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Flow and magnetic structures in a kinematic ABC-dynamo

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Abstract

Dynamo theory describes the magnetic field induced by the rotating, convecting and electrically conducting fluid in a celestial body. The classical ABC-flow model represents fast dynamo action, required to sustain such a magnetic field. In this letter, Lagrangian coherent structures (LCSs) in the ABC-flow are detected through Finite-time Lyapunov exponents (FTLE). The flow skeleton is identified by extracting intersections between repelling and attracting LCSs. For the case A = B = C = 1, the skeleton structures are made up from lines connecting two different types of stagnation points in the ABC-flow. The corresponding kinematic ABC-dynamo problem is solved using a spectral method, and the distribution of cigar-like magnetic structures visualized. Inherent links are found to exist between LCSs in the ABC-flow and induced magnetic structures, which provides insight into the mechanism behind the ABC-dynamo.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Tao Zhang, ZhiLiang Lin & ChenYang Huang

  2. Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Ship and Deep-Sea Exploration, Shanghai, 200240, China

    ZhiLiang Lin

  3. School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JL, UK

    Alistair G. L. Borthwick

Authors
  1. Tao Zhang
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  2. ZhiLiang Lin
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  3. ChenYang Huang
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  4. Alistair G. L. Borthwick
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to ZhiLiang Lin.

Additional information

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51979162).

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Zhang, T., Lin, Z., Huang, C. et al. Flow and magnetic structures in a kinematic ABC-dynamo. Sci. China Phys. Mech. Astron. 63, 284712 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-019-1568-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-019-1568-x

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