Hall effects and sub-grid-scale modeling in magnetohydrodynamic turbulence simulations

Effects of the Hall term on short-wave components of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence and sub-grid-scale modeling of the effects are studied. Direct numerical simulations of homogeneous magnetohydrodynamic turbulence with and without the Hall term are carried out. The Hall term excites short-wave components in the magnetic field, demanding a high numerical resolution to resolve the scales smaller than the ion skin depth. A k(7/3)-like scaling-law in the magnetic energy spectrum associated with the excitation of the short-wave components is clearly shown by the use of both an isotropic spectrum and a one-dimensional spectrum. It is also shown that the introduction of the Hall term can cause a structural transition in the vorticity field from tubes to sheets. In order to overcome a strong demand on high-resolution in space and time and to enable quicker computations, large eddy simulations with a Smagorinsky-type sub-grid-scale model are carried out. It is shown that our large eddy simulations successfully reproduce not only the energy spectrum but also tubular vortex structures, reducing the computational cost considerably. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.