1999/04/26 by Mattias Christensson, Mark Hindmarsh · 2 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Physics and Astronomy · #Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies #Ionosphere and magnetosphere dynamics #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.60.063001
published as Phys.Rev. D60 (1999) 063001 · 12 pages, 2 figures
arxiv created 1999/04/26 · openalex publication_date 1999/08/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
There is a reformulation of magnetohydrodynamics in which the fundamental dynamical quantities are the positions and velocities of the lines of magnetic flux in the plasma, which turn out to obey equations of motion very much like ideal strings. We use this approach to study the evolution of a primordial magnetic field generated during the radiation-dominated era in the early universe. Causality dictates that the field lines form a tangled random network, and the string-like equations of motion, plus the assumption of perfect reconnection, inevitably lead to a self-similar solution for the magnetic field power spectrum. We present the predicted form of the power spectrum, and discuss insights gained from the string approximation, in particular the implications for the existence or nonexistence of an inverse cascade.