title: Developed turbulence and nonlinear amplification of magnetic fields in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas.
abstract: The visible matter in the universe is turbulent and magnetized. Turbulence in galaxy clusters is produced by mergers and by jets of the central galaxies and believed responsible for the amplification of magnetic fields. We report on experiments looking at the collision of two laser-produced plasma clouds, mimicking, in the laboratory, a cluster merger event. By measuring the spectrum of the density fluctuations, we infer developed, Kolmogorov-like turbulence. From spectral line broadening, we estimate a level of turbulence consistent with turbulent heating balancing radiative cooling, as it likely does in galaxy clusters. We show that the magnetic field is amplified by turbulent motions, reaching a nonlinear regime that is a precursor to turbulent dynamo. Thus, our experiment provides a promising platform for understanding the structure of turbulence and the amplification of magnetic fields in the universe.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom; g.gregori1@physics.ox.ac.uk jena.meinecke@physics.ox.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Jena
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Meinecke
authors.affiliation: Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637;
authors.forename: Petros
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tzeferacos
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.affiliation: Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot OX11 0QX, United Kingdom; Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0NG, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bingham
authors.affiliation: Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot OX11 0QX, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, D-85741 Garching, Germany; Space Research Institute, Moscow 117997, Russia;
authors.forename: Eugene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Churazov
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of York, York YO10 5D, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Crowston
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Doyle
authors.affiliation: Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109;
authors.forename: R Paul
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5450-9844
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Drake
authors.affiliation: Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot OX11 0QX, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Heathcote
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation de Lasers Intenses, UMR7605, CNRS Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Université Paris VI Ecole Polytechnique, F-91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France;
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koenig
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, National Central University, Taoyuan 320, Taiwan; Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan;
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kuramitsu
authors.affiliation: Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109;
authors.forename: Carolyn
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kuranz
authors.affiliation: Applied Mathematics and Statistics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 96064;
authors.forename: Dongwook
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109;
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: MacDonald
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of York, York YO10 5D, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.affiliation: Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot OX11 0QX, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Notley
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550;
authors.forename: Hye-Sook
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation de Lasers Intenses, UMR7605, CNRS Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Université Paris VI Ecole Polytechnique, F-91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France; Institute of Radiation Physics, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, D-01314 Dresden, Germany;
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pelka
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation de Lasers Intenses, UMR7605, CNRS Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Université Paris VI Ecole Polytechnique, F-91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France;
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ravasio
authors.affiliation: School of Mathematics and Physics, Queens University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Reville
authors.affiliation: Institute of Laser Engineering, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan;
authors.forename: Youichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sakawa
authors.affiliation: Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109;
authors.forename: Willow
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wan
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of York, York YO10 5D, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Nigel
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Woolsey
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire pour l'Utilisation de Lasers Intenses, UMR7605, CNRS Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, Université Paris VI Ecole Polytechnique, F-91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France;
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yurchak
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, ETH Zürich, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Miniati
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom;
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schekochihin
authors.affiliation: Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637;
authors.forename: Don
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lamb
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PU, United Kingdom; Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637; g.gregori1@physics.ox.ac.uk jena.meinecke@physics.ox.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gregori
mesh_terms: D055580:Astronomical Phenomena; D003198:Computer Simulation; D055608:Galaxies; D007834:Lasers; D060526:Magnetic Fields; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D016082:Solar System; D013057:Spectrum Analysis; D013696:Temperature; D013816:Thermodynamics
keywords: galaxy clusters; laboratory analogues; lasers; magnetic fields; turbulence