A Taylor-Couette Dynamo

Abstract

Recent experiments have shown that it is possible to study a fundamental astrophysical process such as dynamo action in controlled laboratory conditions using simple MHD flows. In this paper we explore the possibility that Taylor-Couette flow, already proposed as a model of the magneto-rotational instability of accretion discs, can sustain generation of magnetic field. Firstly, by solving the kinematic dynamo problem, we identify the region of parameter space where the magnetic field's growth rate is higher. Secondly, by solving simultaneously the coupled nonlinear equations which govern velocity field and magnetic field, we find a self-consistent nonlinearly saturated dynamo.

5 pages, 11 figures. To appear in Astron. Astrophys

References in corpus (4)

• Magnetic Field Saturation in the Riga Dynamo Experiment
• Magnetorotational Instability in a Rotating Liquid Metal Annulus
• MHD instability in differentially rotating cylindric flows
• Nonlinear States of the Screw Dynamo

Cited by in corpus (15)

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• Numerical Simulations of Dynamos Generated in Spherical Couette Flows
• Transition to magnetorotational turbulence in Taylor--Couette flow with imposed azimuthal magnetic field
• Dynamo Action in a Quasi-Keplerian Taylor-Couette Flow
• Analog of Astrophysical Magnetorotational Instability in a Couette-Taylor Flow of Polymer Fluids
• Taylor-Couette flow for astrophysical purposes
• Taylor-Couette Flow of Unmagnetized Plasma
• Legolas: magnetohydrodynamic spectroscopy with viscosity and Hall current
• Enhanced dynamo growth in nonhomogeneous conducting fluids
• Nonlinear dynamo in a short Taylor-Couette setup
• Kinematic dynamo in spherical Couette flow
• High-speed shear driven dynamos. Part 2. Numerical analysis
• Bound of dissipation on a plane Couette dynamo
• Spectral method for matching exterior and interior elliptic problems
• Flows and dynamos in a model of stellar radiative zones