A convection-driven dynamo I. The weak field case

Abstract

A hydromagnetic dynamo model is considered. A Boussinesq, electrically conducting fluid is confined between two horizontal planes and is heated from below. The system rotates rapidly about the vertical axis with constant angular velocity. It is supposed that instability first sets in as stationary convection characterized by a small horizontal length scale. In preliminary calculations the Lorentz force is neglected so that the magnetic induction equation and the equation of motion are decoupled. The possibility that motions occurring at the onset of instability may sustain magnetic fields is thus reduced to a kinematic dynamo problem. Moreover, the existence of two length scales introduces simplifications which enable the problem to be studied by well-known techniques. The effect of the Lorentz force on the finite amplitude dynamics of the system is investigated also. Since only weak magnetic fields are considered the kinetic energy of the motion is fixed by other considerations and it is only the fine structure of the flow that is influenced by the magnetic field. A set of nonlinear equations, which govern the evolution of the hydromagnetic dynamo, are derived from an asymptotic analysis. The equations are investigated in detail both analytically and numerically. In spite of serious doubts concerning the existence of sufficiently complex stable motions, stable periodic dynamos are shown to exist. An interesting analytic solution of these equations, which may be pertinent to other problems arising from finite-amplitude Benard convection, is presented in the final section.