Stellar (magneto-)convection
Abstract
The importance of convection as an energy transport mechanism, as an agent in the generation of stellar magnetic fields, and as a driver of chromospheric and corona activity in stars is discussed. The multiscale nature of stellar convection is illustrated with results from simulations and with observations of the Sun, showing that there is a hierarchy of velocity patterns in the solar convection zone, directly visible in the horizontal velocity field at the solar surface. The velocity amplitude spectrum is smooth, with amplitudes decaying approximately inversely proportionally to the horizontal scale, and with at most a minor enhancement at super-granulation scales. The multiscale (magneto-)convection is in a generalized sense the driver of all chromospheric and coronal activity. One of the more striking aspects of solar magneto-convection is the creation of sunspots; the modelling of sunspots and their structural details are also discussed.
- Publication:
-
Physica Scripta Volume T
- Pub Date:
- December 2008
- DOI:
- 10.1088/0031-8949/2008/T133/014002
- Bibcode:
- 2008PhST..133a4002N