2008/07/31 by Frank Stefani, Agris Gailitis, A. Gailītis +2
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #astro-ph #physics.flu-dyn
paper · pdf · doi:10.1002/zamm.200800102
published as Z. Angew. Math. Mech. 88, 930-954, 2008 · 25 pages, 26 figures, to appear in ZAMM
arxiv created 2008/10/13 · openalex publication_date 2008/11/25 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Abstract It is widely known that cosmic magnetic fields, i.e. the fields of planets, stars, and galaxies, are produced by the hydromagnetic dynamo effect in moving electrically conducting fluids. It is less well known that cosmic magnetic fields play also an active role in cosmic structure formation by enabling outward transport of angular momentum in accretion disks via the magnetorotational instability (MRI). Considerable theoretical and computational progress has been made in understanding both processes. In addition to this, the last ten years have seen tremendous efforts in studying both effects in liquid metal experiments. In 1999, magnetic field self‐excitation was observed in the large scale liquid sodium facilities in Riga and Karlsruhe. Recently, self‐excitation was also obtained in the French “von Kármán sodium” (VKS) experiment. An MRI‐like mode was found on the background of a turbulent spherical Couette flow at the University of Maryland. Evidence for MRI as the first instability of an hydrodynamically stable flow was obtained in the “Potsdam Rossendorf Magnetic Instability Experiment” (PROMISE). In this review, the history of dynamo and MRI related experiments is delineated, and some directions of future work are discussed.