The effect of velocity shear on dynamo action due to rotating convection

DOI10.1017/JFM.2012.584zbMATH Open1284.76408arXiv1211.5339OpenAlexW3101166307MaRDI QIDQ5406550FDOQ5406550

Authors: M. R. E. Proctor, D. W. Hughes 

Publication date: 1 April 2014

Published in: Journal of Fluid Mechanics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: Recent numerical simulations of dynamo action resulting from rotating convection have revealed some serious problems in applying the standard picture of mean field electrodynamics at high values of the magnetic Reynolds number, and have thereby underlined the difficulties in large-scale magnetic field generation in this regime. Here we consider kinematic dynamo processes in a rotating convective layer of Boussinesq fluid with the additional influence of a large-scale horizontal velocity shear. Incorporating the shear flow enhances the dynamo growth rate and also leads to the generation of significant magnetic fields on large scales. By the technique of spectral filtering, we analyse the modes in the velocity that are principally responsible for dynamo action, and show that the magnetic field resulting from the full flow relies crucially on a range of scales in the velocity field. Filtering the flow to provide a true separation of scales between the shear and the convective flow also leads to dynamo action; however, the magnetic field in this case has a very different structure from that generated by the full velocity field. We also show that the nature of the dynamo action is broadly similar irrespective of whether the flow in the absence of shear can support dynamo action.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1211.5339

Recommendations

• Large-scale dynamos in turbulent convection with shear
• Convection-driven kinematic dynamos with a self-consistent shear flow
• Dynamo action in a rotating convective layer
• Suppression of a laminar kinematic dynamo by a prescribed large-scale shear
• Bounds for growth rates for dynamos with shear

zbMATH Keywords

dynamo theoryMHD turbulenceBénard convection

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

General theory of rotating fluids (76U05) Magnetohydrodynamics and electrohydrodynamics (76W05) Convective turbulence (76F35)

Cites Work

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Cited In (13)

• Dynamo action in a rotating convective layer
• Large-scale-vortex dynamos in planar rotating convection
• The α-Effect and Current Helicity for Fast Sheared Rotators
• Large-scale dynamos in turbulent convection with shear
• Asymptotic solutions for mean-field slab dynamos
• On the problem of large-scale magnetic field generation in rotating compressible convection
• Nonlinear dynamo action in rotating convection and shear
• Kinematic dynamo action in large magnetic Reynolds number flows driven by shear and convection
• Bounds for growth rates for dynamos with shear
• Suppression of a laminar kinematic dynamo by a prescribed large-scale shear
• Dynamo action and magnetic buoyancy in convection simulations with vertical shear
• Convection-driven kinematic dynamos with a self-consistent shear flow
• Small-scale dynamo action in rotating compressible convection

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