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Rethinking basic concepts of solar convection and sunspot formation. Rethinking. Axel Brandenburg (Nordita, Stockholm). Spaceweather.com. SpaceWeather.com. Movie of the Sun. X-ray corona. X-ray corona. Triggers geomagnetic storms Aviation: affects communication & GPS
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Rethinking basic concepts of solar convection and sunspot formation Rethinking Axel Brandenburg (Nordita, Stockholm)
Spaceweather.com SpaceWeather.com
X-ray corona X-ray corona Triggers geomagnetic storms Aviation: affects communication & GPS Harmful proton radiation (~mSv)
Structure of the Sun Surface: granulation (~1Mm) Radius of the Sun: 700 Mm Convection zone: 200 Mm
Agreement: simulations & observations Simulation: Stein & Nordlund, observation Swedish Solar Telescope What about deeper down?
Structure of convection zonemixing length theory vs simulations
Results challenged • Ring diagram analysis by Greer et al. (2015) • One difference: no “noise” removed • Kernels
Basic concept ofhelioseismology Top: reflection when wavenlength ~ density scale height Deeper down: Sound speed large
Travel time differences • Contrib. from whole path • Esp. top layers (cs small) • averaging over rays through same point
Deep-focusing geometry • Removes strong contributions from top layers • Could they be right?
Other reasons for concern • Simulations predict giant cells • But are not observed
Do we need to rethink? • In mixing length theory: l=Hp only hypothesis • Simulations: subgrid scale diffusion, viscosity • Envisage reasons for (i) smaller scale flows and/or (ii) deeper parts subadiabatic? • Convection zone still 200 Mm
Stein & Nordlund (1998) simulations Filamentary, nonlocal shown: entropy fluctuationsposneg
Entropy & convection Adiabatic changes: S=const P equilibrium: S+ buoyant S pert overshoot z pert unstable S z
Tau approximation Closure hypothesis
Physical meaning? pert coasting… S z
Why should only the top be unstable e.g. if Power law Polytropic index n
Deeper parts intrinsically stable n=3.25 Kramers opacity (interior): a=1, b=-7/2 Polytropic index n Entropy gradient positive (stable) for n > 3/2
Hydrostaticreferencesolutions Thickness only ~1Mm
Revised mixing length theory Entropy gradient old new
Consequences of small scales • Larger kf less turb. Diffusion: ht=urms/3kf • Applications to dynamos: stronger, less turb diffusive • Two other important effect: • Lambda effect differential rotation • Negative effective magnetic pressure spots
Negative effective magnetic pressure instability Kleeorin, Rogachevskii, Ruzmaikin (1989, 1990) • Gas+turbulent+magnetic pressure; in pressure equil. • B increases turbulence is suppressed • turbulent pressure decreases • Net effect?
Setup • 3-D box, size (2p)3, isothermal MHD • Random, nonhelical forcing at kf/k1=5, 15 or 30 • Stratified in z, r~exp(-z/H), H=1, Dr=535 • Periodic in x and y • stress-free, perfect conductor in z • Weak imposed field B0 in y • Run for long times: what happens? • Turnover time tto=(urmskf)-1, turb diff ttd=(htk12)-1 • Is longer by factor 3(kf/k1)2 = 3 152 = 675 • Average By over y and Dt=80tto
Basic mechanism Anelastic: descending structure compression B amplifies B amplifies Growth rate
Self-assembly of a magnetic spot • Minimalistic model • 2 ingredients: • Stratification & turbulence • Extensions • Coupled to dynamo • Compete with rotation • Radiation/ionization
Sunspot formation that sucks Mean-field simulation: Neg pressure parameterized Typical downflow speeds Ma=0.2…0.3 Brandenbur et al (2014)
Flux tubes in global simulations Nelson, Brown, Brun, Miesch, Toomre (2014)
Other proposals • Rising flux tubes? • Hierachical convection? • Self-organization as part of the dynamo g.B u.B g.W u.w A.B
Bi-polar regions in simulations with corona Warnecke et al. (2013, ApJL 777, L37)
First dynamo-generated bi-polar regions Mitra et al. (2014, arXiv)
Global models Jabbari et al. (2015, arXiv)
Conclusions • Sun: active & exciting • Some basic questions worth rethinking • Possibly Deardorff flux (Entropy rain) • slightly subadiabatic: no giant cells • Other interesting possibilities: dynamos, differential rotation, spotformation, …