Local relaxation and scale-dependent alignment in compressible, magnetized turbulence

Abstract

Driven net- and no-net-flux MHD turbulence simulations up to $10,368^3$ reveal sign-mixed velocity-magnetic, velocity-vorticity, and magnetic-current aligned patches below the energy equipartition scale. The first two angles scale as $\hat{I}{»}^{1/8}$ and $\hat{I}{»}^{1/16}$, while magnetic-current alignment varies weakly with scale. We develop and test a constant-flux transport model for departures from relaxed states, which predicts both exponents. These findings affect eddy anisotropy, reconnection-mediated turbulence onset, large-scale dynamos, and the nature of magnetized turbulence.

6 pages main text. 3 main figures. 14 pages total. 2 figures in Supp. Material. Submitted to PRL