Enhancement and Suppression of Heat Transfer by MHD Turbulence

Abstract

We study of the effect of turbulence on heat transfer within magnetized plasmas for energy injection velocities both larger and smaller that the Alfven speed. We find that in the latter regime the heat transfer is partially suppressed, while in the former regime the effects of turbulence depend on the intensity of driving. In fact, the scale l at which the turbulent velocity is equal the Alfven velocity is a new important parameter. When the electron mean free path is larger than l, the stronger the the turbulence, the lower thermal conductivity by electrons is. The turbulent motions, however, induces their own advective heat transport, which, for the parameters of intracluster medium (ICM) provides effective heat diffusivity that exceeds the classical Spitzer value.