αΩ Dynamo Research Articles

A large-scale magnetic field produced by a solar-like dynamo in binary neutron star mergers

The merger of two neutron stars launches a relativistic jet, which must be driven by a strong large-scale magnetic field. However, the magnetohydrodynamical mechanism required to build up this magnetic field remains uncertain. By performing an ab initio super-high-resolution neutrino-radiation magnetohydrodynamics merger simulation in full general relativity, we show that the αΩ dynamo mechanism, driven by the magnetorotational instability, builds up the large-scale magnetic field inside the long-lived remnant of the binary neutron star merger. As a result, the magnetic field induces a Poynting-flux-dominated relativistic outflow with an isotropic equivalent luminosity of ~1052 erg s−1 and a magnetically driven post-merger mass ejection of ~0.1 M⊙. Therefore, the magnetar hypothesis, in which an ultra-strongly magnetized neutron star drives a relativistic jet in binary neutron star mergers, is possible. Magnetars can be the engines of short, hard gamma-ray bursts, and they should be associated with very bright kilonovae, which current telescopes could observe. Therefore, this scenario is testable in future observations.

Stellar Cycles in Fully Convective Stars and a New Interpretation of Dynamo Evolution

An αΩ dynamo, combining shear and cyclonic convection in the tachocline, is believed to generate the solar cycle. However, this model cannot explain cycles in fast rotators (with minimal shear) or in fully convective stars (no tachocline); an analysis of these stars could therefore provide key insights into how these cycles work. We reexamine ASAS data for 15 M dwarfs, 11 of which are presumed fully convective; the addition of newer ASAS-SN data confirms cycles in roughly 12 of them, while presenting new or revised rotation periods for 5 stars. The amplitudes and periods of these cycles follow , with P cyc/P rot ∝ Ro −1.02±0.06 (where Ro is the Rossby number), very similar to P cyc/P rot ∝ Ro −0.81±0.17 that we find for 40 previously studied FGK stars, although P cyc/P rot and α are a factor of ∼20 smaller in the M stars. The very different P cyc/P rot–Ro relation seen here compared to previous work suggests that two types of dynamo, with opposite Ro dependences, operate in cool stars. Initially, a (likely α 2 or α 2Ω) dynamo operates throughout the convective zone in mid- to late-M and fast-rotating FGK stars, but once magnetic breaking decouples the core and convective envelope, a tachocline αΩ dynamo begins and eventually dominates in older FGK stars. A change in α in the tachocline dynamo generates the fundamentally different P cyc/P rot–Ro relation.

Correlation between activity indicators: Hα and Ca II lines in M-dwarf stars

Context. Different approaches have been adopted to study both short- and long-term stellar magnetic activity, and although the mechanisms by which low-mass stars generate large-scale magnetic fields are not well understood, it is known that stellar rotation plays a key role. Aims. There are stars that show a cyclical behaviour in their activity studied on the blue side of the visible spectrum, which can be explained by solar dynamo or αΩ dynamo models. However, when studying late-type dwarf stars, they become redder and it is necessary to implement other indicators to analyse their magnetic activity. In the present work, we perform a comparative study between the best-known activity indicators so far defined from the Ca II and Hα lines to analyse M-dwarf stars. Methods. We studied a sample of 29 M stars with different chromospheric activity levels and spectral classes ranging from dM0 to dM6. To do so, we employed 1796 spectra from different instruments with a median time span of observations of 21 yr. The spectra have a wide spectral range that allowed us to compute the chrosmospheric activity indicators based on Ca II and Hα. In addition, we complemented our data with photometric observations from the TESS space mission for better stellar characterisation and short-term analysis. Results. We obtained a good and significant correlation (ρ = 0.91) between the indexes defined from the two lines for the whole set of stars in the sample. However, we found that there is a deviation for faster rotators (with Prot < 4 days) and higher flare activity (at least one flare per day). For the individual analysis, we found that the indexes computed individually for each star correlate independently of the level of chromospheric emission and the rotation period. Conclusions. There is an overall positive correlation between Ca II and Hα emission in dM stars, except during flare events. In particular, we found that low-energy high-frequency flares could be responsible for the deviation in the linear trend in fast-rotator M dwarfs. This implies that the rotation period could be a fundamental parameter to study the stellar activity and that the rotation could drive the magnetic dynamo in low-mass active stars.

