Paper detail

Nonlinear evolution of the elliptical instability in the presence of weak magnetic fields

We investigate whether the elliptical instability is important for tidal dissipation in gaseous planets and stars. In a companion paper, we found that the conventional elliptical instability results in insufficient dissipation because it produces long-lived vortices that then quench further instability. Here, we study whether the addition of a magnetic field prevents those vortices from forming, and hence leads to enhanced dissipation. We present results from magnetohydrodynamical simulations that evolve the elliptical instability in a local patch of a rotating planet or star, in the presence of a weak magnetic field. We find that magnetic fields do indeed prevent vortices from forming, and hence greatly enhance the steady state dissipation rate. In addition, the resulting turbulence acts as a small-scale dynamo, amplifying the initially weak field. The inferred tidal dissipation is potentially important at short orbital periods. For example, it can circularise hot Jupiters with orbital periods shorter than 2.5 days, and synchronise their spins with their orbits out to 6 days. However, it appears unable to account for the hot Jupiters that appear to have been circularised out to six to ten day orbital periods. It also cannot account for the inferred circularisation of many close binary stars.