Abstract

We investigate an intensification mechanism for the magnetic field near the base of the solar convection zone that does not rely on differential rotation. Such mechanism in addition to differential rotation has been suggested by studies of flux emergence, which typically require field strength in... Show moreWe investigate an intensification mechanism for the magnetic field near the base of the solar convection zone that does not rely on differential rotation. Such mechanism in addition to differential rotation has been suggested by studies of flux emergence, which typically require field strength in excess of those provided by differential rotation alone. We study here a process in which potential energy of the superadiabatically stratified convection zone is converted into magnetic energy. This mechanism, known as the "explosion of magnetic flux tubes," has been previously studied in thin flux tube approximation as well as two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations; here we expand the investigation to three-dimensional MHD simulations. Our main result is that enough intensification can be achieved in a three-dimensional magnetic flux sheet as long as the spatial scale of the imposed perturbation normal to the magnetic field is sufficiently large. When this spatial scale is small, the flux sheet tends to rise toward the surface, resulting in a significant decrease of the magnetic field amplification. Show less