A Spherical Plasma Dynamo Experiment

Abstract

We propose a plasma experiment to be used to investigate fundamental properties of astrophysical dynamos. The highly conducting, fast-flowing plasma will allow experimenters to explore systems with magnetic Reynolds numbers an order of magnitude larger than those accessible with liquid-metal experiments. The plasma is confined using a ring-cusp strategy and subject to a toroidal differentially rotating outer boundary condition. As proof of principle, we present magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the proposed experiment. When a von Kármán-type boundary condition is specified, and the magnetic Reynolds number is large enough, dynamo action is observed. At different values of the magnetic Prandtl and Reynolds numbers the simulations demonstrate either laminar or turbulent dynamo action.

References in corpus (8)

• Generation of magnetic field by dynamo action in a turbulent flow of liquid sodium
• Simulations of nonhelical hydromagnetic turbulence
• Numerical demonstration of fluctuation dynamo at low magnetic Prandtl numbers
• Generation of Magnetic Field by Combined Action of Turbulence and Shear
• Numerical simulations of current generation and dynamo excitation in a mechanically-forced, turbulent flow
• Impact of impellers on the axisymmetric magnetic mode in the VKS2 dynamo experiment
• Bypassing Cowling's theorem in axisymmetric fluid dynamos
• Transport of magnetic field by a turbulent flow of liquid sodium

Cited by in corpus (20)

• Helical magnetorotational instability in a Taylor-Couette flow with strongly reduced Ekman pumping
• A Heuristic Framework for Next-Generation Models of Geostrophic Convective Turbulence
• The Wisconsin Plasma Astrophysics Laboratory
• Pressure-anisotropy-driven microturbulence and magnetic-field evolution in shearing, collisionless plasma
• The Madison plasma dynamo experiment: a facility for studying laboratory plasma astrophysics
• Rossby and Magnetic Prandtl Number Scaling of Stellar Dynamos
• Stirring Unmagnetized Plasma
• Models of magnetic-field evolution and effective viscosity in weakly collisional extragalactic plasmas
• The dynamo effect in decaying helical turbulence
• Magnetic dynamo action at low magnetic Prandtl numbers
• Flow dynamics and magnetic induction in the von-Karman plasma experiment
• Dependence of magnetic field generation by thermal convection on the rotation rate: a case study
• The critical role of magnetic helicity in astrophysical large-scale dynamos
• The Mochi.LabJet experiment for measurements of canonical helicity injection in a laboratory astrophysical jet
• Optimized boundary driven flows for dynamos in a sphere
• Resistive and ferritic-wall plasma dynamos in a sphere
• Numerical simulation of laminar plasma dynamos in a cylindrical von Kármán flow
• Fast dynamos in spherical boundary-driven flows
• Self-consistent simulations of a von Kármán type dynamo in a spherical domain with metallic walls
• Effect of metallic walls on dynamos generated by laminar boundary-driven flow in a spherical domain