Simulating the magnetorotational instability on a moving mesh with the shearing box approximation

ABSTRACT The magnetorotational instability (MRI) is an important process in sufficiently ionized accretion discs, as it can create turbulence that acts as an effective viscosity, mediating angular momentum transport. Due to its local nature, it is often analysed in the shearing box approximation with Eulerian methods, which otherwise would suffer from large advection errors in global disc simulations. In this work, we report on an extensive study that applies the quasi-Lagrangian, moving-mesh code arepo, combined with the Dedner cleaning scheme to control deviations from $\nabla \cdot \boldsymbol B=0$, to the problem of magnetized flows in shearing boxes. We find that we can resolve the analytical linear growth rate of the MRI with mean background magnetic field well. In the zero net flux case, there is a threshold value for the strength of the divergence cleaning above which the turbulence eventually dies out, and in contrast to previous Eulerian simulations, the strength of the MRI does not decrease with increasing resolution. In boxes with larger vertical aspect ratio we find a mean-field dynamo, as well as an active shear current effect that can sustain MRI turbulence for at least 200 orbits. In stratified simulations, we obtain an active αω dynamo and the characteristic butterfly diagram. Our results compare well with previous results obtained with static grid codes such as athena. We thus conclude that arepo represents an attractive approach for global disc simulations due to its quasi-Lagrangian nature, and for shearing box simulations with large density variations due to its continuously adaptive resolution.

Evolution of X-Ray Activity in

Measuring the evolution of X-ray emission from pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars gives insight into two issues: the response of magnetic dynamo processes to changes in the interior structure, and the effects of high-energy radiation on protoplanetary disks and primordial planetary atmospheres. We present a sample of 6003 stars with ages 7–25 Myr in 10 nearby open clusters from Chandra X-ray and Gaia-EDR3 surveys. Combined with previous results in large samples of younger (≲5 Myr) stars in MYStIX and SFiNCs star-forming regions, mass-stratified activity-age relations are derived for the early phases of stellar evolution. X-ray luminosity (L X ) is constant during the first few Myr, possibly due to the presence of extended X-ray coronas insensitive to temporal changes in stellar size. L X then decays during the 7–25 Myr period, more rapidly as stellar mass increases. This decay is interpreted as decreasing efficiency of the α 2 dynamo as radiative cores grow and a solar-type αΩ dynamo emerges. For more massive 3.5–7 M ⊙ fully radiative stars, the X-ray emission plummets—indicating the lack of an effective magnetic dynamo. The findings provide improved measurements of high-energy radiation effects on circumstellar material, first for the protoplanetary disk and then for the atmospheres of young planets. The observed X-ray luminosities can be so high that an inner Earth-mass rocky, unmagnetized planet around a solar-mass PMS star might lose its primary and secondary atmospheres within a few (several) million years. PMS X-ray emission may thus have a significant impact on the evolution of early-planetary atmospheres and the conditions promoting the rise of habitability.

Magnetorotational instability with smoothed particle hydrodynamics

The magnetorotational instability (MRI) is an important process in driving turbulence in sufficiently ionized accretion disks. It has been extensively studied using simulations with Eulerian grid codes, but remains fairly unexplored for meshless codes. Here, we present a thorough numerical study on the MRI using the smoothed particle magnetohydrodynamics method with the geometric density average force expression. We performed 37 shearing box simulations with different initial setups and a wide range of resolution and dissipation parameters. We show, for the first time, that MRI with sustained turbulence can be simulated successfully with smoothed-particle hydrodynamics (SPH), with results consistent with prior work with grid-based codes, including saturation properties such as magnetic and kinetic energies and their respective stresses. In particular, for the stratified boxes, our simulations reproduce the characteristic “butterfly” diagram of the MRI dynamo with saturated turbulence for at least 100 orbits. On the contrary, traditional SPH simulations suffer from runaway growth and develop unphysically large azimuthal fields, similar to the results from a recent study with meshless methods. We investigated the dependency of MRI turbulence on the numerical Prandtl number (Pm) in SPH, focusing on the unstratified, zero net-flux case. We found that turbulence can only be sustained with a Prandtl number larger than ∼2.5, similar to the critical values for the physical Prandtl number found in grid-code simulations. However, unlike grid-based codes, the numerical Prandtl number in SPH increases with resolution, and for a fixed Prandtl number, the resulting magnetic energy and stresses are independent of resolution. Mean-field analyses were performed on all simulations, and the resulting transport coefficients indicate no α-effect in the unstratified cases, but an active αω dynamo and a diamagnetic pumping effect in the stratified medium, which are generally in agreement with previous studies. There is no clear indication of a shear-current dynamo in our simulation, which is likely to be responsible for a weaker mean-field growth in the tall, unstratified, zero net-flux simulation.

