Related papers: Sunspot simulations with MURaM -- I. Parameter stu…
Results of a 3D MHD simulation of a sunspot with a photospheric size of about 20 Mm are presented. The simulation has been carried out with the MURaM code, which includes a realistic equation of state with partial ionization and radiative…
The analyses of sunspot observations revealed a fundamental magnetic property of the umbral boundary, the invariance of the vertical component of the magnetic field. We aim to analyse the magnetic properties of the umbra-penumbra boundary…
Context. The bright heads of penumbral filaments, penumbral grains (PGs), are manifestations of hot plasma flows rising to the surface. They are observed to move horizontally toward the sunspot umbra or away from it. Recent analyses of…
There are no direct spatially resolved observations of spots on stars other than the Sun and starspot properties are inferred indirectly through lightcurves and spectropolarimetric data. We present the first self-consistent 3D radiative MHD…
We compute realistic 3D radiative MHD near-surface models of starspots with substantial penumbrae on cool main-sequence stars using the MURaM simulation code. This work is an improvement on the the previous starspot models in a slab…
We present a series of high-resolution sunspot simulations that cover a time span of up to 100 hours. The simulation domain extends about 18 Mm in depth beneath the photosphere and 98 Mm horizontally. We use open boundary conditions that do…
Recent progress in theoretical modeling of a sunspot is reviewed. The observed properties of umbral dots are well reproduced by realistic simulations of magnetoconvection in a vertical, monolithic magnetic field. To understand the penumbra,…
Realistic 3D radiative MHD simulations reveal the magneto-convective processes underlying the formation of the photospheric fine structure of sunspots, including penumbral filaments and umbral dots. Here we provide results from a…
We analyze in detail the penumbral structure found in a recent radiative MHD simulation. Near tau=1, the simulation produces penumbral fine structure consistent with the observationally inferred interlocking comb structure. Fast outflows…
The fluting instability has been suggested as the driver of the subsurface structure of sunspot flux tubes. We conducted a series of numerical experiments where we used flux tubes with different initial curvatures to study the effect of the…
We demonstrate that the radial magnetic-field component at the outer boundary of the sunspot penumbra is about 550 Mx cm$^{-2}$ independent of the sunspot area and the maximum magnetic field in the umbra. The mean magnetic-field intensity…
We present results of numerical 3D MHD simulations with radiative energy transfer of fine structure in a small sunspot of about 4 Mm width. The simulations show the development of filamentary structures and flow patterns that are, except…
The sunspot penumbra is a transition zone between the strong vertical magnetic field area (sunspot umbra) and the quiet Sun. The penumbra has a fine filamentary structure that is characterized by magnetic field lines inclined toward the…
We analyse a sunspot simulation in an effort to understand the origin of the convective instabilities giving rise to the penumbral and umbral distinct regimes. We applied the criterion from Gough \& Tayler (1966), accounting for the…
Sunspot fine structure has been modeled in the past by a combination of idealized magneto-convection simulations and simplified models that prescribe the magnetic field and flow structure to a large degree. Advancement in numerical methods…
We present a series of numerical sunspot models addressing the subsurface field and flow structure in up to 16 Mm deep domains covering up to 2 days of temporal evolution. Changes in the photospheric appearance of the sunspots are driven by…
We study the formation of a sunspot penumbra in the active region NOAA11024. We simultaneously observed the Stokes parameters of the photospheric iron lines at 1089.6 nm with the TIP and 617.3 nm with the GFPI spectropolarimeters along with…
The stability of sunspots is one of the long-standing unsolved puzzles in the field of solar magnetism. We study the effects that destabilise and stabilise the flux tube of a simulated sunspot in the upper convection zone. The depth-varying…
We analyzed the size, intensity, and magnetic field strength of sunspot umbrae to compare the present cycle 24 with the previous one. We used data of the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory and selected…
MHD simulations of sunspots have successfully reproduced many aspects of sunspot fine structure as consequence of magneto convection in inclined magnetic field. We study how global sunspot properties and penumbral fine structure depend on…