The estimations of magnetic field fluctuations in turbulent atmospheres

¹ Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica, Apartado Postal 51 y 216, Z.P. 72000, Pue. México
² Main Astronomical Observatory of Russian Academy of Sciences, 196140 St. Petersburg, Russia

Received: 18 May 2000
Accepted: 29 November 2000

Abstract

We qualitatively analyze the equations of the magnetohydrodynamics for various quadratic fluctuations of the magnetic field and the vector potential. For the stationary inhomogeneous state, we have established the exact integral relations between the magnetic field fluctuations and the mean magnetic field . We estimate , where η and β are the ohmic (molecular) and turbulent diffusivities, respectively. The α -coefficient describes the enhancement of the mean magnetic field. We found that the exact Seehafer formula is also valid for the locally stationary and homogeneous evolution of magnetic fluctuations ( is the Euler turbulent velocity). It is shown that the usual α-coefficient, more correctly the term , presents with opposite signs in equations for and , i.e. the rate of increase of the total magnetic energy does not depend directly on this coefficient. We show that at the moment t_b of the maximum of magnetic fluctuations, . The same also holds for the locally homogeneous and stationary regime if the spectrum of the turbulence has a slow decrease in the inertial region of wave numbers. The detailed analysis of two-dimensional turbulence has shown that the Zeldovich estimate is valid only at the maximum of the vector potential fluctuations. This estimate is corrected such that at t_b it also gives . We also give the approximate expression for the α-coefficient which takes into account the back reaction of the mean magnetic field onto the turbulence itself.