Symmetry-Breaking Convective Dynamos in Spherical Shells

Abstract

The convective dynamo is the generation of a magnetic field by the convective motion of an electrically conducting fluid. We assume a spherical domain and spherically invariant basic equations and boundary conditions. The initial state of rest is then spherically symmetric. A first instability leads to purely convective flows, the pattern of which is selected according to the known classification of O(3) -symmetry-breaking bifurcation theory. A second instability can then lead to the dynamo effect. Computing this instability is now a purely numerical problem, because the convective flow is known only by its numerical approximation. However, since the convective flow can still possess a nontrivial symmetry group G0 , this is again a symmetry-breaking bifurcation problem. After having determined numerically the critical linear magnetic modes, we determine the action of G0 in the space of these critical modes. Applying methods of equivariant bifurcation theory, we can classify the pattern selection rules in the dynamo bifurcation. We consider various aspect ratios of the spherical fluid domain, corresponding to different convective patterns, and we are able to describe the symmetry and generic properties of the bifurcated magnetic fields.