Zero Net Flux MRI Turbulence in Disks: Sustenance Scheme and Magnetic Prandtl Number Dependence

We investigate sustenance and dependence on magnetic Prandtl number (Pm) for magnetorotational instability (MRI)-driven turbulence in Keplerian disks with zero net magnetic flux using standard shearing box simulations. We focus on the turbulence dynamics in Fourier space, capturing specific/noncanonical anisotropy of nonlinear processes due to disk flow shear. This is a new type of nonlinear redistribution of modes over wavevector orientations in Fourier space—the nonlinear transverse cascade—which is generic to shear flows and fundamentally different from the usual direct/inverse cascade. The zero flux MRI has no exponentially growing modes, so its growth is transient, or nonmodal. Turbulence self-sustenance is governed by constructive cooperation of the transient growth of MRI and the nonlinear transverse cascade. This cooperation takes place at small wavenumbers (on the flow size scales) referred to as the vital area in Fourier space. The direct cascade transfers mode energy from the vital area to larger wavenumbers. At large Pm, the transverse cascade prevails over the direct one, keeping most of modes' energy contained in small wavenumbers. With decreasing Pm, however, the action of the transverse cascade weakens and can no longer oppose the action of the direct cascade, which more efficiently transfers energy to higher wavenumbers, leading to increased resistive dissipation. This undermines the sustenance scheme, resulting in the turbulence decay. Thus, the decay of zero net flux MRI turbulence with decreasing Pm is attributed to the topological rearrangement of the nonlinear processes when the direct cascade begins to prevail over the transverse cascade.