Lagrangian Statistics of 3D MHD Convection

By tracking fluid particles in direct numerical simulations, we develop Lagrangian statistics for 3D turbulent magnetoconvection in the solar convection zone. We adopt the Boussinesq approximation to the MHD convection equations to allow for small differences in plasma density resulting from buoyancy. Pseudo-spectral simulations, performed at resolutions of 512^3 and 1024^3, solve these equations for a geometric cube of plasma with an imposed mean temperature gradient. Boundary conditions are fully periodic and disallow vertical streamers, specifically k_z=0 velocity or temperature modes. We examine universal characteristics of magnetoconvection revealed by Lagrangian single-particle diffusion, two-particle relative dispersion, alignment angles, PDFs, and structure functions.