Paper detail

Galactic Spiral Patterns and Dynamo Action II: Asymptotic Solutions

The exploration of mean-field galactic dynamos affected by a galactic spiral pattern, begun in Chamandy et al. (2013, hereafter Paper I) with numerical simulations, is continued here with an asymptotic solution. The mean-field dynamo model used generalizes the standard theory to include the delayed response of the mean electromotive force to variations of the mean magnetic field and turbulence parameters (the temporal non-locality, or τ effect). The effect of the spiral pattern on the dynamo considered is the enhancement of the α-effect in spiral-shaped regions (which may overlap the gaseous spiral arms or be located in the interarm regions). The axisymmetric and enslaved non-axisymmetric modes of the mean magnetic field are studied semi-analytically to clarify and strengthen the numerical results. Good qualitative agreement is obtained between the asymptotic solution and numerical solutions of Paper I for a global, rigidly rotating material spiral (density wave). At all galactocentric distances except for the co-rotation radius, we find magnetic arms displaced in azimuth from the α-arms, so that the ridges of magnetic field strength are more tightly wound than the α-arms. Moreover, the effect of a finite dynamo relaxation time τ (related to the turbulence correlation time) is to phase-shift the magnetic arms in the direction opposite to the galactic rotation even at the co-rotation radius. This mechanism can be used to explain the phase shifts between magnetic and material arms observed in some spiral galaxies.