Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
May 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009spd....40.0802g&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, SPD meeting #40, #8.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 41, p.815
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
The observed rotation profile of the solar interior exhibits a striking transition between the nearly-uniformly rotating radiative zone and the differentially rotating convection zone. Explaining the cause and sharpness of this transition has been a long-standing problem in solar interior dynamics. A promising theoretical model (Gough & McIntyre, 1998) explains the uniform rotation of the radiative zone by the presence of a large-scale primordial field, confined entirely beneath the convective zone by large-scale meridional flows. These flows are thought to be generated by convective stresses and Coriolis forces in the convection zone.
Garaud & Garaud (2008) presented the first numerical simulations of the solar interior to exhibit the kind of field confinement central to the Gough & McIntyre model. However, their model did not include a self-consistent mechanism to generate the convective zone meridional flows but instead assumed a given flow profile and amplitude at the radiative-convective interface. A final verification of the Gough & McIntyre model thus requires simulations which simultaneously include both radiative and convective regions.
Here, we present new analytical and numerical results which appear to highlight fundamental difficulties with the Gough & McIntyre model as it was originally formulated, and conclude by discussing possible modifications and alternatives.This work is supported by NSF-AST0607459.
Acevedo-Arreguin Luis
Garaud Pascale
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