The decay of MHD turbulence and the primordial origin of magnetic fields in cosmic voids

Thesis

The central result of this thesis is the solution of a decades-old problem in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence theory: in the absence of energy injection, how do chaotic magnetic fields decay with time? We obtain novel predictions for the evolution of the magnetic energy and correlation scale by proposing that the field decays on reconnection timescales while respecting certain integral invariants that represent topological constraints. As is well known, the magnetic helicity is such a...

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Authors: Hosking, DN

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-dpymjgyp5
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: primordial magnetism; turbulence; cosmology; magnetohydrodynamics
• Subjects: Turbulence; Astrophysics