Abstract
As discussed in the previous chapter, below 0.7 solar radii and at temperatures higher than 2 × 106 K, convection switches off and radiation comes back to transport the energy outwards. As we will discuss in detail in the next chapter, the solar energy is produced by nuclear fusion reactions that take place in the core, which is the hottest, central part of our star and extends up to about ¼ of the solar radius. Thus, in the layers that lie above the core and below the convection zone, between about 0.25 Rs and 0.7 Rs, nuclear reactions vanish and the energy transfer is controlled by radiation as in the photosphere. This region is called the radiation zone.
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Severino, G. (2017). The Radiation Zone. In: The Structure and Evolution of the Sun. Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64961-0_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64961-0_5
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