Blowout bifurcations and the onset of magnetic activity in turbulent dynamos - art. no. 066211

The transition to magnetic-field self-generation in a turbulent, electrical ly conducting fluid is shown to exhibit intermittent bursting characterized by distinct scaling laws. This behavior is predicted on the basis of prior analysis of a type of bifurcation (called a blowout bifurcation) occurring in chaotic systems with an invariant phase space submanifold. The predicte d scalings are shown to be consistent with numerical solutions of the gover ning magnetohydrodynamic equations, and implications for recently implement ed experimental programs are discussed.