Generating buoyant magnetic flux ropes in solar-like convective dynamos

Global-scale dynamo action is believed to generate large-scale magnetic structures in the deep solar interior through the interplay of convection, rotation and shear. Portions of these large-scale magnetic structures are then believed to rise through the convective layer, forming magnetic loops which then pierce the photosphere as sunspot pairs.

Previous global simulations of three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic convection in rotating spherical shells have demonstrated mechanisms whereby large-scale magnetic wreaths can be generated in the bulk of the convection zone. Our recent simulations have achieved sufficiently high levels of turbulence to permit portions of these wreaths to become magnetically buoyant and rise through the simulated convective layer through a combination of magnetic buoyancy and advection by convective giant cells.