CHAOTIC BEHAVIOR OF THE RIKITAKE DYNAMO WITH SYMMETRICAL MECHANICAL FRICTION AND AZIMUTHAL CURRENTS

We propose a new description of the two-disc dynamo, considering azimu thal currents in the rotating discs, as proposed by H. K. Moffatt for the one-disc dynamo, in addition to symmetric mechanical friction appl ied to the discs, whose neglect constitutes a fundamental error, as sh own by R. Hide. The linear stability of the steady state is analysed a nd it is shown that the system presents chaotic reversals, depending o n the parameters of the problem.