Is Nonhelical Hydromagnetic Turbulence Peaked at Small Scales?

Abstract

Nonhelical hydromagnetic turbulence without an imposed magnetic field is considered in the case where the magnetic Prandtl number is unity. The magnetic field is entirely due to dynamo action. The magnetic energy spectrum peaks at a wavenumber of about 5 times the minimum wavenumber in the domain, and not at the resistive scale, as has previously been argued. Throughout the inertial range, the spectral magnetic energy exceeds the kinetic energy by a factor of about 2.5, and both spectra are approximately parallel. At first glance, the total energy spectrum seems to be close to k-3/2, but there is a strong bottleneck effect and it is suggested that the asymptotic spectrum is k-5/3. This is supported by the value of the second-order structure function exponent that is found to be ?2 = 0.70, suggesting a k-1.70 spectrum.