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On turbulent mixing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2017

Ian W. Roxburgh*
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Mathematics, Queen Mary College, London

Extract

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Several authors (myself included!) have suggested that turbulent mixing takes place in some, if not all, stars, and in particular that such mixing can explain the low solar neutrino flux. This turbulence is thought to be caused by differential rotation produced by braking due to angular momentum loss in a stellar wind, and/or to the effect of meridional circulation currents in redistributing angular momentum. Whilst such instabilities may exist even in the presence of a stabilizing distribution of chemical composition, they do not necessarily cause mixing. To be effective in mixing, the energy available to the instability be it differential rotation or any other mechanism, has to be sufficient to lift the helium rich matter in the interior of the star to the outer regions. This requires where Erot is the kinetic energy in rotation, Eg the gravitational energy, τth the thermal time scale and τnuc the nuclear evolution time scale of the star.

Type
III. BINARITY, PULSATION, ROTATION AND MIXING
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1984