Turbulent relaxation to a force-free field-reversed state

The evolution of nonequilibrium initial conditions of an incompressible magnetohydrodynamic Z pinch is described by a three-dimensional, pseudospectral numerical code. Magnetohydrodynamic turbulence develops in the resistive, nonviscous magnetofluid, resulting in the selective decay of the energy relative to the magnetic helicity, at Lundquist numbers of only a few hundred. An interior force-free region grows with time and achieves spontaneous reversal of the toroidal magnetic field at the wall, without the necessity of an external electric field.