Journal
PHYSICAL REVIEW E
Volume 87, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
AMER PHYSICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.87.013110
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- NSF
- Office of Science of the Department of Energy [DE-AC05-00OR22725]
- NCAR Geophysical Turbulence Program
- European Research Council under the European Community [240579]
- [SF564]
- European Research Council (ERC) [240579] Funding Source: European Research Council (ERC)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
We investigate the ideal and incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations in three space dimensions for the development of potentially singular structures. The methodology consists in implementing the fourfold symmetries of the Taylor-Green vortex generalized to MHD, leading to substantial computer time and memory savings at a given resolution; we also use a regridding method that allows for lower-resolution runs at early times, with no loss of spectral accuracy. One magnetic configuration is examined at an equivalent resolution of 6144(3) points and three different configurations on grids of 4096(3) points. At the highest resolution, two different current and vorticity sheet systems are found to collide, producing two successive accelerations in the development of small scales. At the latest time, a convergence of magnetic field lines to the location of maximum current is probably leading locally to a strong bending and directional variability of such lines. A novel analytical method, based on sharp analysis inequalities, is used to assess the validity of the finite-time singularity scenario. This method allows one to rule out spurious singularities by evaluating the rate at which the logarithmic decrement of the analyticity-strip method goes to zero. The result is that the finite-time singularity scenario cannot be ruled out, and the singularity time could be somewhere between t = 2.33 and t = 2.70. More robust conclusions will require higher resolution runs and grid-point interpolation measurements of maximum current and vorticity.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available