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arXiv · 2504.15538

Local relaxation and scale-dependent alignment in compressible, magnetized turbulence

James R. Beattie·Amitava Bhattacharjee
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Abstract

Driven net- and no-net-flux MHD turbulence simulations up to $10,\!368^3$ reveal sign-mixed velocity--magnetic, velocity--vorticity, and magnetic--current aligned patches below the energy equipartition scale. The first two angles scale as $λ^{1/8}$ and $λ^{1/16}$, while the third angle varies weakly with scale. We develop and test a constant-flux transport model for departures from relaxed states, which predicts both exponents. These findings affect eddy anisotropy, reconnection-mediated turbulence onset, large-scale dynamos, and the nature of magnetized turbulence.

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James R. Beattie, Amitava Bhattacharjee. 2026-09-12. Local relaxation and scale-dependent alignment in compressible, magnetized turbulence. https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.15538

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