MAGNETIC CYCLES IN GLOBAL LARGE-EDDY SIMULATIONS OF SOLAR CONVECTION
- Departement de Physique, Universite de Montreal, C.P. 6128 Succ. Centre-ville, Montreal, Qc, H3C-3J7 (Canada)
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80307 (United States)
We report on a global magnetohydrodynamical simulation of the solar convection zone, which succeeds in generating a large-scale axisymmetric magnetic component, antisymmetric about the equatorial plane and undergoing regular polarity reversals on decadal timescales. We focus on a specific simulation run covering 255 years, during which 8 polarity reversals are observed, with a mean period of 30 years. Time-latitude slices of the zonally averaged toroidal magnetic component at the base of the convecting envelope show a well-organized toroidal flux system building up in each solar hemisphere, peaking at mid-latitudes and migrating toward the equator in the course of each cycle, in remarkable agreement with inferences based on the sunspot butterfly diagram. The simulation also produces a large-scale dipole moment, varying in phase with the internal toroidal component, suggesting that the simulation may be operating as what is known in mean-field theory as an {alpha}{Omega} dynamo.
- OSTI ID:
- 21448696
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 715, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/715/2/L133; ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
AXIAL SYMMETRY
CONVECTION
DIPOLE MOMENTS
LARGE-EDDY SIMULATION
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MEAN-FIELD THEORY
SUN
SUNSPOTS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
ENERGY TRANSFER
FLUID MECHANICS
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDRODYNAMICS
MAIN SEQUENCE STARS
MASS TRANSFER
MECHANICS
SIMULATION
SOLAR ACTIVITY
STARS
STARSPOTS
STELLAR ACTIVITY
SYMMETRY