Dynamo Efficiency Research Articles

Efficiency of dynamos from an autonomous generation of chiral asymmetry

Efficiency of dynamos from an autonomous generation of chiral asymmetry

Characterizing the Solar Cycle Variability Using Nonlinear Time Series Analysis at Different Amounts of Dynamo Supercriticality: Solar Dynamo is Not Highly Supercritical

The solar dynamo is essentially a cyclic process in which the toroidal component of the magnetic field is converted into the poloidal one and vice versa. This cyclic loop is disturbed by some nonlinear and stochastic processes mainly operating in the toroidal to poloidal part. Hence, the memory of the polar field decreases in every cycle. On the other hand, the dynamo efficiency and, thus, the supercriticality of the dynamo decreases with the Sun’s age. Previous studies have shown that the memory of the polar magnetic field decreases with the increase of supercriticality of the dynamo. In this study, we employ popular techniques of time series analysis, namely, compute Higuchi’s fractal dimension, Hurst exponent, and Multi-Fractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis to the amplitude of the solar magnetic cycle obtained from dynamo models operating at near-critical and supercritical regimes. We show that the magnetic field in the near-critical regime is governed by strong memory, less stochasticity, intermittency, and breakdown of self-similarity. On the contrary, the magnetic field in the supercritical region has less memory, strong stochasticity, and shows a good amount of self-similarity. Finally, applying the same time series analysis techniques in the reconstructed sunspot data of 85 cycles and comparing their results with that from models, we conclude that the solar dynamo is possibly operating near the critical regime and not too much supercritical regime. Thus the Sun may not be too far from the critical dynamo transition.

Efficiency of utilizing building information modeling tools for examining smart materials behavior in a hot climate

The significance of smart materials aligns seamlessly with promoting the seventh goal of Sustainable Development, given their adaptability and energy-efficient properties in the construction sector. Using BIM tools to simulate environmental performance can enhance understanding of the behavior of smart materials within building components. Therefore, this study proposes integrating genetic algorithms (GA) with Building Information Modeling (BIM) through the Dynamo plugin. Where genetic algorithms help link the properties of smart materials and external stimuli, which outperforms traditional simulation tools for energy analysis.A comparison between the analysis process in Dynamo and Green Building Studio (GBS) emphasizes Dynamo's efficiency in simulating energy performance within the BIM environment in a shorter process. The effectiveness of simulating smart materials in Dynamo was validated in a hot climate through two scenarios of Phase change materials (BioPCM 29) and thermochromic materials (TCM), that were used in a lecture hall in an educational building in the Faculty of Engineering at Port Said University. Through the heat transfer rate indicator, energy consumption reduction rates were calculated. Integrating (BioPCM 29) into walls, ceilings, and glazing demonstrated a notable reduction in energy consumption for cooling in the summer months by a rate ranging between 23.3% and 23.4%. While (TCM) helped reduce consumption by 19.3%–19.4% in the same period of months. These findings affirm the research objective, highlighting BIM's potential as a tool to compare the environmental performance of smart materials and thus reach the optimal choice from the initial design stages.

Self-Charging of Electric Vehicle: Electrify Your Ride

Self-charging electric vehicles (EVs) indeed have the potential to address several critical challenges associated with EV adoption, including range anxiety and the need for large batteries. Here's how dynamic charging works and its potential benefits and analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the proposed solution. The proposed system seems to be an innovative approach that combines batteries and a dynamo to enhance the energy storage and management capabilities of an electric vehicle. The control strategy plays a crucial role in optimizing the system's performance and increasing the vehicle's autonomy. The detailed description and analysis provide a comprehensive overview of the proposed solution. The paper presents the aspects, which provides a comprehensive understanding of how the control strategy contributes to the overall effectiveness of the proposed system in managing energy storage and enhancing the autonomy of the electric vehicle. The planned concept of using two 24-volt batteries and dynamo charging has the potential to reduce both initial battery costs and ongoing charging costs. However, careful planning, engineering, and consideration of factors such as battery capacity, dynamo efficiency, and user experience are essential to make this concept practical and attractive to EV consumers. Additionally, regulatory compliance and market acceptance should be closely monitored.

