Lagrangian coherent structures in nonlinear dynamos

Abstract

Turbulence and chaos play a fundamental role in stellar convective zones through the transport of particles, energy, and momentum, and in fast dynamos, through the stretching, twisting, and folding of magnetic flux tubes. A particularly revealing way to describe turbulent motions is through the analysis of Lagrangian coherent structures (LCSs), which are material lines or surfaces that act as transport barriers in the fluid. We report the detection of LCSs in helical MHD dynamo simulations with scale separation. In an Arnold-Beltrami- Childress flow, two dynamo regimes, a propagating coherent mean-field regime and an intermittent regime, are identified as the magnetic diffusivity is varied. The sharp contrast between the chaotic tangle of attracting and repelling LCSs in both regimes permits a unique analysis of the impact of the magnetic field on the velocity field. In a second example, LCSs reveal the link between the level of chaotic mixing of the velocity field and the saturation of a large-scale dynamo when the magnetic field exceeds the equipartition value. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.