How magnetic helicity ejection helps large scale dynamos

Abstract

There is mounting evidence that the ejection of magnetic helicity from the solar surface is important for the solar dynamo. Observations suggest that in the northern hemisphere the magnetic helicity flux is negative. We propose that this magnetic helicity flux is mostly due to small scale magnetic fields; in contrast to the more systematic large scale field of the 11 year cycle, whose helicity flux may be of opposite sign, and may be excluded from the observational interpretation. Using idealized simulations of MHD turbulence as well as a simple two-scale model, we show that shedding small scale (helical) field has two important effects. (i) The strength of the large scale field reaches the observed levels. (ii) The evolution of the large scale field proceeds on time scales shorter than the resistive time scale, as would otherwise be enforced by magnetic helicity conservation. In other words, the losses ensure that the solar dynamo is always in the near-kinematic regime. This requires, however, that the ratio of small scale to large scale losses cannot be too small, for otherwise the large scale field in the near-kinematic regime will not reach the observed values.

10 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Adv. Space Sci. (Cospar 2002, ed. Buchner)

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Cited by in corpus (8)

• Astrophysical magnetic fields and nonlinear dynamo theory
• The solar magnetic field
• Scale-dependence of magnetic helicity in the solar wind
• Two-scale analysis of solar magnetic helicity
• Bihelical spectrum of solar magnetic helicity and its evolution
• Spatio-temporal non-localities in a solar-like mean-field dynamo
• Importance of magnetic helicity in dynamos
• From convective to stellar dynamos