Impact of anti-solar differential rotation in mean-field solar-type dynamos

Context. Over the course of their lifetimes, the rotation of solar-type stars goes through different phases. Once they reach the zero-age main sequence, their global rotation rate decreases during the main sequence until at least the solar age, approximately following the empirical Skumanich’s law and enabling gyrochronology. Older solar-type stars might then reach a point of transition when they stop braking, according to recent results of asteroseismology. Additionally, recent 3D numerical simulations of solar-type stars show that different regimes of differential rotation can be characterized with the Rossby number. In particular, anti-solar differential rotation (fast poles, slow equator) may exist for high Rossby number (slow rotators). If this regime occurs during the main sequence and, in general, for slow rotators, we may consider how magnetic generation through the dynamo process might be impacted. In particular, we consider whether slowly rotating stars are indeed subject to magnetic cycles. Aims. We aim to understand the magnetic field generation of solar-type stars possessing an anti-solar differential rotation and we focus on the possible existence of magnetic cycles in such stars. Methods. We modeled mean-field kinematic dynamos in solar (fast equator, slow poles) and anti-solar (slow equator, fast poles) differential rotation, using the STELEM code. We consider two types of mean field dynamo mechanisms along with the Ω-effect: the standard α-effect distributed at various locations in the convective envelope and the Babcock-Leighton effect. Results. We find that kinematic αΩ dynamos allow for the presence of magnetic cycles and global polarity reversals for both rotation regimes, but only if the α-effect is saddled on the tachocline. If it is distributed in the convection zone, solar-type cases still possess a cycle and anti-solar cases do not. Conversely, we have not found any possibility for sustaining a magnetic cycle with the traditional Babcock-Leighton flux-transport dynamos in the anti-solar differential rotation regime due to flux addition. Graphic interpretations are proposed in order to illustrate these cases. However, we find that hybrid models containing both prescriptions can still sustain local polarity reversals at some latitudes. Conclusions. We conclude that stars in the anti-solar differential rotation regime can sustain magnetic cycles only for very specific dynamo processes. The detection of a magnetic cycle for such a star would therefore be a particularly interesting constraint in working to decipher what type of dynamo is actually at work in solar-type stars.

Hemispheric Handedness in the Galactic Synchrotron Polarization Foreground

Abstract The large-scale magnetic field of the Milky Way is thought to be created by an αΩ dynamo, which implies that it should have opposite handedness north and south of the Galactic midplane. Here we attempt to detect a variation in handedness using polarization data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Previous analyzes of the parity-even and parity-odd parts of linear polarization of the global dust and synchrotron emission have focused on quadratic correlations in spectral space of, and between, these two components. Here, by contrast, we analyze the parity-odd polarization itself and show that it has, on average, opposite signs in northern and southern Galactic hemispheres. Comparison with a Galactic mean-field dynamo model shows broad qualitative agreement and reveals that the sign of the observed hemispheric dependence of the azimuthally averaged parity-odd polarization is not determined by the sign of α, but by the sense of differential rotation.

