A turbulence model for magnetohydrodynamic plasmas

Abstract

The statistical theory of inhomogeneous turbulence is applied to develop a system of model equations for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. The statistical descriptors of MHD turbulence are taken to be the turbulent MHD energy, its dissipation rate, the turbulent cross helicity (velocity-magnetic field correlation), turbulent MHD residual energy (difference between the kinetic and magnetic energies), and turbulent residual helicity (difference between the kinetic and current helicities). Evolution equations for these statistical quantities are coupled to the mean-field dynamics. The model is applied to two MHD-plasma phenomena: turbulence evolution with prescribed mean velocity and magnetic fields in the solar wind, and mean flow generation in the presence of a mean magnetic field and cross helicity in tokamak plasmas. These applications support the validity of the turbulence model. In the presence of a mean magnetic field, turbulence dynamics should be subject to combined effects of nonlinearity and Alfvén waves; consequences for the dissipation rate of MHD residual energy are discussed.