Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
The convection in a compressible inhomogeneous conducting fluid in the presence of a vertical uniform magnetic field has been studied. It is shown that a new mode of oscillatory convection occurs, which exists in arbitrarily strong magnetic fields. The convective cells are stretched along the magnetic field, their horizontal dimensions are determined by radiative cooling. Criteria for convective instability in a polytropic atmosphere are obtained for various boundary conditions in the case when the Alfvén velocity is higher compared with the velocity of sound.
The role of oscillatory convection in the origin of sunspots and active regions is discussed.