Chaos in accretion disk dynamos?

Accretion disks appear to be favourable places for dynamo action, because of their strong differential rotation. A simple estimate of the strength of an accretion disk dynamo indicates that it will be highly nonlinear. In spite of this, most studies hitherto have assumed a linear model for the dynamo. Here we investigate nonlinear, axisymmetric mean-field dynamos in accretion disks in order to study the route to chaotic solutions in certain parameter regimes. We find a sequence of bifurcations that lead eventually to chaos. Finally, the physical significance of these results is discussed.