Turbulent magnetic pumping in a Babcock-Leighton solar dynamo model

TL;DR

This paper investigates how turbulent magnetic pumping influences a Babcock-Leighton solar dynamo model, highlighting its role in magnetic flux storage, sunspot distribution, and cycle period regulation in the Sun.

Contribution

It demonstrates the significance of turbulent pumping in improving solar dynamo models, especially in flux storage and sunspot distribution, under a solar-like rotation law.

Findings

Turbulent pumping affects the solar cycle period.

It influences the latitudinal distribution of sunspots.

Pumping is crucial when meridional flow is confined to the upper convective zone.

Abstract

The turbulent pumping effect corresponds to the transport of magnetic flux due to the presence of density and turbulence gradients in convectively unstable layers. In the induction equation it appears as an advective term and for this reason it is expected to be important in the solar and stellar dynamo processes. In this work, we have explored the effects of the turbulent pumping in a flux-dominated Babcock-Leighton solar dynamo model with a solar-like rotation law. The results reveal the importance of the pumping mechanism for solving current limitations in mean field dynamo modeling such as the storage of the magnetic flux and the latitudinal distribution of the sunspots. In the case that a meridional flow is assumed to be present only in the upper part of the convective zone, it is the full turbulent pumping that regulates both the period of the solar cycle and the latitudinal distribution of the sunspots activity.