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Turbulent magnetohydrodynamic density fluctuations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2009

John V. Shebalin
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, U.S.A.
David Montgomery
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, U.S.A.

Abstract

A spectral-method numerical code is used to compute mass-density fluctuation spectra in turbulent magnetofluids. The computations are used to test and extend a recent analytical theory of density variations in slightly compressible magnetofluids given by Montgomery, Brown and Matthaeus, and used by them to infer inertial-range density-fluctuation spectra for the nearby interstellar medium and solar wind. A local equation of state is assumed, relating density to pressure. Constant, scalar resistivities and viscosities are used. In the limit of low Mach numbers and high mechanical-to-magnetic pressure ratios, the fit of the computations to the analytical theory is seen to be close.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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References

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