Mixing in magnetized turbulent media

Turbulent motions in astrophysical systems are essential to the mixing of entrained fluids which play a vital role in intergalactic enrichment, thermal conduction in magnetized intracluster gas as well as in the dispersion of heavy elements in the interstellar medium. 
Such motions are also capable of amplifying weak initial magnetic fields by small-scale dynamo action. In this talk, we consider the mixing of pollutants in the presence of an evolving magnetic field generated by dynamo action. We show that the scalar gradient field, is always aligned transverse to the magnetic field even in the nonlinear phase, when magnetic back reactions become strong enough to influence the flow. As we shall show,  this occurs because the scalar gradient increases within the plane of compressive motion, but the magnetic field increases perpendicular to it. At late times the saturated magnetic field is strong enough to resist compressive motions making it harder for scalar gradients to grow and likely leading to the longer mixing times. Since both mixing and magnetic field amplification are driven by turbulent motions, our results are likely to have implications on intergalactic metal enrichment and thermal conduction in magnetized intracluster gas.