High-precision photometry of solar-like members of the open cluster M67 with Kepler/K2 data has recently revealed enhanced activity for stars with a large Rossby number, which is the ratio of rotation period to the convective turnover time. Contrary to the well established behavior for shorter rotation periods and smaller Rossby numbers, the chromospheric activity of the more slowly rotating stars of M67 was found to increase with increasing Rossby number. Such behavior has never been reported before, although it was theoretically predicted to emerge as a consequence of antisolar differential rotation (DR) for stars with Rossby numbers larger than that of the Sun, because in those models the absolute value of the DR was found to exceed that for solar-like DR. Using gyrochronological relations and an approximate age of 4 Gyr for the members of M67, we compare with computed rotation rates using just the B - V color. The resulting rotation-activity relation is found to be compatible with that obtained by employing the measured rotation rate. This provides additional support for the unconventional enhancement of activity at comparatively low rotation rates and the possible presence of antisolar differential rotation.

Context. Convectively driven flows play a crucial role in the dynamo processes that are responsible for producing magnetic activity in stars and planets. It is still not fully understood why many astrophysical magnetic fields have a significant large-scale component. Aims. Our aim is to investigate the dynamo properties of compressible convection in a rapidly rotating Cartesian domain, focusing upon a parameter regime in which the underlying hydrodynamic flow is known to be unstable to a large-scale vortex instability. Methods. The governing equations of three-dimensional non-linear magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) are solved numerically. Different numerical schemes are compared and we propose a possible benchmark case for other similar codes. Results. In keeping with previous related studies, we find that convection in this parameter regime can drive a large-scale dynamo. The components of the mean horizontal magnetic field oscillate, leading to a continuous overall rotation of the mean field. Whilst the large-scale vortex instability dominates the early evolution of the system, the large-scale vortex is suppressed by the magnetic field and makes a negligible contribution to the mean electromotive force that is responsible for driving the large-scale dynamo. The cycle period of the dynamo is comparable to the ohmic decay time, with longer cycles for dynamos in convective systems that are closer to onset. In these particular simulations, large-scale dynamo action is found only when vertical magnetic field boundary conditions are adopted at the upper and lower boundaries. Strongly modulated large-scale dynamos are found at higher Rayleigh numbers, with periods of reduced activity (grand minima-like events) occurring during transient phases in which the large-scale vortex temporarily re-establishes itself, before being suppressed again by the magnetic field.

Context. The formation of sunspots requires the concentration of magnetic flux near the surface. The negative effective magnetic pressure instability (NEMPI) might be a possible mechanism for accomplishing this, but it has mainly been studied in simple systems using an isothermal equation of state without a natural free surface. Aims. We study NEMPI in a stratified Cartesian mean-field model where turbulence effects are parameterized. We use an ideal equation of state and include radiation transport, which establishes selfconsistently a free surface. Methods. We use a Kramers-type opacity with adjustable exponents chosen such that the deeper layers are approximately isentropic. No convection is therefore possible in this model, allowing us to study NEMPI with radiation in isolation. We restrict ourselves to two-dimensional models. We use artificially enhanced mean-field coefficients to allow NEMPI to develop, thereby making it possible to study the reason why it is much harder to excite in the presence of radiation. Results. NEMPI yields moderately strong magnetic flux concentrations a certain distance beneath the surface where the optical depth is unity. The instability is oscillatory and in the form of upward traveling waves. This seems to be a new effect that has not been found in earlier models without radiative transport. The horizontal wavelength is about ten times smaller than what has previously been found in more idealized isothermal models. Conclusions. In our models, NEMPI saturates at field strengths too low to explain sunspots. Furthermore, the structures appear too narrow and too far beneath the surface to cause significant brightness variations at the radiative surface. We speculate that the failure to reproduce effects resembling sunspots may be related to the neglect of convection.

A turbulent dynamo in spherical geometry with an outer corona is simulated to study the sign of magnetic helicity in the outer parts. In agreement with earlier studies, the sign in the outer corona is found to be opposite to that inside the dynamo. Line-of-sight observations of polarized emission are synthesized to explore the feasibility of using the local reduction of Faraday depolarization to infer the sign of helicity of magnetic fields in the solar corona. This approach was previously identified as an observational diagnostic in the context of galactic magnetic fields. Based on our simulations, we show that this method can be successful in the solar context if sufficient statistics are gathered by using averages over ring segments in the corona separately for the regions north and south of the solar equator.

Context. Stellar convection zones are characterized by vigorous high-Reynolds number turbulence at low Prandtl numbers. Aims. We study the dynamo and differential rotation regimes at varying levels of viscous, thermal, and magnetic diffusion. Methods. We perform three-dimensional simulations of stratified fully compressible magnetohydrodynamic convection in rotating spherical wedges at various thermal and magnetic Prandtl numbers (from 0.25 to 2 and from 0.25 to 5, respectively). Differential rotation and large-scale magnetic fields are produced self-consistently. Results. We find that for high thermal diffusivity, the rotation profiles show a monotonically increasing angular velocity from the bottom of the convection zone to the top and from the poles toward the equator. For sufficiently rapid rotation, a region of negative radial shear develops at mid-latitudes as the thermal diffusivity is decreased, corresponding to an increase of the Prandtl number. This coincides with and results in a change of the dynamo mode from poleward propagating activity belts to equatorward propagating ones. Furthermore, the clearly cyclic solutions disappear at the highest magnetic Reynolds numbers and give way to irregular sign changes or quasi-stationary states. The total (mean and fluctuating) magnetic energy increases as a function of the magnetic Reynolds number in the range studied here (5-151), but the energies of the mean magnetic fields level off at high magnetic Reynolds numbers. The differential rotation is strongly affected by the magnetic fields and almost vanishes at the highest magnetic Reynolds numbers. In some of our most turbulent cases, however, we find that two regimes are possible, where either differential rotation is strong and mean magnetic fields are relatively weak, or vice versa. Conclusions. Our simulations indicate a strong nonlinear feedback of magnetic fields on differential rotation, leading to qualitative changes in the behaviors of large-scale dynamos at high magnetic Reynolds numbers. Furthermore, we do not find indications of the simulations approaching an asymptotic regime where the results would be independent of diffusion coefficients in the parameter range studied here.

