The Cosmic Dynamo Proceedings of the 157th Symposium of the International Astronomical Union, Held in Potsdam, Germany, September 7–11, 1992 - Krause, F.; Rädler, K.-H; Rüdiger, G. (Springer Netherlands, 1993)
This IAU-symposium was the first which was entirely dedicated to dynamo processes, which are fundamental on all cosmical scales. Dynamo theory concerns one of the few truly key questions of recent cosmic physics. There is increasing evidence for the magnetic character of most short-term activity phenomena in astrophysics. Obviously, the triangle "gravity, nuclear power, magnetism" dictates cosmic evolution over a very broad scale of magnitudes. A complicated interplay of rotation, magnetism and turbulence, that is hard to resolve, determines stellar and galactic activity for almost all the short and medium timescales. Behind these multiform phenomena, the cosmic dynamo works in various guise. . "I, all involving inductive and dissipative equilibria in rotating turbulent cosmic plasmas. The Sun, representing the cosmic dynamo par excellence, stands from the beginning at the centre of interest for those who followed the dynamo idea. Even the first models were able to present an explanation of the typical structural appearance of the solar magnetic field, i. e. a 22 year cycle, activity belts and their zonal migration, antisymmetry of t. he magnetic polarity. However, the solar dynamo still provides topics of further discussions, since confrontation with recent observational data raised and still raises new questions, non of which have yet found a plausible answer. These questions represent a challenge for the development of the basic theories: Understanding of turbulence, especially using methods of modern nonlinear physics. Numerical simulations are promising in the near future