Chandrasekhar-Kendall-Woltjer-Taylor state in a resistive plasma

TL;DR

This paper establishes a criterion for achieving the CKWT state in resistive plasmas, emphasizing the importance of initial helicity imbalance at the longest wavelengths, supported by analytical and numerical examples.

Contribution

It introduces a new criterion based on initial helicity imbalance at the lowest momentum for reaching the CKWT state in resistive plasmas.

Findings

Longest wavelength helicity dominance leads to CKWT state

Imbalance between helicities is crucial for state formation

Analytical and numerical examples support the criterion

Abstract

We give a criterion for the Chandrasekhar-Kendall-Woltjer-Taylor (CKWT) state in a resistive plasma. We find that the lowest momentum (longest wavelength) of the initial helicity amplitudes of magnetic fields are the key to the CKWT state which can be reached if one helicity is favored over the other. This indicates that the imbalance between two helicities at the lowest momentum or longest wavelength in the initial conditions is essential to the CKWT state. A few examples of initial conditions for helicity amplitudes are taken to support the above statement both analytically and numerically.