Large-scale dynamo action of magnetized Taylor–Couette flows

ABSTRACT A conducting Taylor–Couette flow with quasi-Keplerian rotation law containing a toroidal magnetic field serves as a mean-field dynamo model of the Tayler–Spruit type. The flows are unstable against non-axisymmetric perturbations which form electromotive forces defining α effect and eddy diffusivity. If both degenerated modes with m = ±1 are excited with the same power then the global α effect vanishes and a dynamo cannot work. It is shown, however, that the Tayler instability produces finite α effects if only an isolated mode is considered but this intrinsic helicity of the single-mode is too low for an α2 dynamo. Moreover, an αΩ dynamo model with quasi-Keplerian rotation requires a minimum magnetic Reynolds number of rotation of Rm ≃ 2000 to work. Whether it really works depends on assumptions about the turbulence energy. For a steeper-than-quadratic dependence of the turbulence intensity on the magnetic field, however, dynamos are only excited if the resulting magnetic eddy diffusivity approximates its microscopic value, ηT ≃ η. By basically lower or larger eddy diffusivities the dynamo instability is suppressed.

Stellar dynamos with solar and antisolar differential rotations: Implications to magnetic cycles of slowly rotating stars

ABSTRACT Simulations of magnetohydrodynamics convection in slowly rotating stars predict antisolar differential rotation (DR) in which the equator rotates slower than poles. This antisolar DR in the usual αΩ dynamo model does not produce polarity reversal. Thus, the features of large-scale magnetic fields in slowly rotating stars are expected to be different than stars having solar-like DR. In this study, we perform mean-field kinematic dynamo modelling of different stars at different rotation periods. We consider antisolar DR for the stars having rotation period larger than 30 d and solar-like DR otherwise. We show that with particular α profiles, the dynamo model produces magnetic cycles with polarity reversals even with the antisolar DR provided, the DR is quenched when the toroidal field grows considerably high and there is a sufficiently strong α for the generation of toroidal field. Due to the antisolar DR, the model produces an abrupt increase of magnetic field exactly when the DR profile is changed from solar-like to antisolar. This enhancement of magnetic field is in good agreement with the stellar observational data as well as some global convection simulations. In the solar-like DR branch, with the decreasing rotation period, we find the magnetic field strength increases while the cycle period shortens. Both of these trends are in general agreement with observations. Our study provides additional support for the possible existence of antisolar DR in slowly rotating stars and the presence of unusually enhanced magnetic fields and possibly cycles that are prone to production of superflare.

STELLAR DYNAMOS AND CYCLES FROM NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF CONVECTION

We present a series of kinematic axisymmetric mean-field αΩ dynamo models applicable to solar-type stars, for 20 distinct combinations of rotation rates and luminosities. The internal differential rotation and kinetic helicity profiles required to calculate source terms in these dynamo models are extracted from a corresponding series of global three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of solar/stellar convection, so that the resulting dynamo models end up involving only one free parameter, namely, the turbulent magnetic diffusivity in the convecting layers. Even though the αΩ dynamo solutions exhibit a broad range of morphologies, and sometimes even double cycles, these models manage to reproduce relatively well the observationally inferred relationship between cycle period and rotation rate. On the other hand, they fail in capturing the observed increase of magnetic activity levels with rotation rate. This failure is due to our use of a simple algebraic α-quenching formula as the sole amplitude-limiting nonlinearity. This suggests that α-quenching is not the primary mechanism setting the amplitude of stellar magnetic cycles, with magnetic reaction on large-scale flows emerging as the more likely candidate. This inference is coherent with analyses of various recent global magnetohydrodynamical simulations of solar/stellar convection.

Solar Dynamo and Toroidal Field Instabilities

The possibility of non-axisymmetric (kink) instabilities of a toroidal field seated in the tachocline is much discussed in the literature. In this work, the basic properties of kink and quasi-interchange instabilities, produced by mixed toroidal and poloidal configuration, will be briefly reviewed. In particular, it will be shown that the unstable modes are strongly localized near the Equator and not near the Poles as often claimed in the literature. Based on the results of recent numerical simulations, it is argued that a non-zero helicity can already be produced at a non-linear level. A mean-field solar dynamo is then constructed with a positive α-effect in the overshoot layer localized near the Equator, and a meridional circulation with deep return flow. Finally, the possibility that the solar cycle is driven by an αΩ dynamo generated by the negative subsurface shear in the supergranulation layer will also be discussed.

