ON THE S UN' S DI F F ERENTI AL ROTATI ON AND

P OLE- EQUATOR TEMP ERATURE DI F F ERENCE

B. DURNEY
Advanced Stud), Program, National Center for A tmosTheric Research *,
Boulder, Colo., U.S.A.
(Received 5 May, 1972)
Abstract. The Sun's differential rotation can be understood in terms of a preferential stabilization of
convection (by rotation) in the polar regions of the lower part of the convection zone (where the Taylor
number is large). A significant pole-equator difference in flux (A~) can develop deep inside the con-
vection zone which would be unobservable at the surface, because A~ can be very efficiently reduced
by large scale meridional motions rising at the poles and sinking at the equator. This is the sense of
circulation needed to produce the observed equatorial acceleration of the Sun. Differential rotation
is generated, therefore, in the upper part of the convection zone (where the interaction of rotation with
convection is small) and results as the convection zone adjusts to a state of negligible Taylor number.
1. Introduction
One of the mos t appeal i ng t heori es of the Sun' s differential r ot at i on is t hat pr opos ed
initially by Weiss (1965): convect i on is preferent i al l y i nhi bi t ed in t he pol ar regi ons
causi ng pol e- equat or t emper at ur e differences t o devel op whi ch dri ve mer i di onal mo-
t i ons whi ch in t ur n give rise t o the observed differential r ot at i on. Thi s i dea has been
devel oped f ur t her by O saki (1970) and Dur ney and Roxbur gh (1971) (hereaft er referred
t o as Paper DR) . These aut hor s found, however, t hat in or der f or t he equat or t o r ot at e
fast er t han t he pol es convect i on mus t be preferent i al l y stabilized at t he equator. The
r eason f or this resul t is easy t o under st and: t he mer i di onal mot i ons whi ch give rise to
differential r ot at i on wi t h equat or i al accel erat i on are such t hat t hey sink at the equat or
and rise at t he pol es (cf. Ki ppenhahn, 1963; Cocke, 1967; K6hl er, 1970). I f t here is
onl y one cell ext endi ng f r om the bot t om to t he t op of t he convect i on zone, hot pol es
and a cool equat or are needed at t he Sun' s surface to dri ve this t ype of mot i on, and
this i mpl i es a smal l er super adi abat i c gradi ent at the pol es t han at the equat or. The
stabilizing effect of r ot at i on on convect i on woul d, t herefore, be st ronger at the equat or
t han at t he poles. Ther e is little doubt , however, t hat this is not so and t hat , i nst ead,
convect i on is preferent i al l y i nhi bi t ed (by r ot at i on) at t he pol es (cf. Chandr asekhar ,
1961; Weiss, 1964; Busse, 1970; Dur ney, 1970, 1971; Yos hi mur a and Kat o, 1971;
Yoshi mur a, 1972; Gi l man, 1972; Hear d, 1972).
We suggest here t hat t he observed differential r ot at i on at the Sun' s surface can be
expl ai ned by t he existence of a count er-cel l in t he upper par t of t he convect i on zone.
These mer i di onal mot i ons (sinking at t he equat or and rising at the pol es) redi st ri but e
t he pol e- equat or differences in flux and t emper at ur e t hat t he i nt er act i on of r ot at i on
wi t h convect i on sets up in the l ower par t of the convect i on zone.
We al so est i mat e the order of magni t ude of t he pol e- equat or differences in flux (A 5)
* The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
Solar Physics 26 (1972) 3-7. All Rights Reserved
Copyright 9 1972 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht-Holland
4 B. DURNEY
and t emper at ur e ( A T ) necessary to drive the meri di onal mot i ons giving rise t o t he
observed differential r ot at i on of t he Sun.
