Properties of balanced and imbalanced relativistic alfvénic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

Abstract

When the magnetic field is so strong that the magnetic energy density is much larger than that of matter, magnetic perturbations propagate along the magnetic field lines, and the speed of propagation approaches the speed of light. As in the non-relativistic case, counter-traveling waves in this relativistic limit can interact and generate turbulence. In the present paper, we discuss the properties of the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence generated by such interactions. First, we discuss the scaling relations for driven, balanced, relativistic MHD turbulence, in which the amplitudes of counter-traveling wave packets are similar. Second, we discuss the scaling relations of imbalanced relativistic MHD turbulence, in which the amplitudes of counter-traveling wave packets are different. Numerical simulations show that the scaling relations of relativistic MHD turbulence for both cases are very similar to those for their non-relativistic counterparts.