Energy partition between Alfvenic and compressive fluctuations in magnetorotational turbulence with near-azimuthal mean magnetic field

The theory of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence predicts that Alfvenic and slow-mode-like compressive fluctuations are energetically decoupled at small scales in the inertial range. The partition of energy between these fluctuations determines the nature of dissipation, which, in many astrophysical systems, happens on scales where plasma is collisionless. However, when the magnetorotational instability (MRI) drives the turbulence, it is difficult to resolve numerically the scale at which both types of fluctuations start to be decoupled because the MRI energy injection occurs in a broad range of wavenumbers, and both types of fluctuations are usually expected to be coupled even at relatively small scales. In this study, we focus on collisional MRI turbulence threaded by a near-azimuthal mean magnetic field, which is naturally produced by the differential rotation of a disc. We show that, in such a case, the decoupling scales are reachable using a reduced MHD model that includes differential-rotation effects. In our reduced MHD model, the Alfvenic and compressive fluctuations are coupled only through the linear terms that are proportional to the angular velocity of the accretion disc. We numerically solve for the turbulence in this model and show that the Alfvenic and compressive fluctuations are decoupled at the small scales of our simulations as the nonlinear energy transfer dominates the linear coupling below the MRI-injection scale. In the decoupling scales, the energy flux of compressive fluctuations contained in the small scales is almost double that of Alfvenic fluctuations. Finally, we discuss the application of this result to prescriptions of ion-to-electron heating ratio in hot accretion flows.

Automated summary

The theory of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence predicts that Alfvenic and compressive fluctuations are energetically decoupled at small scales. This study shows that the decoupling scales can be reached using a reduced MHD model with differential-rotation effects in collisional MRI turbulence. Numerical simulations demonstrate the decoupling of Alfvenic and compressive fluctuations at small scales, with the energy flux of compressive fluctuations being almost double that of Alfvenic fluctuations.