Cardoso, Elisa and Lopes, Ilidio (2012), "IMPACT OF A REALISTIC DENSITY STRATIFICATION ON A SIMPLE SOLAR DYNAMO
CALCULATION", ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, 757, 1.
Abstract: In our Sun, the magnetic cycle is driven by the dynamo action occurring
inside the convection zone, beneath the surface. Rotation couples with
plasma turbulent motions to produce organized magnetic fields that erupt
at the surface and undergo relatively regular cycles of polarity
reversal. Among others, the axisymmetric dynamo models have been proved
to be a quite useful tool to understand the dynamical processes
responsible for the evolution of the solar magnetic cycle and the
formation of the sunspots. Here, we discuss the role played by the
radial density stratification on the critical layers of the Sun on the
solar dynamo. The current view is that a polytropic description of the
density stratification from beneath the tachocline region up to the
Sun's surface is sufficient for the current precision of axisymmetric
dynamo models. In this work, by using an up-to-date density profile
obtained from a standard solar model, which is itself consistent with
helioseismic data, we show that the detailed peculiarities of the
density in critical regions of the Sun's interior, such as the
tachocline, the base of the convection zone, the layers of partial
ionization of hydrogen and helium, and the super-adiabatic layer, play a
non-negligible role on the evolution of the solar magnetic cycle.
Furthermore, we found that the chemical composition of the solar model
plays a minor role in the formation and evolution of the solar magnetic
cycle.
Keywords: magnetic fields; Sun: general; Sun: helioseismology; Sun: interior;
sunspots
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