Convection and the Phenomenon of Kilogauss Magnetic Fields on the Sun

Abstract

The role played by convection in the formation of slender magnetic flux tubes and in the dynamics of the gas within the tube is discussed in the case of simplified models. Convection instability cannot drive systematic downflows whereas convective buffetting of the tube can. The inclusion of heat transport reduces the efficiency of convective collapse for the formation of strong fields. The implications of these two results for the solar magnetic flux is pointed out