Transport and mixing in the radiation zones of rotating stars

II. Axisymmetric magnetic field

LUTH, Observatoire de Paris, 92195 Meudon, France e-mail: [stephane.mathis;jean-paul.zahn]@obspm.fr

Received: 4 January 2005
Accepted: 11 May 2005

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to improve the modeling of the mixing of chemical elements that occurs in stellar radiation zones. In addition to the classical rotational mixing considered in our previous paper, which results of the combined action of the thermally-driven meridional circulation and of the turbulence generated by the shear of differential rotation, we include here the effect of an axisymmetric magnetic field in a self-consistent way. We treat the advection of the field by the meridional circulation, its Ohmic diffusion, and the production of its toroidal component through the shear of differential rotation. The Lorentz force is assumed not to exceed the centrifugal force; it acts on the baroclinic balance and therefore on the meridional flow, and it has a strong impact on the transport of angular momentum. All variables and governing equations are expanded in spherical or spherical vectorial functions, to arbitrary order: this yields a system of partial differential equations in time and in the radial coordinate, which is ready to be implemented in a stellar structure code.