Parallel simulations in turbulent MHD

Abstract

The large-scale dynamics of plasma flows can often be described within a fluidistic approximation known as onefluid magnetohydrodynamics. Complex flows such as those corresponding to turbulent regimes are ubiquitous in laboratory plasmas and in astrophysics, because of their typically very large Reynolds numbers. Numerical simulations have become a powerful tool for the study of complex plasma flows in recent years. The aim of the present paper is to introduce the reader to some of the standard numerical approximations used for the integration of the magnetohydrodynamic equations. In particular, we focus on pseudospectral methods and on how to develop parallel codes to speed up large Reynolds number simulations. We show the results arising from numerical simulations of astrophysical interest such as the development of turbulent flows in reduced magnetohydrodynamics and the generation of magnetic fields by dynamo mechanisms in three dimensional magnetohydrodynamics.