Turbulence is argued to play a crucial role in cloud droplet growth. The combined problem of turbulence and cloud droplet growth is numerically challenging. Here an Eulerian scheme based on the Smoluchowski equation is compared with two Lagrangian superparticle (or superdroplet) schemes in the presence of condensation and collection. The growth processes are studied either separately or in combination using either two-dimensional turbulence, a steady flow or just gravitational acceleration without gas flow. Good agreement between the different schemes for the time evolution of the size spectra is observed in the presence of gravity or turbulence. The Lagrangian superparticle schemes are found to be superior over the Eulerian one in terms of computational performance. However, it is shown that the use of interpolation schemes such as the cloud-in-cell algorithm is detrimental in connection with superparticle or superdroplet approaches. Furthermore, the use of symmetric over asymmetric collection schemes is shown to reduce the amount of scatter in the results. For the Eulerian scheme, gravitational collection is rather sensitive to the mass bin resolution, but not so in the case with turbulence. Plain Language Summary The bottleneck problem of cloud droplet growth is one of the most challenging problems in cloud physics. Cloud droplet growth is neither dominated by condensation nor gravitational collision in the size range of 15 mu m similar to 40 mu m [1]. Turbulence-generated collection has been thought to be the mechanism to bridge the size gap, i.e., the bottleneck problem. This study compares the Lagrangian and Eulerian schemes in detail to tackle with the turbulence-generated collection.

The magnetic activity of the Sun becomes stronger and weaker over roughly an 11 year cycle, modulating the radiation and charged particle environment experienced by the Earth as "space weather." Decades of observations from the Mount Wilson Observatory have revealed that other stars also show regular activity cycles in their Ca II H+K line emission, and identified two different relationships between the length of the cycle and the rotation rate of the star. Recent observations at higher cadence have allowed the discovery of shorter cycles with periods between 1-3 years. Some of these shorter cycles coexist with longer cycle periods, suggesting that two underlying dynamos can operate simultaneously. We combine these new observations with previous data, and show that the longer and shorter cycle periods agree remarkably well with those expected from an earlier analysis based on the mean activity level and the rotation period. The relative turbulent length scales associated with the two branches of cyclic behavior suggest that a near-surface dynamo may be the dominant mechanism that drives cycles in more active stars, whereas a dynamo operating in deeper layers may dominate in less active stars. However, several examples of equally prominent long and short cycles have been found at all levels of activity of stars younger than 2.3 Gyr. Deviations from the expected cycle periods show no dependence on the depth of the convection zone or on the metallicity. For some stars that exhibit longer cycles, we compute the periods of shorter cycles that might be detected with future high-cadence observations.

We present new simulations of decaying hydromagnetic turbulence for a relativistic equation of state relevant to the early Universe. We compare helical and nonhelical cases either with kinetically or magnetically dominated initial fields. Both kinetic and magnetic initial helicities lead to maximally helical magnetic fields after some time, but with different temporal decay laws. Both are relevant to the early Universe, although no mechanisms have yet been identified that produce magnetic helicity with strengths comparable to the big bang nucleosynthesis limit at scales comparable to the Hubble horizon at the electroweak phase transition. Nonhelical magnetically dominated fields could still produce picoGauss magnetic fields under most optimistic conditions. Only helical magnetic fields can potentially have nanoGauss strengths at scales up to 30 kpc today.

We present numerical simulations of hydrodynamic overshooting convection in local Cartesian domains. We find that a substantial fraction of the lower part of the convection zone (CZ) is stably stratified according to the Schwarzschild criterion while the enthalpy flux is outward directed. This occurs when the heat conduction profile at the bottom of the CZ is smoothly varying, based either on a Kramers-like opacity prescription as a function of temperature and density or a static profile of a similar shape. We show that the subadiabatic layer arises due to nonlocal energy transport by buoyantly driven downflows in the upper parts of the CZ. Analysis of the force balance of the upflows and downflows confirms that convection is driven by cooling at the surface. We find that the commonly used prescription for the convective enthalpy flux being proportional to the negative entropy gradient does not hold in the stably stratified layers where the flux is positive. We demonstrate the existence of a non-gradient contribution to the enthalpy flux, which is estimated to be important throughout the convective layer. A quantitative analysis of downflows indicates a transition from a tree-like structure where smaller downdrafts merge into larger ones in the upper parts to a structure in the deeper parts where a height-independent number of strong downdrafts persist. This change of flow topology occurs when a substantial subadiabatic layer is present in the lower part of the CZ.

We consider a scale-invariant helical magnetic field generated during inflation. We show that, if the mean magnetic helicity density of such a field is measured, it can be used to determine a lower bound on the duration of inflation. Even if we just have upper bounds on the helicity, these can be used to derive constraints on the minimal duration if one assumes that the magnetic field generated during inflation is helical. Using three-dimensional simulations, we show that an initially scale-invariant field develops, which is similar both with and without magnetic helicity. In the fully helical case, however, the magnetic field appears to have a more pronounced folded structure.