Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/2289/3825
Title: Kolmogorov dissipation scales in weakly ionized plasmas
Authors: Krishan, Vinod
Yoshida, Z.
Keywords: MHD
plasmas
turbulence
Sun: magnetic fields
Sun: photosphere
Issue Date: Jun-2009
Publisher: Wiley Interscience for the RAS
Citation: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2009, Vol. 395, p2039
Abstract: In a weakly ionized plasma, the evolution of the magnetic field is described by a 'generalized Ohm's law' that includes the Hall effect and the ambipolar diffusion terms. These terms introduce additional spatial and time-scales which play a decisive role in the cascading and the dissipation mechanisms in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence. We determine the Kolmogorov dissipation scales for the viscous, the resistive and the ambipolar dissipation mechanisms. The plasma, depending on its properties and the energy injection rate, may preferentially select one of these dissipation scales, thus determining the shortest spatial scale of the supposedly self-similar spectral distribution of the magnetic field. The results are illustrated taking the partially ionized part of the solar atmosphere as an example. Thus, the shortest spatial scale of the supposedly self-similar spectral distribution of the solar magnetic field is determined by any of the four dissipation scales given by the viscosity, the Spitzer resistivity (electron–ion collisions), the resistivity due to electron–neutral collisions and the ambipolar diffusivity. It is found that the ambipolar diffusion dominates for reasonably large energy injection rate. The robustness of the magnetic helicity in the partially ionized solar atmosphere would facilitate the formation of self-organized vortical structures.
Description: Restricted Access. An open-access version is available at arXiv.org (one of the alternative locations)
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2289/3825
ISSN: 0035-8711
1365-2966 (Online)
Alternative Location: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009MNRAS.395.2039K
http://arxiv.org/abs/0903.3811
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2009.14705.x
Copyright: 2009 Wiley Interscience for the RAS
Appears in Collections:Research Papers (A&A)

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