Issue 1, 2014
After spending a year and a half at the University of Helsinki, Visiting Professor Matthias Rheinhardt returned to Nordita in February. One of his main research projects is the fully nonlinear test-field method for computing the full set of turbulent transport coefficients in the Navier-Stokes and continuity equations, which he hopes to finish soon. This method allows the computation of the turbulent viscosity tensor, as well as related effects such as the so-called anisotropic kinetic alpha effect and the Lambda effect. The test-field method is a general approach to characterizing simulation results and to obtain turbulent transport coefficients that describe its large-scale properties. Examples include the test-field method for magnetic fields and for passive scalars, where Matthias has made important contributions in the past. Matthias also contributes to other activities within the astrophysics group at Nordita, such as investigating the suppression of turbulent convective energy transport by magnetic fields and the possibility of an instability, which might be responsible for producing sunspots. His stay at Nordita is supported through the ERC AstroDyn grant.
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