Two-dimensional behavior of three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic flow with a strong guiding field

The magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations in the presence of a guiding magnetic field are investigated by means of direct numerical simulations. The basis of the investigation consists of nine runs forced at the small scales. The results demonstrate that for a large enough uniform magnetic field the large scale flow behaves as a two-dimensional (2D) (non-MHD) fluid exhibiting an inverse cascade of energy in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field, while the small scales behave like a three-dimensional (3D) MHD fluid cascading the energy forwards. The amplitude of the inverse cascade is sensitive to the magnetic field amplitude, the domain size, the forcing mechanism, and the forcing scale. All these dependences are demonstrated by the varying parameters of the simulations. Furthermore, in the case that the system is forced anisotropically in the small parallel scales an inverse cascade in the parallel direction is observed that is feeding the 2D modes k(parallel to) = 0.