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Baroclinic instability in differentially rotating stars

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Abstract

A linear analysis of baroclinic instability in a stellar radiation zone with radial differential rotation is performed. The instability sets in at a very small rotation inhomogeneity, ΔΩ ∼ 10−3Ω. There are two families of unstable disturbances corresponding to Rossby waves and internal gravity waves. The instability is dynamical: its growth time is several thousand rotation periods but is short compared to the stellar evolution time. A decrease in thermal conductivity amplifies the instability. Unstable disturbances possess kinetic helicity. Magnetic field generation by the turbulence resulting from the instability is possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, P.O. Box 4026, Irkutsk, 664033, Russia

    L. L. Kitchatinov

  2. Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pulkovskoe sh. 65, St. Petersburg, 196140, Russia

    L. L. Kitchatinov

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  1. L. L. Kitchatinov
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Correspondence to L. L. Kitchatinov.

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Original Russian Text © L.L. Kitchatinov, 2013, published in Pis’ma v Astronomicheskiĭ Zhurnal, 2013, Vol. 39, No. 8, pp. 631–640.

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Kitchatinov, L.L. Baroclinic instability in differentially rotating stars. Astron. Lett. 39, 561–569 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063773713080045

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063773713080045

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