijing; Wadsley, James Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 659 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202141206	journal	March 2022
Dynamo action by differential rotation in a stably stratified stellar interior Spruit, H. C. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 381, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20011465	journal	January 2002
Single star progenitors of long gamma-ray bursts: I. Model grids and redshift dependent GRB rate Yoon, S. -C.; Langer, N.; Norman, C. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 460, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20065912	journal	September 2006
On magnetic instabilities and dynamo action in stellar radiation zones Zahn, J. -P.; Brun, A. S.; Mathis, S. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 474, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:20077653	journal	July 2007
On self-sustained dynamo cycles in accretion discs Lesur, G.; Ogilvie, G. I. Astronomy & Astrophysics, Vol. 488, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:200810152	journal	July 2008
Self-similarity of strongly stratified inviscid flows Billant, Paul; Chomaz, Jean-Marc Physics of Fluids, Vol. 13, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1369125	journal	June 2001
On the Boussinesq Approximation for a Compressible Fluid. Spiegel, E. A.; Veronis, G. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 131 https://doi.org/10.1086/146849	journal	March 1960
Self-Consistency Constraints on the Dynamo Mechanism Bhattacharjee, A.; Yuan, Y. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 449 https://doi.org/10.1086/176094	journal	August 1995
An Incoherent α‐Ω Dynamo in Accretion Disks Vishniac, Ethan T.; Brandenburg, Axel The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 475, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/303504	journal	January 1997
Collapsars: Gamma‐Ray Bursts and Explosions in “Failed Supernovae” MacFadyen, A. I.; Woosley, S. E. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 524, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/307790	journal	October 1999
Presupernova Evolution of Rotating Massive Stars. I. Numerical Method and Evolution of the Internal Stellar Structure Heger, A.; Langer, N.; Woosley, S. E. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 528, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/308158	journal	January 2000
Constraints on the Magnitude of α in Dynamo Theory Blackman, Eric G.; Field, George B. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 534, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1086/308767	journal	May 2000
A Vorticity–Magnetic Field Dynamo Instability Blackman, Eric G.; Chou, Tom The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 489, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/310959	journal	November 1997
The Inverse Cascade and Nonlinear Alpha‐Effect in Simulations of Isotropic Helical Hydromagnetic Turbulence Brandenburg, Axel The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 550, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1086/319783	journal	April 2001
Magnetic Helicity Conservation and Astrophysical Dynamos Vishniac, Ethan T.; Cho, Jungyeon The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 550, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1086/319817	journal	April 2001
Birth and Evolution of Isolated Radio Pulsars Faucher‐Giguere, Claude‐Andre; Kaspi, Victoria M. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 643, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/501516	journal	May 2006
Magnetic Diffusivity Tensor and Dynamo Effects in Rotating and Shearing Turbulence Brandenburg, A.; Rädler, K. ‐H.; Rheinhardt, M. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 676, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1086/527373	journal	March 2008
Angular Momentum Transport Within Evolved Low-Mass Stars Cantiello, Matteo; Mankovich, Christopher; Bildsten, Lars The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 788, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/788/1/93	journal	May 2014
Coherent Nonhelical Shear Dynamos Driven by Magnetic Fluctuations at low Reynolds Numbers Squire, J.; Bhattacharjee, A. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 813, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/813/1/52	journal	October 2015
The Adiabatic Stability of Stars Containing Magnetic Fields-I: TOROIDAL FIELDS Tayler, R. J. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 161, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/161.4.365	journal	April 1973
The Adiabatic Stability of Stars Containing Magnetic Fields-II: POLOIDAL FIELDS Markey, P.; Tayler, R. J. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 163, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/163.1.77	journal	July 1973
On the shear-current effect: toward understanding why theories and simulations have mutually and separately conflicted Zhou, Hongzhe; Blackman, Eric G. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 507, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab2469	journal	September 2021
The spins of compact objects born from helium stars in binary systems Fuller, Jim; Lu, Wenbin Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 511, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac317	journal	February 2022
Population synthesis of isolated neutron stars with magneto-rotational evolution Gullón, Miguel; Miralles, Juan A.; Viganò, Daniele Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 443, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stu1253	journal	July 2014
Saturation of the magnetorotational instability in the unstratified shearing box with zero net flux: convergence in taller boxes Shi, Ji-Ming; Stone, James M.; Huang, Chelsea X. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 456, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stv2815	journal	December 2015
A unified large/small-scale dynamo in helical turbulence Bhat, Pallavi; Subramanian, Kandaswamy; Brandenburg, Axel Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 461, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1257	journal	May 2016
Destruction of large-scale magnetic field in non-linear simulations of the shear dynamo Teed, Robert J.; Proctor, Michael R. E. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 458, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw490	journal	March 2016
