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The effect of the tachocline on differential rotation in the Sun

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Balbus, Steven A 
Latter, Henrik N 

Abstract

In this paper, we present a model for the effects of the tachocline on the differential rotation in the solar convection zone. The mathematical technique relies on the assumption that entropy is nearly constant ("well-mixed") in isorotation surfaces both outside and within the tachocline. The resulting solutions exhibit nontrivial features that strikingly resemble the true tachocline isorotation contours in unexpected detail. This strengthens the mathematical premises of the theory. The observed rotation pattern in the tachocline shows strong quadrupolar structure, an important feature that is explicitly used in constructing our solutions. The tachocline is treated locally as an interior boundary layer of small but finite thickness, and an explicit global solution is then constructed. A dynamical link can thus be established between the internal jump in the angular velocity at the tachocline and the spread of angular velocities observed near the solar surface. In general, our results suggest that the bulk of the solar convection zone is in thermal wind balance, and that simple quadrupolar stresses, local in radius, mediate the tachocline transition from differential rotation to uniform rotation in the radiative interior.

Description

Keywords

astro-ph.SR, astro-ph.SR

Journal Title

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0035-8711

Volume Title

Publisher

Royal Astronomical Society

Rights

All rights reserved