Spectral energy dynamics in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

Spectral direct numerical simulations of incompressible MHD turbulence at a resolution of up to 1024(3) collocation points are presented for a statistically isotropic system as well as for a setup with an imposed strong mean magnetic field. The spectra of residual energy, E(R)k=|E(M)k - E(K)k|, and total energy, Ek=E(K)k+E(M)k, are observed to scale self-similarly in the inertial range as E(R)k approximately k(-7/3), E(k)approximately k(-5/3) (isotropic case) and E(R)(k(perpendicular) approximately k(-2)(perpendicular), E(k(perpendicular))approximately k(-3/2)(perpendicular) (anisotropic case, perpendicular to the mean field direction). A model of dynamic equilibrium between kinetic and magnetic energy, based on the corresponding evolution equations of the eddy-damped quasinormal Markovian closure approximation, explains the findings. The assumed interplay of turbulent dynamo and Alfvén effect yields E(R)k approximately kE2(k), which is confirmed by the simulations.     

Lagrangian dynamics of drift-wave turbulence

The statistical properties of Lagrangian particle transport are investigated in dissipative drift-wave turbulence modelled by the Hasegawa-Wakatani system. By varying the adiabaticity parameter c, the flow regime can be modified from a hydrodynamic limit for c=0 to a geostrophic limit for c→∞. For c of order unity the quasi-adiabatic regime is obtained, which might be relevant to describe the edge turbulence of fusion plasmas in tokamaks. This particularity of the model allows one to study the change in dynamics when varying from one turbulent flow regime to another. By means of direct numerical simulation we consider four values for c and show that the Lagrangian dynamics is most intermittent in the hydrodynamic regime, while the other regimes are not or only weakly intermittent. In both quasi-adiabatic and quasi-geostrophic regimes the PDFs of acceleration exhibit exponential tails. This behaviour is due to the pressure term in the acceleration and not a signature of intermittency.     

Measurement of the electric fluctuation spectrum of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in the solar wind is observed to show the spectral behavior of classical Kolmogorov fluid turbulence over an inertial subrange and departures from this at short wavelengths, where energy should be dissipated. Here we present the first measurements of the electric field fluctuation spectrum over the inertial and dissipative wave number ranges in a Beta > or approximately = 1 plasma. The k(-5/3) inertial subrange is observed and agrees strikingly with the magnetic fluctuation spectrum; the wave phase speed in this regime is shown to be consistent with the Alfvén speed. At smaller wavelengths krho(i) > or = 1 the electric spectrum is enhanced and is consistent with the expected dispersion relation of short-wavelength kinetic Alfvén waves. Kinetic Alfvén waves damp on the solar wind ions and electrons and may act to isotropize them. This effect may explain the fluidlike nature of the solar wind.     

Nonaxisymmetric anisotropy of solar wind turbulence as a direct test for models of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

Single point spacecraft observations of the turbulent solar wind flow exhibit a characteristic nonaxisymmetric anisotropy that depends sensitively on the perpendicular power spectral exponent. We use this nonaxisymmetric anisotropy as a function of wave vector direction to test models of MHD turbulence. Using Ulysses magnetic field observations in the fast, quiet polar solar wind we find that the Goldreich-Sridhar model of MHD turbulence is not consistent with the observed anisotropy, whereas the observations are well reproduced by the "slab+2D" model. The Goldreich-Sridhar model alone cannot account for the observations unless an additional component is also present.     

Lagrangian dynamics and statistical geometric structure of turbulence

The local statistical and geometric structure of three-dimensional turbulent flow can be described by the properties of the velocity gradient tensor. A stochastic model is developed for the Lagrangian time evolution of this tensor, in which the exact nonlinear self-stretching term accounts for the development of well-known non-Gaussian statistics and geometric alignment trends. The nonlocal pressure and viscous effects are accounted for by a closure that models the material deformation history of fluid elements. The resulting stochastic system reproduces many statistical and geometric trends observed in numerical and experimental 3D turbulent flows, including anomalous relative scaling.     

Scattering of energetic particles by anisotropic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence with a goldreich-sridhar power spectrum

Scattering rates for a Goldreich-Sridhar (GS) spectrum of anisotropic, incompressible, magnetohydrodynamic turbulence are calculated in the quasilinear approximation. Because the small-scale fluctuations are constrained to have wave vectors nearly perpendicular to the background magnetic field, scattering is too weak to provide either the mean-free paths commonly used in Galactic cosmic-ray propagation models or the mean-free paths required for acceleration of cosmic rays at quasiparallel shocks. Where strong pitch-angle scattering occurs, it is due to fluctuations not described by the GS spectrum, such as fluctuations generated by streaming cosmic rays.     

Weak magnetohydrodynamic turbulence of a magnetized plasma

A weak turbulence of the magnetohydrodynamic waves in a strongly magnetized plasma was studied in the case when the plasma pressure is small as compared to the magnetic field pressure. In this case, the principal nonlinear mechanism is the resonance scattering of fast magnetoacoustic and Alfvén waves on slow magnetoacoustic waves. Since the former waves are high-frequency (HF) with respect to the latter, the total number of HF waves in the system is conserved (adiabatic invariant). In the weak turbulence regime, this integral of motion generates a Kolmogorov spectrum with a constant flux of the number of HF waves toward the longwave region. The shortwave region features a Kolmogorov spectrum with a constant energy flux. An exact angular dependence of the turbulence spectra is determined for the wave propagation angles close to the average magnetic field direction.     