The expected spins of gravitational wave sources with isolated field binary progenitors Zaldarriaga, Matias; Kushnir, Doron; Kollmeier, Juna A. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 473, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx2577	journal	October 2017
Slowing the spins of stellar cores Fuller, Jim; Piro, Anthony L.; Jermyn, Adam S. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 485, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stz514	journal	February 2019
Distribution of effective spins and masses of binary black holes from the LIGO and Virgo O1–O3a observing runs Roulet, Javier; Chia, Horng Sheng; Olsen, Seth Physical Review D, Vol. 104, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.104.083010	journal	October 2021
Nonlinear saturation of the turbulent α effect Cattaneo, Fausto; Hughes, David W. Physical Review E, Vol. 54, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.54.R4532	journal	November 1996
Nonlinear theory of a “shear-current” effect and mean-field magnetic dynamos Rogachevskii, Igor; Kleeorin, Nathan Physical Review E, Vol. 70, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.70.046310	journal	October 2004
Mean electromotive force due to turbulence of a conducting fluid in the presence of mean flow Rädler, Karl-Heinz; Stepanov, Rodion Physical Review E, Vol. 73, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.73.056311	journal	May 2006
Numerical study of large-scale vorticity generation in shear-flow turbulence Käpylä, Petri J.; Mitra, Dhrubaditya; Brandenburg, Axel Physical Review E, Vol. 79, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.79.016302	journal	January 2009
Transport coefficients for the shear dynamo problem at small Reynolds numbers Singh, Nishant K.; Sridhar, S. Physical Review E, Vol. 83, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.83.056309	journal	May 2011
Electromotive force due to magnetohydrodynamic fluctuations in sheared rotating turbulence Squire, J.; Bhattacharjee, A. Physical Review E, Vol. 92, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.92.053101	journal	November 2015
Journey to the center of stars: The realm of low Prandtl number fluid dynamics Garaud, P. Physical Review Fluids, Vol. 6, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.6.030501	journal	March 2021
Helical turbulent nonlinear dynamo at large magnetic Reynolds numbers Rincon, F. Physical Review Fluids, Vol. 6, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevFluids.6.L121701	journal	December 2021
Generation of Magnetic Field by Combined Action of Turbulence and Shear Yousef, T. A.; Heinemann, T.; Schekochihin, A. A. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 100, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.184501	journal	May 2008
Large-Scale Magnetic Field Generation by Randomly Forced Shearing Waves Heinemann, T.; McWilliams, J. C.; Schekochihin, A. A. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 25 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.255004	journal	December 2011
Statistical Simulation of the Magnetorotational Dynamo Squire, J.; Bhattacharjee, A. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 114, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.085002	journal	February 2015
Generation of Large-Scale Magnetic Fields by Small-Scale Dynamo in Shear Flows Squire, J.; Bhattacharjee, A. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 115, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.175003	journal	October 2015
Self-consistent theory of mean-field electrodynamics Gruzinov, A. V.; Diamond, P. H. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 72, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.72.1651	journal	March 1994
Numerical Demonstration of Fluctuation Dynamo at Low Magnetic Prandtl Numbers Iskakov, A. B.; Schekochihin, A. A.; Cowley, S. C. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 98, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.208501	journal	May 2007
Scaling and intermittency in incoherent α-shear dynamo: Incoherent α-shear dynamos Mitra, Dhrubaditya; Brandenburg, Axel Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 420, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.20190.x	journal	January 2012
Fluid Motions in the Presence of Strong Stable Stratification Riley, James J.; Lelong, Marie-Pascale Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics, Vol. 32, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.fluid.32.1.613	journal	January 2000
Rotation and Magnetism of Massive Stellar Cores Kissin, Yevgeni; Thompson, Christopher The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 862, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aab1fb	journal	July 2018
Horizontal Shear Instabilities at Low Prandtl Number Garaud, P. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 901, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab9c99	journal	October 2020
Small-scale Dynamo in Stably Stratified Turbulence Skoutnev, V.; Squire, J.; Bhattacharjee, A. The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 906, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abc8ee	journal	January 2021
Compressible Test-field Method and Its Application to Shear Dynamos Käpylä, Maarit J.; Rheinhardt, Matthias; Brandenburg, Axel The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 932, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac5b78	journal	June 2022
White Dwarf Rotation as a Function of Mass and a Dichotomy of Mode Line Widths: Kepler Observations of 27 Pulsating DA White Dwarfs through K2 Campaign 8 Hermes, J. J.; Gänsicke, B. T.; Kawaler, Steven D. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 232, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4365/aa8bb5	journal	October 2017

Similar Records

HELICITY CONSERVATION IN NONLINEAR MEAN-FIELD SOLAR DYNAMO

Journal Article · Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astrophysical Journal · OSTI ID:22126836

CATASTROPHIC QUENCHING IN {alpha}{Omega} DYNAMOS REVISITED

Journal Article · Tue Mar 20 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astrophysical Journal · OSTI ID:22016164

TURBULENT DYNAMOS WITH SHEAR AND FRACTIONAL HELICITY

Journal Article · Fri Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Astrophysical Journal · OSTI ID:21333760

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
MHD
dynamo
stars: interiors

On large-scale dynamos with stable stratification and the application to stellar radiative zones

Citation Formats

References (75)

Similar Records

Related Subjects