1. Efficient highly-subsonic turbulent dynamo and growth of primordial magnetic fields
- Author
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Chirakkara, Radhika Achikanath, Federrath, Christoph, Trivedi, Pranjal, and Banerjee, Robi
- Subjects
Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics ,High Energy Physics - Phenomenology ,Physics - Fluid Dynamics - Abstract
We present the first study on the amplification of magnetic fields by the turbulent dynamo in the highly subsonic regime, with Mach numbers ranging from $10^{-3}$ to $0.4$. We find that for the lower Mach numbers the saturation efficiency of the dynamo, $(E_{\mathrm{mag}}/E_{\mathrm{kin}})_{\mathrm{sat}}$, increases as the Mach number decreases. Even in the case when injection of energy is purely through longitudinal forcing modes, $(E_{\mathrm{mag}}/E_{\mathrm{kin}})_{\mathrm{sat}}$ $\gtrsim 10^{-2}$ at a Mach number of $10^{-3}$. We apply our results to magnetic field amplification in the early Universe and predict that a turbulent dynamo can amplify primordial magnetic fields to $\gtrsim$ $10^{-16}$ Gauss on scales up to 0.1 pc and $\gtrsim$ $10^{-13}$ Gauss on scales up to 100 pc. This produces fields compatible with lower limits of the intergalactic magnetic field inferred from blazar $\gamma$-ray observations., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2021
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