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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

An Analog Macroscopic Technique for Studying Molecular Hydrodynamic Processes in Dense Gases and Liquids
Published on: December 4, 2017
Depression of nonlinearity in decaying isotropic MHD turbulence
S Servidio1, W H Matthaeus, P Dmitruk
1Bartol Research Institute and Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA.
Abstract:
Spectral method simulations show that undriven magnetohydrodynamic turbulence spontaneously generates coherent spatial correlations of several types, associated with local Beltrami fields, directional alignment of velocity and magnetic fields, and antialignment of magnetic and fluid acceleration components. These correlations suppress nonlinearity to levels lower than what is obtained from Gaussian fields, and occur in spatial patches. We suggest that this rapid relaxation leads to non-Gaussian statistics and spatial intermittency.
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