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

2025/04/22 by James R. Beattie, A. Bhattacharjee, Beattie, James R. +1
Physics and Astronomy · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #Geophysics and Gravity Measurements #Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2504.15538

Abstract

Driven net- and no-net-flux MHD turbulence simulations up to 10, 368³ reveal sign-mixed velocity-magnetic, velocity-vorticity, and magnetic-current aligned patches below the energy equipartition scale. The first two angles scale as λ^1/8 and λ^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.

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