Paper detail

Magnetic buoyancy instabilities in the presence of magnetic flux pumping at the base of the solar convection zone

We perform idealised numerical simulations of magnetic buoyancy instabilities in a model of the solar tachocline. We introduce a simplified model of magnetic flux pumping in an upper layer (the convection zone), and study the effects of its inclusion on the evolution of buoyancy instabilities in a lower layer (the radiative interior). We study its effects on the instability of both a preconceived magnetic slab and of a shear-generated magnetic layer. In the former, we find that in the regime in which the downward pumping velocity is comparable with the Alfven speed of the magnetic layer, flux pumping is able to hold back the bulk of the magnetic field, with only small pockets of strong field able to rise into the upper layer. In simulations in which the magnetic layer is generated by shear, we find that the shear velocity is not necessarily required to exceed that of the pumping (therefore the kinetic energy of the shear is not required to exceed that of the overlying convection), for strong localised pockets of magnetic field to be produced which can rise into the upper layer. This is because magnetic flux pumping acts to store the field below the interface, allowing it to be amplified both by the shear, and by vortical fluid motions, until pockets of field can achieve sufficient strength to rise into the upper layer. In addition, we find that the interface between the two layers is a natural location for the production of strong vertical gradients in the magnetic field. If these gradients are sufficiently strong to allow the development of magnetic buoyancy instabilities, strong shear is not necessarily required to drive them (c.f. previous work by Vasil & Brummell). We find that the addition of magnetic flux pumping appears to be able to assist shear-driven magnetic buoyancy in producing strong flux concentrations that can rise into the convection zone from the radiative interior.