Gravitational wave signature of proto-neutron star convection: I. MHD numerical simulations

ABSTRACT Gravitational waves provide a unique and powerful opportunity to constrain the dynamics in the interior of proto-neutron stars during core collapse supernovae. Convective motions play an important role in generating neutron stars magnetic fields, which could explain magnetar formation in the presence of fast rotation. We compute the gravitational wave emission from proto-neutron star convection and its associated dynamo, by post-processing three-dimensional MHD simulations of a model restricted to the convective zone in the anelastic approximation. We consider two different proto-neutron star structures representative of early times (with a convective layer) and late times (when the star is almost entirely convective). In the slow rotation regime, the gravitational wave emission follows a broad spectrum peaking at about three times the turnover frequency. In this regime, the inclusion of magnetic fields slightly decreases the amplitude without changing the spectrum significantly compared to a non-magnetized simulation. Fast rotation changes both the amplitude and spectrum dramatically. The amplitude is increased by a factor of up to a few thousands. The spectrum is characterized by several peaks associated with inertial modes, whose frequency scales with the rotation frequency. Using simple physical arguments, we derive scalings that reproduce quantitatively several aspects of these numerical results. We also observe an excess of low-frequency gravitational waves, which appears at the transition to a strong field dynamo characterized by a strong axisymmetric toroidal magnetic field. This signature of dynamo action could be used to constrain the dynamo efficiency in a proto-neutron star with future gravitational wave detections.

The Magnetic Nature of the Cataclysmic Variable Period Gap

Abstract One of the most important problems in the context of cataclysmic variables (CVs) is the lack of observations of systems with periods between 2 and 3.12 hr, known as the period gap. The orbital evolution of CVs with periods shorter than those in the gap is dominated by gravitational radiation, while for periods exceeding those of the gap it is dominated by magnetic braking of the secondary star. Spruit & Ritter showed that as periods approach 3 hr and secondary stars become fully convective a sharp decline in magnetic dynamo and braking efficiency would result in such a gap. Recent X-ray observations finding coronal magnetic energy dissipation is similar in fully convective and partly radiative M dwarfs cast this theory into doubt. In this work, we use Zeeman–Doppler imaging observations culled from the literature to show that the complexity of the surface magnetic fields of rapidly rotating M dwarfs increases with decreasing rotation period. Garraffo et al. have shown that the efficiency of angular momentum loss of cool stars declines strongly with increasing complexity of their surface magnetic field. We explore the idea of Taam & Spruit that magnetic complexity might then explain the period gap. By generating synthetic CV populations using a schematic CV evolutionary approach, we show that the CV period gap can naturally arise as a consequence of a rise in secondary star magnetic complexity near the long-period edge of the gap that renders a sharp decline in their angular-momentum-loss rate.

Incorporating Surface Convection into a 3D Babcock–Leighton Solar Dynamo Model

Abstract The convective flows observed on the photosphere (e.g., supergranulation, granulation) play a key role in the Babcock–Leighton (BL) process to generate large-scale polar fields from sunspot fields. In most surface flux transport (SFT) and BL dynamo models, the dispersal and migration of surface fields are modeled as an effective turbulent diffusion. Recent SFT models have incorporated explicit, realistic convective flows in order to improve the fidelity of convective transport but, to our knowledge, this has not yet been implemented in previous BL models. We present the first kinematic 3D Flux-Transport/BL model to explicitly incorporate realistic convective flows based on solar observations. Though we describe a means to generalize these flows to 3D, we find that the kinematic small-scale dynamo action they produce disrupts the operation of the cyclic dynamo. The cyclic solution is found by limiting the convective flow to act only on the vertical radial component of the magnetic field. The results obtained are generally in good agreement with the observed surface flux evolution and with non-convective models that have a turbulent diffusivity of the order of 3 × 1012 cm2 s−1 (300 km2 s−1). However, we find that the use of a turbulent diffusivity underestimates the dynamo efficiency, producing weaker mean fields and a shorter cycle than in the convective models. Also, the convective models exhibit bands of mixed polarity in the polar regions that have no counterpart in solar observations, and the poleward migration speed of poloidal flux is determined mainly by the meridional flow and the vertical diffusion.

