Magnetohydrodynamic dynamo in reversed field pinch plasmas: Electrostatic drift nature of the dynamo velocity field

Within the framework of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical modeling, the reversed field pinch (RFP) has been found to develop turbulent or laminar regimes switching from the former to the latter in a continuous way when the strength of dissipative forces increases. The laminar solution corresponds to a simple global helical deformation of the current channel and is associated with an electrostatic dynamo field. The related electrostatic drift yields the main component of the dynamo velocity field. While quite natural in the stationary helical state, this analysis is shown to extend also to the dynamic turbulent regime for an Ohmic RFP. The continuity of the transition between the two regimes suggests that the simple helical symmetric solution can provide a fruitful intuitive description of the RFP dynamo in general. Many of the MHD predictions are in good agreement with experimental findings. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.