Research report 2022 - Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
The WHOLE SUN Investigation
Authors
Bekki, Yuto; Cameron, Robert; Gizon, Laurent
Departments
Abteilung Das Innere der Sonne und der Sterne
Summary
Understanding the Sun’s magnetic activity requires us to understand the large-scale motions that drive the magnetic fields inside the Sun. These motions are driven by small-scale rotating convection. Our current best models for the large-scale dynamics are very wrong, and do not even predict the correct sign for the Sun’s latitudinal differential rotation – the Sun’s poles are observed to rotate slower (taking about 35 days for one rotation) than the equator (which takes about 25 days).