Tayler Instability Revisited

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Hauptverfasser: Skoutnev, Valentin A., Beloborodov, Andrei M.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author Skoutnev, Valentin A.
Beloborodov, Andrei M.
author_facet Skoutnev, Valentin A.
Beloborodov, Andrei M.
contents Tayler instability of toroidal magnetic fields $B_ϕ$ is broadly invoked as a trigger for turbulence and angular momentum transport in stars. This paper presents a systematic revision of the linear stability analysis for a rotating, magnetized, and stably stratified star. For plausible configurations of $B_ϕ$, instability requires diffusive processes: viscosity, magnetic diffusivity, or thermal/compositional diffusion. Our results reveal a new physical picture, demonstrating how different diffusive effects independently trigger instability of two types of waves in the rotating star: magnetostrophic waves and inertial waves. It develops via overstability of the waves, whose growth rate sharply peaks at some characteristic wavenumbers. We determine instability conditions for each wave branch and find the characteristic wavenumbers. The results are qualitatively different for stars with magnetic Prandtl number $Pm\ll 1$ (e.g. the Sun) and $Pm\gg 1$ (e.g. protoneutron stars). The parameter dependence of unstable modes suggests a non-universal scaling of the possible Tayler-Spruit dynamo.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2404_19103
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Tayler Instability Revisited
Skoutnev, Valentin A.
Beloborodov, Andrei M.
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Plasma Physics
Tayler instability of toroidal magnetic fields $B_ϕ$ is broadly invoked as a trigger for turbulence and angular momentum transport in stars. This paper presents a systematic revision of the linear stability analysis for a rotating, magnetized, and stably stratified star. For plausible configurations of $B_ϕ$, instability requires diffusive processes: viscosity, magnetic diffusivity, or thermal/compositional diffusion. Our results reveal a new physical picture, demonstrating how different diffusive effects independently trigger instability of two types of waves in the rotating star: magnetostrophic waves and inertial waves. It develops via overstability of the waves, whose growth rate sharply peaks at some characteristic wavenumbers. We determine instability conditions for each wave branch and find the characteristic wavenumbers. The results are qualitatively different for stars with magnetic Prandtl number $Pm\ll 1$ (e.g. the Sun) and $Pm\gg 1$ (e.g. protoneutron stars). The parameter dependence of unstable modes suggests a non-universal scaling of the possible Tayler-Spruit dynamo.
title Tayler Instability Revisited
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Plasma Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.19103