The radiative zone of the Sun and the tachocline: Stability of baroclinic patterns of differential rotation

Abstract

Barotropic rotation and radiative equilibrium are mutually incompatible in stars. The issue is often addressed by allowing for a meridional circulation, but this is not devoid of theoretical complications. Models of rotation in the Sun which maintain strict radiative equilibrium, making use of the observation that the Sun is not in a state of barotropic rotation, have recently been suggested. To investigate the dynamical behaviour of these solutions, we study the local stability of stratified, weakly magnetized, differentially rotating fluids to non-axisymmetric perturbations. Finite heat conductivity, kinematic viscosity, and resistivity are present. The evolution of local embedded perturbations is governed by a set of coupled, ordinary differential equations with time-dependent coefficients. Two baroclinic models of rotation for the upper radiative zone and tachocline are studied: (i) an interpolation based on helioseismology data, (ii) a theoretical solution directly compatible with radiative equilibrium. The growth of the local Goldreich-Schubert-Fricke instability appears to be suppressed, largely because of the viscosity. An extensive exploration of wavenumber space is carried out, with and without a magnetic field. Although we easily find classical local instabilities when they ought formally to be present, for the Sun the analysis reveals neither unstable solutions, nor even solutions featuring a large transient growth. We have not ruled out larger scale or non-linear instabilities, nor have we rigorously proven local stability. But rotational configurations in close agreement with observations, generally thought to be vulnerable to the classic local Goldreich-Schubert- Fricke instability, do appear to be locally stable under rather general circumstances.