A Three dimensional Babcock-Leighton Solar Dynamo Model with Non-axisymmetric Convective Flows

AbstractThe observed convective flows on the photosphere (e.g., supergranulation, granulation) play a key role in the Babcock-Leighton (BL) process to generate large scale polar fields from sunspots fields. In most surface flux transport (SFT) and BL dynamo models, the dispersal and migration of surface fields is modeled as an effective turbulent diffusion. We present the first kinematic 3D FT/BL model to explicitly incorporate realistic convective flows based on solar observations. The results obtained are generally in good agreement with the observed surface flux evolution and with non-convective models that have a turbulent diffusivity on the order of 3 × 1012 cm2 s−1 (300 km2 s−1). However, we find that the use of a turbulent diffusivity underestimates the dynamo efficiency, producing weaker mean fields and shorter cycle.

Latitude dependence of convection and magnetic field generation in the cube

The 3D thermal convection in the Boussinesq approximation with heating from below and dynamo in the cube are considered. We study dependence of the convection intensity and magnetic field generation on the latitude in $\beta$-plane approximation. It is shown that kinetic energy gradually increases from the poles to the equator more than order of magnitude. The model predicts the strong azimuthal thermal wind, which direction depends on the sign of the thermal convective fluctuations. The spatial scale of the arising flow is comparable to the scale of the physical domain. The magnetic energy increases as well, however dynamo efficiency, i.e., the ratio of the magnetic energy to the kinetic one decreases to the equator. This effect can explain predominance of the dipole configuration of the magnetic field observed in the planets and stars. The approach is useful for modeling of the magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in planetary cores and stellar convective zones.

Suppression of a laminar kinematic dynamo by a prescribed large-scale shear

We numerically solve the magnetic induction equation in a spherical shell geometry, with a kinematically prescribed axisymmetric flow that consists of a superposition of a small-scale helical flow and a large-scale shear flow. The small-scale flow is chosen to be a local analog of the classical Roberts cells, consisting of strongly helical vortex rolls. The large-scale flow is a shearing motion in either the radial or the latitudinal directions. In the absence of large-scale shear, the small-scale flow operates very effectively as a dynamo, in agreement with previous results. Adding increasingly large shear flows strongly suppresses the dynamo efficiency, indicating that shear is not always a favorable ingredient in dynamo action.

Cosmological and astrophysical consequences from the magnetic dynamo equation in torsioned spacetime and teleparallel gravity**This observation is due to an anonymous referee who found this mistake in the first draft of the paper.

