Shearing box simulations in the Rayleigh unstable regime

Abstract

We study the stability properties of Rayleigh unstable flows both in the purely hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) regimes for two different values of the shear q = 2.1, 4.2 (q = −dln Ω/dln r) and compare it with the Keplerian case q = 1.5. We find that the q > 2 regime is unstable both in the hydrodynamic and in the MHD limit (with an initially weak magnetic field). In this regime, the velocity fluctuations dominate the magnetic fluctuations. In contrast, in the q < 2 [magnetorotational instability (MRI)] regime, the magnetic fluctuations dominate. This highlights two different paths to MHD turbulence implied by the two regimes, suggesting that in the q > 2 regime, the instability produces primarily velocity fluctuations that cause magnetic fluctuations, with the causality reversed for the q < 2 MRI unstable regime. We also find that the magnetic field correlation is increasingly localized as the shear is increased in the Rayleigh unstable regime. In calculating the time evolution of spatial averages of different terms in the MHD equations, we find that the q > 2 regime is dominated by terms that are non-linear in the fluctuations, whereas for q < 2, the linear terms play a more significant role.