Enhanced dynamo growth in nonhomogeneous conducting fluids
Résumé
We address magnetic-field generation by dynamo action in systems with inhomogeneous electrical conductivity and magnetic permeability. More specifically, we first show that the Taylor-Couette kinematic dynamo undergoes a drastic reduction of its stability threshold when a (zero-mean) modulation of the fluid's electrical conductivity or magnetic permeability is introduced. These results are obtained outside the mean-field regime, for which this effect was initially proposed. Beyond this illustrative example, we extend a duality argument put forward by Favier & Proctor (2013) to show that swapping the distributions of conductivity and permeability and changing u → −u leaves the dynamo threshold unchanged. This allows one to make connections between a priori unrelated dynamo studies. Finally, we discuss the possibility of observing such an effect both in laboratory and astrophysical settings.
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