Related papers: Convective Lengthscale in Planetary Cores
The solar convection zone rotates differentially, with its equatorial region rotating more rapidly than the polar regions. This form of differential rotation, also observed in many other low-mass stars, is understood to arise when Coriolis…
Surface convection is important for the presence of magnetic activity at stars. So far, this convection is thought to be a result of heating from below, where convection cells rise and break up. New models reveal that surface convection is…
In this work we generalize the notion of convective inhibition to apply in cases where there is an infinite reservoir of condensible species (i.e., an ocean). We propose a new model for the internal structure and thermal evolution of…
In an attempt to understand the properties of convective energy transport in the solar convection zone, a numerical model has been constructed for turbulent flows in a compressible, radiation-coupled, non-magnetic, gravitationally…
A viscosity profile across the entire fluid outer core is found by interpolating between measured boundary values, using a differential form of the Arrhenius law governing pressure and temperature dependence. The discovery that both the…
Deep convection is one of the most important atmospheric transport mechanisms and associated with various severe weather phenomena. Manifestations of deep convection in the atmosphere are composed of a recurring fundamental building block,…
We study thermal convection in a rotating fluid in order to better understand the properties of convection zones in rotating stars and planets. We first derive mixing-length theory for rapidly-rotating convection, arriving at the results of…
Convection in rotating spherical geometries is an important physical process in planetary and stellar systems. Using continuation methods at low Prandtl number, we find both strong equatorially asymmetric and symmetric polar nonlinear…
Enceladus is believed to have a saltwater global ocean with a mean depth of at least 30~km, heated from below at the ocean-core interface and cooled at the top, where the ocean loses heat to the icy lithosphere above. This scenario suggests…
Stellar rotation on the main sequence is a complex function of mass and age, displaying multiple regimes whose physical origin remains only partially understood. In particular, the connection between the diversity of observed rotation rates…
The bottom of the main sequence hosts objects with fundamentally different properties. At masses of about 0.3 M$_{\odot}$, stars become fully convective and at about 0.08 M$_{\odot}$ the hydrogen-burning main sequence ends; less massive…
The mechanism by which the Earth's magnetic field is generated is thought to be thermal convection in the metallic liquid iron core. Computational considerations previously restricted most numerical simulations to a regime where the…
Recent measurements of Jupiter's gravitational field (by Juno) and seismology of Saturn's rings (by Cassini) strongly suggest that both planets have a stably-stratified core that still possesses a primordial gradient in the concentration of…
We consider the amplification and transport of a magnetic field in the collapsed core of a massive star, including both the region between the neutrinosphere and the shock, and the central, opaque core. An analytical argument explains why…
Cosmological perturbations of sufficiently long wavelength admit a fluid dynamic description. We consider modes with wavevectors below a scale $k_m$ for which the dynamics is only mildly non-linear. The leading effect of modes above that…
Earth's fast rotation imposes the Taylor-Proudman Constraint that opposes fluid motion across an imaginary cylindrical surface called the Tangent Cylinder (TC) obtained by extruding the equatorial perimeter of the solid inner core along the…
The differential rotation of the sun, as deduced from helioseismology, exhibits a prominent radial shear layer near the top of the convection zone wherein negative radial gradients of angular velocity are evident in the low- and…
Convection is the mechanism by which energy is transported through the outermost 30% of the Sun. Solar turbulent convection is notoriously difficult to model across the entire convection zone where the density spans many orders of…
Earth sustains its magnetic field by a dynamo process driven by convection in the liquid outer core. Geodynamo simulations have been successful in reproducing many observed properties of the geomagnetic field. However, while theoretical…
In this paper we present a series of models for the deep water cycle on super-Earths experiencing plate tectonics. The deep water cycle can be modeled through parameterized convection models coupled with a volatile recycling model. The…