Flux-dominated solar dynamo model with a thin shear layer

TL;DR

This paper proposes a flux-dominated solar dynamo model with a thin tachocline layer to better confine magnetic fields and improve the realism of solar magnetic cycle simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a thin tachocline hypothesis to confine high-latitude magnetic fields, enhancing flux-dominated dynamo models' accuracy.

Findings

High-latitude toroidal fields are confined below the overshoot layer.

The tachocline acts as a storage region for magnetic fields.

The model supports a dynamo operating within the convection zone.

Abstract

Flux-dominated solar dynamo models have demonstrated to reproduce the main features of the large scale solar magnetic cycle, however the use of a solar like differential rotation profile implies in the the formation of strong toroidal magnetic fields at high latitudes where they are not observed. In this work, we invoke the hypothesis of a thin-width tachocline in order to confine the high-latitude toroidal magnetic fields to a small area below the overshoot layer, thus avoiding its influence on a Babcock-Leighton type dynamo process. Our results favor a dynamo operating inside the convection zone with a tachocline that essentially works as a storage region when it coincides with the overshoot layer.