Numerical simulation of the wave turbulence on the surface of a ferrofluid in a horizontal magnetic field

The turbulence of capillary waves on the surface of a ferrofluid with a high permeability in a horizontal magnetic field is considered in the framework of a one-dimensional weakly nonlinear model. In the limit of a strong magnetic field, the surface waves under study can propagate without distortions along or against the direction of external field, i.e., similar to Alfven waves in a perfectly conducing fluid. The interaction of counter-propagating nonlinear waves leads to the development of wave turbulence on the surface of the liquid. The computational data show that the spectrum of turbulence is divided into two parts: a low-frequency dispersionless region, where the magnetic forces dominate and a high-frequency dispersive one, in which the influence of capillary forces becomes significant. In the first region, the spectrum of the surface elevation has the same exponent in k and omega domains and its value is close to - 3.5, what is in a good agreement with the estimation obtained from the dimensional analysis of the weak turbulence spectra. At the high frequencies, the computed spatial spectrum of the surface waves is close to k(-5/2) which corresponds to omega(-5/3) in terms of the frequency. This spectrum does not coincide with the Zakharov-Filonenko spectrum obtained for pure capillary waves. A possible explanation of this fact is in the influence of coherent structures (like shock waves) usually arising in media with weak dispersion.