A generalized dynamo equation in the first order torsion Garcia de Andrade L C (2012 Phys. Lett. B 711 143) has previously been derived. From this equation it is shown that for the 10 kpc scale, torsion gravity is not able to help seed galactic dynamos since the dynamo time is not long enough to take into account structure formation. In this paper, the dynamo equation is extended to second-order torsion terms—but unfortunately, the situation is even worse and the torsion does not seem to help dynamo efficiency. Nevertheless, in the intergalactic magnetic field scale of 1 mpc, the efficiency of the self-induction equation with torsion changes, and even in the first-order torsion case, one obtains large-scale magnetic fields with 109 yr dynamo efficiency. Dynamo efficiency in the case of interstellar matter (ISM) reaches a diffusion time of 1013 yr. This seems to be in contrast with a recent investigation by Bamba et al (2012 J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. JCAP05(2010)08) where they obtained, from another type of torsion theory called teleparallelism (A Einstein, Math Annalen (1922)), a large scale intergalactic magnetic field of 10−9 G. If this is not a model-dependent result, there is an apparent contradiction that has to be addressed. It is shown that for dynamo efficiency in astrophysical flow without shear, a strong seed field of 10−11 G is obtained, which is suitable for seeding galactic dynamos. As an example of a non-parity-violating dynamo equation, a magnetic field of the order of 10−27G is obtained as a seed field for the galactic dynamo from the theory of Einstein’s unified teleparallelism. This shows that in certain gravity models, torsion is able to enhance cosmological magnetic fields in view of obtaining better dynamo efficiency. To better compare our work with Bamba et al (2012 J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. JCAP05(2010)08), we consider the slow decay of magnetic fields in the teleparallel model.

The Efficiency of CP-Violating <i>α</i>2-Dynamos from Primordial Cosmic Axion Oscillation with Torsion

Recently torsion fields were introduced in CP-violating cosmic axion a2-dynamos [Garcia de Andrade, Mod Phys Lett A, (2011)] in order to obtain Lorentz violating bounds for torsion. Here instead, oscillating axion solutions of the dynamo equation with torsion modes [Garcia de Andrade, Phys Lett B (2012)] are obtained taking into account dissipative torsion fields. Magnetic helicity torsion oscillatory contribution is also obtained. Note that the torsion presence guarantees dynamo efficiency when axion dynamo length is much stronger than the torsion length. Primordial axion oscillations due to torsion yield a magnetic field of 109 G at Nucleosynthesis epoch. This is obtained due to a decay of BBN magnetic field of 1015 G induced by torsion. Since torsion is taken as 10–20 s–1, the dynamo efficiency is granted over torsion damping. Of course dynamo efficiency is better in the absence of torsion. In the particular case when the torsion is obtained from anomalies it is given by the gradient of axion scalar [Duncan et al., Nuclear Phys B 87, 215] that a simpler dynamo equation is obtained and dynamo mechanism seems to be efficient when the torsion helicity, is negative while magnetic field decays when the torsion is positive. In this case an extremely huge value for the magnetic field of 1015 Gauss is obtained. This is one order of magnitude greater than the primordial magnetic fields of the domain wall. Actually if one uses tDW ~ 10-4 s one obtains BDW ~ 1022 G which is a more stringent limit to the DW magnetic primordial field.

Publisher's Note: Dynamo efficiency controlled by hydrodynamic bistability [Phys. Rev. E89, 063023 (2014)

Publisher's Note: Dynamo efficiency controlled by hydrodynamic bistability [Phys. Rev. E89, 063023 (2014)

Gravity wave effects on postsunset equatorial F region stability

AbstractThe influence of gravity waves on the stability of the postsunset equatorial F region ionosphere is investigated numerically. For this investigation, we use the output of a direct numerical simulation of waves and turbulence in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere to force a simulation of ionospheric dynamics. Both simulations are cast in three dimensions. The effectiveness of the neutral‐plasma coupling involved is generally thought to depend on the dynamo efficiency and spatial resonance of the forcing, which we evaluate. In our simulations, the postsunset equatorial ionosphere could be deformed by neutral waves after 5–15 min most severely when the wavefronts were aligned approximately with the magnetic meridian, despite the fact that the dynamo efficiency is modest even in that case. However, poor spatial resonance limits the subsequent growth of the deformations in our simulations, and the seeding of interchange instabilities does not occur. The coupled simulations predict the formation of intermediate layers in the equatorial valley region (150–250 km apex altitude) under some circumstances that could serve as telltales in nature of the presence of the kind of neutral forcing we simulate.

Dynamo efficiency controlled by hydrodynamic bistability.

