Mathematical estimates for the attractor dimension in MHD turbulence

TL;DR

This paper derives rigorous mathematical estimates for the attractor dimension and dissipative scales in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, considering the effects of strong magnetic fields on flow complexity and structure.

Contribution

It introduces a new method to estimate the attractor dimension in MHD turbulence with periodic boundary conditions and magnetic fields, extending previous hydrodynamic turbulence results.

Findings

Upper bounds for attractor dimension in MHD turbulence derived.

Analysis of flow anisotropy and dissipative scales under magnetic influence.

Comparison of mathematical estimates with heuristic predictions.

Abstract

The aim of the present work is to derive rigorous estimates for turbulent MHD flow quantities such as the size and anisotropy of the dissipative scales, as well as the transition between 2D and 3D state. To this end, we calculate an upper bound for the attractor dimension of the motion equations, which indicates the number of modes present in the fully developed flow. This method has already been used successfully to derive such estimates for 2D and 3D hydrodynamic turbulence as a function of the $\mathcal L_\infty$ norm of the dissipation, as in \cite{doering95}. We tackle here the problem of a flow periodic in the 3 spatial directions (spatial period $2\pi L$), to which a permanent magnetic field is applied. In addition, the detailed study of the dissipation operator provides more indications about the structure of the flow. In section 2, we review the tools of the dynamical system theory as well as the results they have led to in the case of 3D hydrodynamic turbulence. Section 3 is devoted to the study of the set of modes which minimises the trace of the operator associated to the total dissipation in MHD turbulence (viscous and Joule). Eventually, the estimates for the attractor dimension and dissipative scales in MHD turbulence under strong magnetic field are derived in section 4 and compared to results obtained from heuristic considerations.