Mean Field Dynamo: Beyond MHD
摘要
Magnetic fields pervade the entire universe, including even extremely weakly ionized regions. The generation and sustenance of the magnetic fields is an attendant important issue in such systems. In a multi-fluid system such as a partially ionized plasma, the magnetic induction is subjected to the ambipolar diffusion and the Hall effect in addition to the usual advective and resistive dissipation processes. The Hall effect arises from the treatment of the electrons and the ions as two separate fluids. The ambipolar diffusion arises due to the inclusion of neutrals as the third fluid with consequent ion-neutral drag. Mean field dynamo is one of the most acceptable mechanisms of the generation of large-scale field from small scale field fluctuations in a turbulent plasma. In this talk I shall discuss the mean field dynamo mechanism in a weakly ionized turbulent plasma. It is shown that these non-ideal effects modify the so-called coefficients \(\alpha \) , \(\beta \) of the mean field dynamo in a rather substantial way. The Hall effect may enhance or quench the dynamo action altogether. The ambipolar diffusion brings in a contribution to \(\alpha \) which depends on the mean magnetic field. The new correlations embodying the coupling of the charged fluids and the neutral fluid appear in a decisive manner. The turbulence is necessarily magnetohydrodynamic with new spatial and time-scales. The nature of the new correlations is demonstrated by taking the Alfvénic turbulence as an example. An illustrative example of magnetic field configuration resulting due to these beyond MHD effects is given.