Hydrodynamic and magnetic behaviors in a modified experimental setup of the von Kármán sodium flow-where one disk has been replaced by a propeller-are investigated. When the rotation frequencies of the disk and the propeller are different, we show that the fully turbulent hydrodynamic flow undergoes a global bifurcation between two configurations. The bistability of these flow configurations is associated with the dynamics of the central shear layer. The bistable flows are shown to have different dynamo efficiencies; thus for a given rotation rate of the soft-iron disk, two distinct magnetic behaviors are observed depending on the flow configuration. The hydrodynamic transition controls the magnetic field behavior, and bifurcations between high and low magnetic field branches are investigated.

HIGH-RESOLUTION CALCULATIONS OF THE SOLAR GLOBAL CONVECTION WITH THE REDUCED SPEED OF SOUND TECHNIQUE. I. THE STRUCTURE OF THE CONVECTION AND THE MAGNETIC FIELD WITHOUT THE ROTATION

We carry out non-rotating high-resolution calculations of the solar global convection, which resolve convective scales of less than 10 Mm. To cope with the low Mach number conditions in the lower convection zone, we use the reduced speed of sound technique (RSST), which is simple to implement and requires only local communication in the parallel computation. In addition, the RSST allows us to expand the computational domain upward to about $0.99 R_{\odot}$ as it can also handle compressible flows. Using this approach, we study the solar convection zone on the global scale, including small-scale near-surface convection. In particular, we investigate the influence of the top boundary condition on the convective structure throughout the convection zone as well as on small-scale dynamo action. Our main conclusions are: 1. The small-scale downflows generated in the near-surface layer penetrate into deeper layers to some extent and excite small-scale turbulence in the region $>0.9R_\odot$, where $R_\odot$ is the solar radius. 2. In the deeper convection zone ($<0.9R_\odot$), the convection is not influenced by the location of the upper boundary. 3. Using an LES approach, we can achieve small-scale dynamo action and maintain a field of about $0.15-0.25 B_\mathrm{eq}$ throughout the convection zone, where $B_\mathrm{eq}$ is the equipartition magnetic field to the kinetic energy. 4. The overall dynamo efficiency varies significantly in the convection zone as a consequence of the downward directed Poynting flux and the depth variation of the intrinsic convective scales.

Spatial variations of magnetic permeability as a source of dynamo action

AbstractWe investigate dynamo action for a parallel flow of an electrically conducting fluid located over a boundary with spatially varying magnetic permeability. We first compute the dynamo threshold numerically. Then we perform an asymptotic expansion in the limit of small permeability modulation, which gives accurate results even for moderate modulation. We present in detail the mechanism at work for this dynamo. It is an interplay between shear (an $\omega $-effect) and a new conversion mechanism that originates from the non-uniform magnetic boundary. We illustrate how a similar mechanism leads to dynamo action in the case of spatially modulated electrical conductivity, a problem studied by Busse &amp; Wicht (Geophys. Astrophys. Fluid Dyn., vol. 64, 1992, pp. 135–144). Finally, we discuss the relevance of this effect to experimental dynamos and present ways to increase the dynamo efficiency and reduce the instability threshold.

On the non‐conjugacy of nightside aurora and their generator mechanisms

AbstractWe have investigated a data set of 19 h of simultaneous global conjugate auroral imaging from space. The data set consists of 10 sequences with durations from 1 to 5 h during active geomagnetic conditions (average AE ∼ 400 nT). We have identified 15 features (including two presented earlier) of auroral forms that appear mainly in one hemisphere, and we define this as non‐conjugate aurora. Three generator mechanisms has been suggested for producing interhemispheric currents and non‐conjugate aurora: (1) Hemispherical differences in solar wind dynamo efficiency due to interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bx and dipole tilt angle leading to asymmetric region 1 currents in the two polar hemispheres, (2) interhemispheric currents induced by the penetration of IMF By into the closed nightside magnetosphere, and (3) hemispheric differences in ionospheric conductivity controlled by the dipole tilt angle inducing interhemispheric currents on closed field‐lines. We want to find out if our observations are consistent with these mechanisms. Our analysis shows that five features were consistent with the IMF By penetration mechanism, seven features consistent with the solar wind dynamo mechanism, three features consistent with the conductivity mechanism, and two features could not be explained by any of the three suggested mechanisms. Because two features were consistent with two different mechanisms, the numbers add up to 17 although the total number of features is 15. The analysis also shows the expected correlation between the magnitude of the longitudinal shift of conjugate points, ΔMLT, and the occurrence of non‐conjugate aurora consistent with the By mechanism.

