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Global magnetic cycles in rapidly rotating younger suns

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2011

Nicholas J. Nelson
Affiliation:
JILA and Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0440, USA email: nnelson@lcd.colorado.edu
Benjamin P. Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, 475 Charter St., Madison, WI 53706, USA
Matthew K. Browning
Affiliation:
Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S3H8, Canada
Allan Sacha Brun
Affiliation:
DSM/IRFU/SAp, CEA-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Mark S. Miesch
Affiliation:
High Altitude Observatory, NCAR, Boulder, CO 80307-3000, USA
Juri Toomre
Affiliation:
JILA and Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0440, USA email: nnelson@lcd.colorado.edu
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Abstract

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Observations of sun-like stars rotating faster than our current sun tend to exhibit increased magnetic activity as well as magnetic cycles spanning multiple years. Using global simulations in spherical shells to study the coupling of large-scale convection, rotation, and magnetism in a younger sun, we have probed effects of rotation on stellar dynamos and the nature of magnetic cycles. Major 3-D MHD simulations carried out at three times the current solar rotation rate reveal hydromagnetic dynamo action that yields wreaths of strong toroidal magnetic field at low latitudes, often with opposite polarity in the two hemispheres. Our recent simulations have explored behavior in systems with considerably lower diffusivities, achieved with sub-grid scale models including a dynamic Smagorinsky treatment of unresolved turbulence. The lower diffusion promotes the generation of magnetic wreaths that undergo prominent temporal variations in field strength, exhibiting global magnetic cycles that involve polarity reversals. In our least diffusive simulation, we find that magnetic buoyancy coupled with advection by convective giant cells can lead to the rise of coherent loops of magnetic field toward the top of the simulated domain.

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2011

References

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