The team seeks to:

  • Study instability processes (such as convection, shear instabilities, magnetic buoyancy instabilities, etc) or other processes (such as wave transport, mean flow generation, etc) which can induce mixing and transport in heat, angular momentum, chemical species, magnetic fields, etc.
  • Provide fundamental understanding of these processes with a view to incorporating them (either directly or in a distilled manner) in more general models (such as global dynamo models) or connecting them spatially to other models (such as near-surface models).

Team members use high resolution local and global, 2D and 3D direct numerical simulations to develop an understanding of the MHD processes in the deeper solar interior. The team also seeks characteristics of the dynamics that can be verified with the collaboration of experts in other teams.

Initial activities include:

  • Tachocline dynamics: A Working Group is working on understanding theories of the dynamics of the solar tachocline, with a view to understanding its role in the dynamo process. This Team will work with the Dynamo Team to understand whether distilled models or direct dynamics need to be incorporated into global dynamo models.
  • Magnetic flux structure creation and evolution: A Working Group is working on the creation of compact magnetic flux structures from the interaction of shear and magnetic buoyancy instabilities and the subsequent rise of such structures through a turbulent convection zone towards emergence at the solar surface. This team works on the deeper interior aspects of this problem and couples with the Links Team models closer to the surface.
  • Novel dynamos: A Working Group is working on novel dynamos which are not of the standard alpha-omega type and which might be more robust at high Reynolds numbers. This work, in conjunction with other radiative dynamo models from the Dynamo Team, may be relevant to other stars.

Team Members

The following people are currently on the Convection Team:

Alexander Getling Andrés Muñoz-Jaramillo Ben Brown Bhishek Manek Bill Abbett Bradley Hindman Brandon Lazard Catherine Blume Daniel Lecoanet Emma Kaufman Geoff Vasil Jacob Noone Wade Loren Matilsky Lydia Korre Maria Camisassa Nic Brummell - Barista Nick Featherstone - Barista Radostin Simitev Rituparna (Ritu) Curt Roger Ulrich Alexander (Sasha) Kosovichev Thierry Roudier Valentin Skoutnev Whitney Powers