Energy transfer and locality in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

Abstract

The shell-to-shell energy transfer rates for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence are computed analytically, which shows local energy transfer rates from velocity to velocity, velocity to magnetic, magnetic to velocity, and magnetic to magnetic fields for nonhelical MHD in the inertial range. It is also found that for kinetic-energy dominated MHD fluid, there is a preferential shell-to-shell energy transfer from kinetic to magnetic energy; the transfer is reversed for magnetic-energy dominated MHD fluid. This property is the reason for the asymptotic value of Alfven ratio to be close to 0.5. The analytical results are in close agreement with recent numerical results. When magnetic and kinetic helicities are turned on, the helical contributions are opposite to the corresponding nonhelical contributions. The helical energy transfers have significant nonlocal components.