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Title: Coherent nonhelical shear dynamos driven by magnetic fluctuations at low Reynolds numbers

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
 [1];  [2]
  1. Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States); California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA (United States)
  2. Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States)

Nonhelical shear dynamos are studied with a particular focus on the possibility of coherent dynamo action. The primary results—serving as a follow up to the results of Squire & Bhattacharjee—pertain to the "magnetic shear-current effect" as a viable mechanism to drive large-scale magnetic field generation. This effect raises the interesting possibility that the saturated state of the small-scale dynamo could drive large-scale dynamo action, and is likely to be important in the unstratified regions of accretion disk turbulence. In this paper, the effect is studied at low Reynolds numbers, removing the complications of small-scale dynamo excitation and aiding analysis by enabling the use of quasi-linear statistical simulation methods. In addition to the magnetically driven dynamo, new results on the kinematic nonhelical shear dynamo are presented. Furthermore, these illustrate the relationship between coherent and incoherent driving in such dynamos, demonstrating the importance of rotation in determining the relative dominance of each mechanism.

Research Organization:
Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. (PPPL), Princeton, NJ (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Contributing Organization:
Max Planck/Princeton Center for Plasma Physics, Department of Astrophysical Sciences and Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08543, USA; TAPIR, California Institute of Technology, Mailcode 350-17, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-09CH11466
OSTI ID:
1254733
Report Number(s):
PPPL-5154
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Vol. 813, Issue 1; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 13 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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