Connections beween photospheric current helicity, flares and solar subsurface kinetic helicity

The α-effect is central to magnetic field generation in αΩ dynamo theory (Parker, 1955), however, it lacked observational and experimental supports over a long term (Sokoloff, 2007). Mirror asymmetries of magnetic field (magnetic helicity) were not observed until the recent 20 years (Seehafer, 1990; Pevtsov et al., 1995, Bao & Zhang, 1998). Later, the advancement in local helioseismology has made possible the measurements of solar subsurface velocity field and the vorticity (or kinetic helicity) as well (Zhao & Kosovichev, 2003). Apparently, frozen flow with the magnetic field in the fluid of high magnetic Reynold number is a necessary condition for the α-effect in the framework of Parker's dynamo model.

CATASTROPHIC QUENCHING IN αΩ DYNAMOS REVISITED

At large magnetic Reynolds numbers, magnetic helicity evolution plays an important role in astrophysical large-scale dynamos. The recognition of this fact led to the development of the dynamical α quenching formalism, which predicts catastrophically low mean fields in open systems. Here, we show that in oscillatory αΩ dynamos this formalism predicts an unphysical magnetic helicity transfer between scales. An alternative technique is proposed where this artifact is removed by using the evolution equation for the magnetic helicity of the total field in the shearing advective gauge. In the traditional dynamical α quenching formalism, this can be described by an additional magnetic helicity flux of small-scale fields that does not appear in homogeneous α2 dynamos. In αΩ dynamos, the alternative formalism is shown to lead to larger saturation fields than what has been obtained in some earlier models with the traditional formalism. We have compared the predictions of the two formalisms to results of direct numerical simulations, finding that the alternative formulation provides a better fit. This suggests that worries about catastrophic dynamo behavior in the limit of large magnetic Reynolds number are unfounded.

Magnetic helicity fluxes and their effect on stellar dynamos

AbstractMagnetic helicity fluxes in turbulently driven α2 dynamos are studied to demonstrate their ability to alleviate catastrophic quenching. A one-dimensional mean-field formalism is used to achieve magnetic Reynolds numbers of the order of 105. We study both diffusive magnetic helicity fluxes through the mid-plane as well as those resulting from the recently proposed alternate dynamic quenching formalism. By adding shear we make a parameter scan for the critical values of the shear and forcing parameters for which dynamo action occurs. For this αΩ dynamo we find that the preferred mode is antisymmetric about the mid-plane. This is also verified in 3-D direct numerical simulations.

A coupled low order dynamo/turbulent shell model for geomagnetic field variations and reversals

We couple a low order αω dynamo model to a shell model of turbulence, with the dynamo α-effect being identified with the helicity of the shell model. Fluctuations (‘noise’) in this term lead to lognormal-like statistics in the magnetic field, as was noted for inter-reversal duration by Ryan and Sarson (2007). Here we extend the analysis to shorter time-scale field variations (viz. Virtual Axial Dipole Moments, VADMs), and find that a lognormal distribution is also a significant fit for this quantity, both for the output from our model and for the observed paleomagnetic data. This shared lognormality – which Ryan and Sarson (2007) argued arose from a common source in terms of ‘multiplicative noise’ in the underlying dynamo mechanism – makes the synthetic and observed data comparable; we also note some similarities in the patterns of VADM fluctuations (including asymmetric decay and recovery, epitomised in an extreme form by the controversial ‘saw-tooth’ pattern) and in reversal inter-event times (chrons) of widely varying duration. We describe the dynamics behind our coupled model, and discuss the effect of certain model parameters on the synthetic chron durations, including the occurrence of superchrons. Implications for the observed geomagnetic field behaviour are discussed.