Lagrangian Markovianized field approximation for turbulence

In a previous communication (W.J.T. Bos and J.-P. Bertoglio 2006, Phys. Fluids, 18, 031706), a self-consistent Markovian triadic closure was presented. The detailed derivation of this closure is given here, relating it to the Direct Interaction Approximation and Quasi-Normal types of closure. The time-scale needed to obtain a self-consistent closure for both the energy spectrum and the scalar variance spectrum is determined by evaluating the correlation between the velocity and an advected displacement vector-field. The relation between this latter correlation and the velocity–scalar correlation is stressed, suggesting a simplified model of the latter. The resulting closed equations are numerically integrated and results for the energy spectrum, scalar fluctuation spectrum and velocity–displacement correlation spectrum are presented for low, unity and high values of the Schmidt number.     

The adiabatic approximation as a diagnostic tool for torsion-vibration dynamics

The adiabatic separation of large-amplitude torsional motion from small-amplitude vibrations is applied as an aid in interpreting the results of fully coupled quantum calculations on a model methanol Hamiltonian. Comparison is made with prior work on nitromethane [D. Cavagnat, L. Lespade, J. Chem. Phys. 106 (1997) 7946]. Even though the torsional potentials are very different, both molecules show a transition from adiabatic to diabatic behavior when the CH stretch is excited to ν_CH = 4 or higher. In the adiabatic approximation, the effective torsional potentials for the various CH stretch vibrational states do not cross, but the CH vibrational amplitude moves from one bond to the next as a function of torsional angle. In the diabatic approximation, the effective torsional potentials do cross, but the distribution of the CH vibrational amplitude remains approximately constant in the vicinity of the crossing. The transition to diabatic behavior is promoted by the normal mode to local mode transition, and the relevant adiabatic and diabatic effective torsional potentials are determined by the torsion-vibration coupling. The torsion-vibration couplings in the four overtone manifolds considered (methanol OH, CH, nitromethane CH, and hydrogen peroxide OH) are large, reaching 265-500 cm⁻¹ by ν_XH = 6, and are of generally similar magnitude. The largest torsion-vibration couplings involve the first Fourier term in the torsional angle (cosγ for the CH stretch in methanol and the OH stretch in HOOH), whereas higher Fourier terms (cos2γ in nitromethane and cos3γ for the OH stretch of methanol) result in somewhat weaker coupling. Nonadiabatic matrix elements in methanol couple the torsional and vibrational energies and they exhibit a slow fall-off with coupling order.     

Inertial range spectrum of a fractal model for turbulence

The present study deals with a model for 3D turbulence which is based on a fractal set ink-space (massM(k)logk, i.e.d _f=0). The energy spectrumE(_k) is calculated by a method similar to the Monte Carlo renormalization technique of Ma [1]. To apply this we decouple the set into next-neighbour pairs of energy shells.E _k is calculated iteratively by simulating the pairs. Their rough scales are forced and their fine scales are damped by an eddy viscosity ^e. We start in the viscous range where ^e is neglected. An intertial range shows up with a spectrumE(k)k^–, =1.68±0.07, and an eddy viscosity ^e(k)k ^-,=1.3±. The possible benefit for the simulation of turbulent flows is pointed out.     

The inertial range spectrum for a caviton model of Langmuir turbulence

We calculate the spectral index for the Langmuir turbulence spectrum, assuming that the bulk of the energy is contained within a set of strongly flattened, non-interacting cavitons which are subject to supersonic collapse, which preserves the plasmon number in the caviton, as well as an intability, also plasmon conserving, causing splitting. The spectral index, which in the absence of splitting is $\text{-5}\text{2}$, increases when there is splitting, corresponding to a considerable flattening of the spectrum in the inertial range; if the splitting leads to two new cavitons, the resulting index is -1.73.     

Characterization of nondiffusive transport in plasma turbulence via a novel Lagrangian method

A novel method to probe and characterize the nature of the transport of passive scalars carried out by a turbulent flow is introduced. It requires the determination of two exponents which encapsulate the statistical and correlation properties of the component of interest of the Lagrangian velocities of the flow. Numerical simulations of a magnetically confined, near-critical turbulent plasma, known to exhibit superdiffusive radial transport, are used to illustrate the method. It is shown that the method can easily detect the change in the dynamics of the radial transport that takes place after adding to the simulations a (subdominant) diffusive channel of tunable strength.     

Mean magnetic field and noise cross-correlation in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence: results from a one-dimensional model

We show that a recently proposed [J. Fleischer, P.H. Diamond, Phys. Rev. E 58, R2709 (1998)] one-dimensional Burgers-like model for magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is in effect identical to existing models for drifting lines and sedimenting lattices. We use the model to demonstrate, contrary to claims in the literature, that the energy spectrum of MHD turbulence should be independent of mean magnetic field and that cross-correlations between the noise sources for the velocity and magnetic fields cannot change the structure of the equations under renormalisation. We comment on the scaling and the multiscaling properties of the stochastically forced version of the model. Received 29 October 1998 and Received in final form 8 December 1998     

Lagrangian boundary condition and non-linear propagation as causes of Gaussian noise spectrum deformation

In this paper a novel analytical method of spectral analysis for acoustic Gaussian noise signals propagated in lossless fluids is presented. The starting point for theoretical considerations is the “input” signal transformation given by Earnshaw's parametric solution. By using a method of parameter elimination, based upon the filtering property of the delta function and its spectral representation, and utilizing a new theorem concerning continuous stochastic processes, an integral formula which allows one to map the power spectrum of the input signal (i.e., the boundary condition of Lagrange or the boundary condition of Euler) into the power spectrum of the particle velocity for an arbitrary point of the acoustic field (before the shock formation), is derived. The final formulae are well-adapted to numerical calculations of “output” spectra by electronic means.