1st Edition

Fluid Dynamics and Dynamos in Astrophysics and Geophysics

    492 Pages 118 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    The increasing power of computer resources along with great improvements in observational data in recent years have led to some remarkable and rapid advances in astrophysical fluid dynamics. The subject spans three distinct but overlapping communities whose interests focus on (1) accretion discs and high-energy astrophysics; (2) solar, stellar, and galactic magnetic fields; and (3) the geodynamo, planetary magnetic fields, and associated experiments. This book grew out of a special conference sponsored by the London Mathematical Society with the support of EPSRC that brought together leading researchers in all of these areas to exchange ideas and review the status of the field.

    The many interesting problems addressed in this volume concern:

    ACCRETION DISCS, Gordon I. Ogilvie
    Classical theory of accretion discs
    Angular momentum transport
    Continuum celestial mechanics
    DISCS WITH MHD TURBULENCE AND THEIR RESPONSE TO ORBITING PLANETS, John C.B. Papaloizou and Richard P. Nelson
    Set up of initial models
    Simulation results
    Discussion
    MIXING AT THE SURFACE OF WHITE DWARF STARS, R. Rosner and A. Alexakis
    Previous work on mixing
    An alternative: mixing at boundaries by "wind"-driven resonant modes
    Conclusions
    PULSAR MAGNETOSPHERES, Leon Mestel
    Basic electrodynamics
    Models with pair production
    Live models
    The S(P) relation
    The inner domain
    Computational results
    Alternative models
    Magnetospheric gaps
    MAGNETIC FIELDS IN GALAXIES, Ellen G. Zweibel
    Galactic structure
    Observations of Galactic magnetic fields
    Galaxy formation and magnetogenesis
    Building blocks of Galactic magnetic fields
    Summary and outlook
    SELF-CONSISTENT MEAN FIELD ELECTRODYNAMICS IN TWO AND THREE DIMENSIONS, P H. Diamond, D. W. Hughes and Eun-jin Kim
    Turbulent diffusion of magnetic fields
    The generation of magnetic fields
    Momentum and flux transport in 2D MHD
    Concluding remarks
    THE SOLAR TACHOCLINE: FORMATION, STABILITY AND ITS ROLE IN THE SOLAR DYNAMO, S. M. Tobias
    Properties of the solar tachocline
    Why is the solar tachocline so thin?
    Instabilities of the solar tachocline
    The tachocline and the solar dynamo
    Discussion and conclusion
    MAGNETOCONVECTION, M.R.E. Proctor
    The induction equation and the Lorentz force
    Boussinesq magnetoconvection in a vertical field
    Nonlinear Boussinesq magnetoconvection
    Strong magnetic fields
    Shearing instabilities and streaming flows
    Convection in extended regions
    Effects of stratification
    Discussion
    ALFVÉN WAVES WITHIN THE EARTH'S CORE, D. Jault and G. L´egaut
    Propagation of Alfv´en waves within an entirely
    fluid spherical body
    Topographical effects at the CMB
    Influence of a conducting inner core
    Concluding remarks
    TURBULENCE MODELS AND PLANE LAYER DYNAMOS, C.A. Jones and P.H. Roberts
    Background to the LANS o-models
    Model description and governing equations
    The hyperdiffusive and the LANS o-models
    Subgrid scale boundary conditions
    Linear theory
    Numerical simulations
    Conclusions
    PLANETARY AND STELLAR DYNAMOS: CHALLENGES FOR NEXT GENERATION MODELS, Gary A. Glatzmaier
    Current 3D geodynamo simulations
    Laminar approximations of turbulent flows
    2D Turbulent magnetoconvection simulations
    Discussion
    CONVECTION IN ROTATING SPHERICAL FLUID SHELLS AND ITS DYNAMO STATES, F.H. Busse and R. Simitev
    Mathematical formulation of the problem
    Convection in rotating spherical shells
    Evolution of convection columns at small Prandtl numbers
    Convection at very small Prandtl numbers
    Convection driven dynamos at moderate Prandtl numbers
    Convection driven dynamos in low Prandtl number fluids
    Torsional oscillations
    Oscillating dipolar dynamos
    Discussion and outlook
    LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS ON LIQUID METAL DYNAMOS AND LIQUID METAL MHD TURBULENCE, Stephan Fauve and Daniel P. Lathrop
    Self-generation in Riga and Karlsruhe
    Generating a fully three-dimensional turbulent flow in a compact volume
    Motivations for rapidly rotating flows
    Concluding remarks
    INDEX

    Biography

    Andrew M. Soward, Christopher A. Jones, David W. Hughes, Nigel O. Weiss