A symmetry break in dynamo models

In accordance with the concepts of dynamo theory, largescale magnetic fields of many astrophysical objects are associated with the rotationinduced break of mirror symmetry (1). The rotation of objects and the presence of depth density gradients (∇ρ) turn out to be sufficient for the existence of a correlation between the vertical velocity and the vorticity of small� scale vortices. This correlation results in the nonzero kinetic helicity χ = 〈v · rotv〉, where v is the turbulent velocity and 〈·〉 implies averaging over an ensemble. In the simplest cases, it is considered that, in the same hemisphere, the helicity is of identical sign: in the northern hemisphere, it is negative when the density increases with depth, which is natural for selfgravitat� ing bodies. In the southern hemisphere, the helicity is positive, e.g., χ = -cosϑ (2, 3), where ϑ is the angle with respect to the rotation z axis in the spherical coor� dinate system (r, ϑ, ϕ). The existence of the nonzero helicity χ of the hemispheres significantly simplifies the generation of a largescale magnetic field. At the same time, the helicity is obtained as a result of aver� aging and is subjected to random fluctuations (4), which, in the long run, affects the generation of the magnetic field (5). The source of the fluctuations can be either an insufficient number of vortices over which averaging is performed or the existence of anomalies at the object boundaries, e.g., the appearance of tidal forces in binary stars or the presence of thermal inho� mogeneities at boundaries of the liquid core and the mantle in planets (6). These arguments can lead to the break of antisymmetry χ with respect to the equatorial plane. In the framework of the Parker model for the αω dynamo, we show below that, even for a linear mode, a small nonparity (χ) violation can lead to a sig� nificant symmetry break of the magnetic field in oppo� site hemispheres. We now consider the Parker model often applied to describe processes of the magneticfield generation in various astrophysical objects (1, 7, 8). We below make use of the following equations in a thin spherical shell:

Effects of α-effect fluctuations on simple nonlinear dynamo models

We investigate the interaction of a fluctuating α-effect with large-scale shear in a simple nonlinear one-dimensional dynamo wave model. We firstly extend the calculations of Proctor [Effects of fluctuation on αΩ dynamo models. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 2007, 41, L39–L42] to include spatial variation of the fluctuations, and find that there can be a mechanism for magnetic field generation, even when the mean α is zero, provided the spatiotemporal spectrum of the fluctuations has an appropriate form. We investigate mean-field dynamo action when the new term arising from the fluctuations is non-zero, and present results concerning the stability and frequency of the solutions and parity selection in the nonlinear regime. The relation between the asymptotic theory and explicit simulation of a traditional mean-field model with a fluctuating function for the α-effect term is discussed.

Can catastrophic quenching be alleviated by separating shear and α effect?

The small-scale magnetic helicity produced as a by-product of the large-scale dynamo is believed to play a major role in dynamo saturation. In a mean-field model the generation of small-scale magnetic helicity can be modelled by using the dynamical quenching formalism. Catastrophic quenching refers to a decrease of the saturation field strength with increasing Reynolds number. It has been suggested that catastrophic quenching only affects the region of non-zero helical turbulence (i.e. where the kinematic α operates) and that it is possible to alleviate catastrophic quenching by separating the region of strong shear from the α layer. We perform a systematic study of a simple axisymmetric two-layer αΩ dynamo in a spherical shell for Reynolds numbers in the range 1 ≤ R m ≤ 105. In the framework of dynamical quenching we show that this may not be the case, suggesting that magnetic helicity fluxes would be necessary.

Shear-driven and diffusive helicity fluxes in αΩ dynamos

We present nonlinear mean-field alpha-Omega dynamo simulations in spherical geometry with simplified profiles of kinematic alpha effect and shear. We take magnetic helicity evolution into account by solving a dynamical equation for the magnetic alpha effect. This gives a consistent description of the quenching mechanism in mean-field dynamo models. The main goal of this work is to explore the effects of this quenching mechanism in solar-like geometry, and in particular to investigate the role of magnetic helicity fluxes, specifically diffusive and Vishniac-Cho (VC) fluxes, at large magnetic Reynolds numbers (Rm). For models with negative radial shear or positive latitudinal shear, the magnetic alpha effect has predominantly negative (positive) sign in the northern (southern) hemisphere. In the absence of fluxes, we find that the magnetic energy follows an Rm^-1 dependence, as found in previous works. This catastrophic quenching is alleviated in models with diffusive magnetic helicity fluxes resulting in magnetic fields comparable to the equipartition value even for Rm=10^7. On the other hand, models with a shear-driven Vishniac-Cho flux show an increase of the amplitude of the magnetic field with respect to models without fluxes, but only for Rm<10^4. This is mainly a consequence of assuming a vacuum outside the Sun which cannot support a significant VC flux across the boundary. However, in contrast with the diffusive flux, the VC flux modifies the distribution of the magnetic field. In addition, if an ill-determined scaling factor in the expression for the VC flux is large enough, subcritical dynamo action is possible that is driven by the action of shear and the divergence of current helicity flux.