Mean fields and fluctuations in compressible magnetohydrodynamic flows

TL;DR

This paper explores the use of Gaussian smoothing to analyze mean fields and fluctuations in compressible magnetohydrodynamic flows within the interstellar medium, providing a methodology to identify optimal smoothing scales and interpret statistical moments.

Contribution

It introduces a Gaussian smoothing approach for compressible MHD flows that retains three-dimensional structure and discusses methods to determine optimal smoothing scales.

Findings

Suitable smoothing length is approximately 75 pc for magnetic, density, and velocity fields.

Gaussian smoothing provides a physically meaningful decomposition of fields in a compressible medium.

Mean magnetic fields influence the distribution of kinetic energy across scales.

Abstract

We apply Gaussian smoothing to obtain mean magnetic field, density, velocity, and magnetic and kinetic energy densities from our numerical model of the interstellar medium, based on three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic equations in a shearing box $1 \times 1 \times 2 \, {\rm kpc}$ in size. The interstellar medium is highly compressible, as the turbulence is transonic or supersonic; it is thus an excellent context in which to explore the use of smoothing to represent physical variables in a compressible medium in terms of their mean and fluctuating parts. Unlike alternative averaging procedures, such as horizontal averaging, Gaussian smoothing retains the three-dimensional structure of the mean fields. Although Gaussian smoothing does not obey the Reynolds rules of averaging, physically meaningful and mathematically sound central statistical moments are defined as suggested by Germano (1992). We discuss methods to identify an optimal smoothing scale $\ell$ and the effects of this choice on the results. From spectral analysis of the magnetic, density and velocity fields, we find a suitable smoothing length for all three fields, of $\ell \approx 75 \, {\rm pc}$. Such a smoothing scale is likely to be sensitive to the choice of simulation parameters; this may be considered in future work, but here we just explore the methodology. We discuss the properties of third-order statistical moments in fluctuations of kinetic energy density in compressible flows, and suggest their physical interpretation. The mean magnetic field, amplified by a mean-field dynamo, significantly alters the distribution of kinetic energy in space and between scales, reducing the magnitude of kinetic energy at intermediate scales. This intermediate-scale kinetic energy is a useful diagnostic of the importance of SN-driven outflows.