Model of driven and decaying magnetic turbulence in a cylinder

Koen Kemel, Axel Brandenburg, Hantao Ji

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Using mean-field theory, we compute the evolution of the magnetic field in a cylinder with outer perfectly conducting boundaries and imposed axial magnetic and electric fields. The thus injected magnetic helicity in the system can be redistributed by magnetic helicity fluxes down the gradient of the local current helicity of the small-scale magnetic field. A weak reversal of the axial magnetic field is found to be a consequence of the magnetic helicity flux in the system. Such fluxes are known to alleviate so-called catastrophic quenching of the α effect in astrophysical applications. A stronger field reversal can be obtained if there is also a significant kinetic α effect. Application to the reversed field pinch in plasma confinement devices is discussed.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number056407
JournalPhysical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
Volume84
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 21 2011

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
  • Statistics and Probability

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