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A Molecular Weight Gradient Battery Mechanism for Stellar Magnetic Fields

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2017

L. Mestel  and
D. Moss
L. Mestel
Affiliation:
Astronomy Centre University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9QH U.K.
D. Moss
Affiliation:
Mathematics Department University of Manchester Manchester M13 9PL U.K.

Extract

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Dolginov (1977) pointed out that a non spherical distribution of molecular weight μ can drive a Biermann type “battery” mechanism in a star and so generate a toroidal magnetic field. We consider uniformly rotating axisymmetric models of this type, containing a ‘primeval’ poloidal field, in which the currents maintaining the toroidal field flow along poloidal field lines, thus ensuring that the configuration is torque free. When the molecular weight distribution is chosen so as to produce a meridional circulation which exactly cancels the Eddington-Sweet circulation, then battery fields of order 1000 gauss can be maintained against ohmic decay in models appropriate to Ap stars near the main sequence with period of order 5 days.

Type
III. Theory of Stellar Magnetic Field Generation
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 102: Solar and Stellar Magnetic Fields: Origins and Coronal Effects , 1983 , pp. 237 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1983 

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