Ben Brown (UW Madison)

Global-scale Simulations of Stellar Convection and their Observational Predictions

Magnetism is a ubiquitous feature of stars like our Sun. These stars on the lower main sequence have substantial convection zones just beneath their photospheres. Convection in these regions can couple with rotation to build global-scale thermal, velocity and magnetic structures which may be observable now and in the near future. Here I talk about predictions emerging from 3-D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of global-scale convection for solar-like stars with the anelastic spherical harmonic (ASH) code. These wreath-building dynamos generate strong magnetic fields in the midst of the convection zone and show cyclic activity. Generally, we find that differential rotation is an important feature of these stars and probably plays a crucial role in the convective stellar dynamos that build the magnetic fields seen in these stars.