Solar magnetic fields and convection

The traditional model of solar magnetic fields is based on convection which dominates generally weak, diffuse fields and so tends to create increasingly tangled fields. Surplus fields must be eliminated by merging of opposite polarities; for example a solar dynamo of period≈10 yr requires fields to be reduced to a scale of<100 km or diffusivity to be increased by a factor of≈10⁷ over molecular diffusivity. It is now shown that the true requirements of any diffuse-field theory are far more stringent, and that surplus fields must be eliminated within a single eddy period of 1 day (10 min) for the supergranules (granules). The reason is that during that period fresh fields are created with flux and energy comparable with those of the old fields. The numerical models of Weiss and Moss are used to confirm this result which is fatal to all diffuse-field theories. The basic error in these theories is found in the assumption that because heat and other passive properties of a fluid diffuse much faster in the presence of turbulence, passive magnetic fields should do likewise. The error is that the heat content of an eddy is not increased by the motion while the magnetic flux and energy are increased rapidly. It is shown that the observed concentrations of surface fields into strengths of?100 G cannot be accounted for by observed surface motions. Nor are they accounted for by the numerical models of turbulence of Weiss or Moss whatever values of the magnetic Reynolds number are assumed. A detailed comparison is made between both small-scale and large-scale surface magnetic features and the predictions of the diffuse-field theory. The differences appear irreconcilable and the features only explicable in terms of the twisted flux-rope model.