Rotational threshold in global numerical dynamo simulations

Abstract Magnetic field observations of low-mass stars reveal an increase of magnetic activity with increasing rotation rate. The so-called activity–rotation relation is usually attributed to changes in the underlying dynamo processes generating the magnetic field. We examine the dependence of the field strength on rotation in global numerical dynamo models and interpret our results on the basis of energy considerations. In agreement with the scaling law proposed by Christensen and Aubert, the field strength in our simulations is set by the fraction of the available power used for the magnetic field generation. This is controlled by the dynamo efficiency calculated as the ratio of ohmic to total dissipation in our models. The dynamo efficiency grows strongly with increasing rotation rate at a Rossby number of 0.1 until it reaches its upper bound of 1 and becomes independent of rotation. This gain in efficiency is related to the strong rotational dependence of the mean electromotive force in this parameter regime. For multipolar models at Rossby numbers clearly larger than 0.1, on the other hand, we do not find a systematic dependence of the field strength on rotation. Whether the enhancement of the dynamo efficiency found in our dipolar models explains the observed activity–rotation relation needs to be further assessed.

Impact of time-dependent nonaxisymmetric velocity perturbations on dynamo action of von Kármán-like flows

We present numerical simulations of the kinematic induction equation in order to examine the dynamo efficiency of an axisymmetric von Kármán-like flow subject to time-dependent nonaxisymmetric velocity perturbations. The numerical model is based on the setup of the French von Kármán-sodium dynamo (VKS) and on the flow measurements from a water experiment conducted at the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain. The principal experimental observations that are modeled in our simulations are nonaxisymmetric vortexlike structures which perform an azimuthal drift motion in the equatorial plane. Our simulations show that the interactions of these periodic flow perturbations with the fundamental drift of the magnetic eigenmode (including the special case of nondrifting fields) essentially determine the temporal behavior of the dynamo state. We find two distinct regimes of dynamo action that depend on the (prescribed) drift frequency of an (m=2) vortexlike flow perturbation. For comparatively slowly drifting vortices we observe a narrow window with enhanced growth rates and a drift of the magnetic eigenmode that is synchronized with the perturbation drift. The resonance-like enhancement of the growth rates takes place when the vortex drift frequency roughly equals the drift frequency of the magnetic eigenmode in the unperturbed system. Outside of this small window, the field generation is hampered compared to the unperturbed case, and the field amplitude of the magnetic eigenmode is modulated with approximately twice the vortex drift frequency. The abrupt transition between the resonant regime and the modulated regime is identified as a spectral exceptional point where eigenvalues (growth rates and frequencies) and eigenfunctions of two previously independent modes collapse. In the actual configuration the drift frequencies of the velocity perturbations that are observed in the water experiment are much larger than the fundamental drift frequency of the magnetic eigenmode that is obtained from our numerical simulations. Hence, we conclude that the fulfillment of the resonance condition might be unlikely in present day dynamo experiments. However, a possibility to increase the dynamo efficiency in the VKS experiment might be realized by an application of holes or fingers on the outer boundary in the equatorial plane. These mechanical distortions provoke an anchorage of the vortices at fixed positions thus allowing an adjustment of the temporal behavior of the nonaxisymmetric flow perturbations.