Taming jets in magnetised fluids
Yusuke Kosuga, UCSD
Advisor: Nicholas Brummell, UCSC
Abstract: The effects of a uniform horizontal magnetic field on jets dynamics in 2D Boussinesq
turbulence, i.e. Howard-Krishnamurti problem are studied with a numerical simulation. For a fixed fluid and magnetic diffusivity, it is shown that as the imposed field strength becomes larger jets start behaving in a more organized way, i.e. achieve stationary state and are finally quenched. The time evolution of total stress, Reynolds stress, Maxwell stress is examined and all the stresses are shown to vanish when jets are quenched. The quenching of jets is confirmed for different values of magnetic
diffusivity, albeit the required field strength increases. It is also shown that the inclusion of overstable modes reinforces jets where Maxwell stress overcomes Reynolds stress. For a larger imposed field jets are shown to quench. A possible mechanism for the transition to the reinforcement of jets by Maxwell stress is discussed based on the transition in the most unstable mode in the underlying turbulence.
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