Speaker
Description
The stability of toroidal magnetic fields in radiative stellar interiors is crucial for understanding the rotational and chemical evolution of low-mass stars. This study examines the roles of gravity and thermal conductivity on Tayler instabilities within stably stratified stellar interiors. Although it is often argued that the instability is most effective at very short radial length scales due to a weakened effect of stratification, the destabilizing effects of electric currents, which drive Tayler instability, also decrease with shorter radial scales. Using a linear analysis that is global in the radial and local in the latitudinal direction, we address this limitation by moving beyond traditional fully local or radially local approaches, which often overlook gravity’s role. Our results show that Tayler instability is never entirely suppressed by gravity; instead, gravity primarily slows equatorial growth rates according the scaling law previously found by Bonanno and Urpin (2012) and recently observed in 3D direct numerical simulations, while confining outwards the instability near the axis. This analysis aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of Tayler instability dynamics in stellar interiors, offering insights into the magnetic processes influencing the cores of red giants.
