Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2011-02-05
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
14 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Scientific paper
The scale length over which convection mixes mass in a star can be calculated as the inverse of the vertical derivative of the unidirectional (up or down) mass flux. This is related to the mixing length in the mixing length theory of stellar convection. We give the ratio of mass mixing length to pressure scale height for a grid of 3D surface convection simulations, covering from 4300\,K to 6900\,K on the main-sequence, and up to giants at $\log g = 2.2$, all for solar composition. These simulations also confirm what is already known from solar simulations, that convection doesn't proceed by discrete convective elements, but rather as a continuous, slow, smooth, warm upflow and turbulent, entropy deficient, fast down drafts. This convective topology also results in mixing on a scale as that of the classic mixing length formulation, and is simply a consequence of mass conservation on flows in a stratified atmosphere.
Stein Robert F.
Trampedach Regner
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