Transition to chaos in two-dimensional Rayleigh-Bénard convection: the role of the magnetic field

Abstract

The impact of an externally imposed magnetic field on numerical simulations of two-dimensional Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC) is investigated. Initially, the RBC model is examined in the absence of a magnetic field to establish a baseline. Then, a background magnetic field is introduced, and its influence on the transition to chaos is explored. For the purely hydrodynamic case and a range of the reduced Rayleigh number, the system exhibits traveling rolls which, after an attractor-merging crisis, give way to chaotic traveling rolls. Upon imposing a background magnetic field, there is a notable increase in the occurrence of traveling roll dynamics. Furthermore, the presence of the magnetic field favors the splitting/breaking of convective rolls, indicating a possible mechanism for transition to two-dimensional turbulence, with the structure of the convection cell being disrupted. A detailed analysis of the velocity field reveals that the collision between a saddle point and the center of a convective roll restores the system's original topology, with two symmetric kinetic vortices. During this collision, a magnetic vortex splits in two as a result of a magnetic reconnection. This behavior occurs intermittently in time.