Identification

Title

Generating buoyant magnetic flux ropes in solar-like convective dynamos

Abstract

Our Sun exhibits strong convective dynamo action which results in magnetic flux bundles emerging through the stellar surface as magnetic spots. Global-scale dynamo action is believed to generate large-scale magnetic structures in the deep solar interior through the interplay of convection, rotation and shear. Portions of these large-scale magnetic structures are then believed to rise through the convective layer, forming magnetic loops which then pierce the photosphere as sunspot pairs. Previous global simulations of three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic convection in rotating spherical shells have demonstrated mechanisms whereby large-scale magnetic wreaths can be generated in the bulk of the convection zone. Our recent simulations have achieved sufficiently high levels of turbulence to permit portions of these wreaths to become magnetically buoyant and rise through the simulated convective layer through a combination of magnetic buoyancy and advection by convective giant cells. These buoyant magnetic loops are created in the bulk of the convective layer as strong Lorentz force feedback in the cores of the magnetic wreaths dampen small-scale convective motions, permitting the amplification of local magnetic energies to over 100 times the local kinetic energy. While the magnetic wreaths are largely generated the shearing of axisymmetric poloidal magnetic fields by axisymmetric rotational shear (the Ω-effect), the loops are amplified to their peak field strengths before beginning to rise by non-axisymmetric processes. This further extends and enhances a new paradigm for the generation of emergent magnetic flux bundles, which we term turbulence-enabled magnetic buoyancy.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7zw1mw8

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

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code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

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keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

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East bounding longitude

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End position

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date type

publication

effective date

2014-06-01T00:00:00Z

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Use constraints

An edited version of this article was published by the Institute of Physics on behalf of the American Astronomical Society. Copyright 2014 the American Astronomical Society.

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2025-07-12T00:08:24.850846

Metadata language

eng; USA