MHD Turbulence Simulation in a Cosmic Structure Context
  The gaseous media of galaxy clusters and cosmic filaments, which constitute
most of the baryonic matter in the universe, is highly dynamic. It is also
probably turbulent, although the turbulence properties are poorly known. The
gas is highly rarefied, essentially fully ionized plasma. Observational
evidence suggests intracluster media (ICMs) are magnetized at some level. There
are several possible origins for ICM seed fields; the observed fields are
likely the result of turbulence in the ICM. We are engaged in a simulation
study designed to understand in this context how very weak initial magnetic
fields evolve in driven turbulence. We find that the magnetic fields eventually
evolve towards equipartition levels with the vortical, solenoidal kinetic
energy in the turbulence. As they do so the topology of the field structures
transition from filamentary forms into ribbon-like structures in which the
field orientations are laminated with vorticity structures.
