Berhanu Michael, Gallet Basile, Mordant Nicolas, Fauve Stéphan
Laboratoire de Physique Statistique, Ecole Normale Supérieure & CNRS, 24 Rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.
Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2008 Jul;78(1 Pt 2):015302. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.78.015302. Epub 2008 Jul 15.
The magnetic field of planets or stars is generated by the motion of a conducting fluid through a dynamo instability. The saturation of the magnetic field occurs through the reaction of the Lorentz force on the flow. In relation to this phenomenon, we study the effect of a magnetic field on a turbulent flow of liquid gallium. The measurement of electric potential differences provides a signal related to the local velocity fluctuations. We observe a reduction of velocity fluctuations at all frequencies in the spectrum when the magnetic field is increased.