Guseva, A, Willis, AP, Hollerbach, R et al. (1 more author) (2015) Transition to magnetorotational turbulence in Taylor-Couette flow with imposed azimuthal magnetic field. New Journal of Physics, 17. 093018. ISSN 1367-2630
Abstract
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) is thought to be a powerful source of turbulence and momentum transport in astrophysical accretion discs, but obtaining observational evidence of its operation is challenging. Recently, laboratory experi-ments of Taylor–Couette flow with externally imposed axial and azimuthal magnetic fields have revealed the kinematic and dynamic properties of the MRI close to the instability onset. While good agreement was found with linear stability analyses, little is known about the transition to turbulence and transport properties of the MRI. We here report on a numerical investigation of the MRI with an imposed azimuthal magnetic field. We show that the laminar Taylor–Couette flow becomes unstable to a wave rotating in the azimuthal direction and standing in the axial direction via a supercritical Hopf bifurcation. Subsequently, the flow features a catastrophic transition to spatio-temporal defects which is mediated by a subcritical subharmonic Hopf bifurcation. Our results are in qualitative agreement with the PROMISE ex-periment and dramatically extend their realizable parameter range. We find that as the Reynolds number increases defects accumulate and grow into turbulence, yet the momentum transport scales weakly.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2015, IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. |
Keywords: | Magnetorotational instability; Taylor–Couette flow; MHD |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Mathematics (Leeds) > Applied Mathematics (Leeds) The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Mathematics and Statistics (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 18 Sep 2015 08:54 |
Last Modified: | 16 Nov 2015 11:49 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/17/9/093018 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | IOP Publishing |
Identification Number: | 10.1088/1367-2630/17/9/093018 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:89975 |