| Abstract: | The stars of the middle main sequence often have spot‐like chemical structures at their surfaces. We consider diffusion caused by electric currents and argue that such current‐driven diffusion can form chemical inhomogeneities in a plasma. The considered mechanism can contribute to a formation of element spots in Hg‐Mn and Ap‐stars. Due to the Hall effect, diffusion in the presence of electric currents can be accompanied by the propagation of a particular type of magnetohydrodynamic modes in which only the impurity number density oscillates. Such modes exist if the magnetic pressure is much greater than the gas pressure and can be the reason for variations of the abundance peculiarities in stars. (© 2016 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) |
