Nonlinear Magnetic Diffusion and Magnetic Helicity Transport in Galactic Dynamos

Abstract

We have extended our previous mean-field galactic dynamo model which included algebraic and dynamic alpha nonlinearities (Kleeorin et al., A&A, v. 387, 453, 2002), to include also a quenching of turbulent diffusivity. We readily obtain equilibrium states for the large-scale magnetic field in the local disc dynamo model, and these fields have strengths that are comparable to the equipartition field strength. We find that the algebraic nonlinearity alone (i.e. quenching of both the alpha effect and turbulent magnetic diffusion) cannot saturate the growth of the mean magnetic field; only the combined effect of algebraic and dynamic nonlinearities can limit the growth of the mean magnetic field. However, in contrast to our earlier work without quenching of the turbulent diffusivity, we cannot now find satisfactory solutions in the no-z approximation to the axisymmetric galactic dynamo problem.