A hydrostatic MHD code for modeling stellar interiors

Abstract

In gravitationally stratified fluids, the length scales of fluid motion are often much greater in the horizontal direction than in the vertical. When modeling these fluids, it can be advantageous to use the hydrostatic approximation often used in atmospheric physics, which filters out vertically propagating sound waves and thus allows a longer time step. We describe a finite-difference numerical scheme that uses this approximation. This code is suitable for modeling (magneto)hydrodynamic processes in radiative stellar interiors, such as the baroclinic instability and stratified turbulence, or the Tayler-Spruit dynamo.