Multiscaling in Models of Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence

Abstract

From a direct numerical simulation of the MHD equations we show, for the first time, that velocity and magnetic-field structure functions exhibit multiscaling, extended self similarity (ESS), and generalized extended self similarity (GESS). We also propose a new shell model for homogeneous and isotropic MHD turbulence, which preserves all the invariants of ideal MHD, reduces to a well-known shell model for fluid turbulence for zero magnetic field, has no adjustable parameters apart from Reynolds numbers, and exhibits the same multiscaling, ESS, and GESS as the MHD equations. We also study dissipation-range asymptotics and the inertial- to dissipation-range crossover.