Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL LETTERS
Volume 715, Issue 2, Pages L133-L137Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/715/2/L133
Keywords
convection; magnetohydrodynamics (MHD); Sun: activity; Sun: dynamo
Categories
Funding
- Canada's Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
- Research Chair Program
- Foundation for Innovation
- National Science Foundation
Ask authors/readers for more resources
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.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available