Symmetries, Scaling Laws, and Convergence in Shearing-box Simulations of Magneto-rotational Instability Driven Turbulence

We consider the problem of convergence in homogeneous shearing-box simulations of magneto-rotationally driven turbulence. When there is no mean magnetic flux, if the equations are non-dimensionalized with respect to the diffusive scale, the only free parameter in the problem is the size of the computational domain. The problem of convergence then relates to the asymptotic form of the solutions as the computational box size becomes large. By using a numerical code with a high order of accuracy we show that the solutions become asymptotically independent of domain size. We also show that cases with weak magnetic flux join smoothly to the zero-flux cases as the flux vanishes. These results are consistent with the operation of a subcritical small-scale dynamo driving the turbulence. We conclude that for this type of turbulence the angular momentum transport is proportional to the diffusive flux and therefore has limited relevance in astrophysical situations.