2. Theory
The effect of r ot at i on on convect i on is det ermi ned by the Tayl or number, z = 4 ~ 2 L 4 / v 2
where L is the scale height and v is t he t ur bul ent viscosity. It is this local Tayl or number
which is felt by t he convective mot i ons. The Tayl or number decreases steadily f r om
the bot t om ( r = r i = 5.06 x 101~ cm) where z (ri)-~ 103 t o the t op of the convect i on zone
( r = ro = 6.96 x 10 x~ cm) where z ( r o ) ~ 5 x 1 0 - 5 Her e r is t he distance f r om t he cent er
of t he Sun and all t he calculations will be per f or med wi t h t he help of Baker and
Temesvar y (1966) values of the convect i on zone. It is t herefore onl y deep inside t he
convect i on zone t hat the effect of r ot at i on on convect i on is i mport ant . Since convec-
t i on is specially efficient at t he equat or, a smaller superadi abat i c t emper at ur e gradi ent
will be needed t here t han at the poles to convect t he same amount of energy flux, and
a pol e- equat or t emper at ur e difference will t herefore develop. We denot e this t emper-
at ure difference by A T( r ) = Te ( r ) - Tp ( r ) . The effect of r ot at i on on t he radi at i ve trans-
por t of energy is negligible, thus, A T( r = r i ) ~ 0, and A T gradual l y builds up f r om t he
bot t om of t he convect i on zone. Since the equat or is hot t er, t hi s pol e-equat or t emper-
at ure difference will set up meri di onal current s rising at t he equat or and sinking at the
poles in the lower par t of the convect i on zone. At one scale height f r om t he bot t om of
t he convect i on zone the Tayl or number is al ready reduced by a f act or of 10, t hat is,
t he effect of r ot at i on on convect i on becomes rapi dl y negligible with increasing r, and
t he energy carri ed by t he large scale mot i ons is redi st ri but ed among t he t urbul ent
convect i ve elements. The net effect of r ot at i on is to produce, t herefore, in t he l ower
par t of t he convect i on zone (at r = r L = r i + L ( ri ) , t hat is, at one scale height f r om t he
bot t om, for exampl e) a pol e- equat or difference in t ur bul ent convective flux and tem-
perat ure. In the upper par t of t he convect i on zone (all the convect i on zone one scale
height f r om t he bot t om, for example) meri di onal mot i ons will set up t endi ng t o smoot h
A ~ and AT. The mot i ons must sink at t he equat or (to decrease t he energy flux there)
and rise at the poles, and this is the sense of ci rcul at i on needed t o pr oduce differential
r ot at i on with equat ori al acceleration. As suggested by Si mon and Weiss (1968) and
by Vickers (1971) these large scale mot i ons coul d ext end over several scale heights. I f
this is t he case, t he large values of Uo in regions of low density are efficient in giving
rise to differential r ot at i on (cf. the discussion fol l owi ng Equat i on (2)). Eventually,
these mot i ons become t urbul ent , and the magni t ude of t he meri di onal velocities ob-
served at t he sun' s surface coul d have little relationship to t he magni t ude of t hose
giving rise t o differential r ot at i on inside t he convect i on zone.
The values of A T and A~ will be est i mat ed wi t h the help of the simplest possible
appr oxi mat i on; it will be assumed t hat at one. scal e height f r om the bot t om of t he
convect i on zone ( r = r L = ri + L ( rl ) ) t he meri di onal mot i ons are of t he right or der of
magni t ude to give rise to t he observed differential r ot at i on at t he sun' s surface. As
stated above z (rL)N 100, and for this value of t he Tayl or number the effect of r ot at i on
on convect i on is al ready very modest (cf. Gi l man, 1972).
ON THE SUN' S DI FFERENTI AL ROTATI ON AND POLE- EQUATOR TEMPERATURE DI FFERENCE 5
It is first necessary to find a relation between the meridional velocities and the
resulting differential rotation. The meridional mot i ons will be assumed to be axisym-
metric, and therefore
Ur = P2 (COS 0), Uo = - - - sin 0 cos O,
r 0 ro
where ~ is the stream function, ~ the density, and P2 (cos 0) is the second Legendre
polynomial. I f we expand the azimuthal velocity u, in Legendre polynomials
( u, = S2or sin 0 (1 + % (r) + co 2 (r) ez (cos 0) +. . . ) ,
the equat i on for c% is f ound to be (cf. Equat i on (15.6) of Paper DR) :
[ 4 r ~ ] 10co2_ 4~ 4~'
091 + 0 2 + r2 vra ff 3r2~ v . (1)
Therefore, from dimensional analysis we find t hat
It is of interest to notice t hat i f we approxi mat e Equat i on (l) by
t
~o2 Uo ( 3 )
L rv
we must have Uo > 0 to obt ai n o)~ <0. This suggests t hat meridional currents with
Uo > 0 are needed near the surface, to produce equatorial acceleration (co 2 < 0) there.
Equat i on (3) also shows t hat mot i ons extending over several scale heights are efficient
in giving rise to large negative values of o92. The rapid convergence of the series expan-
sion of u~, in Legendre pol ynomi al s can onl y be assured i f the Reynol ds number is
small, and this is not the case here. However, K6hl er (1970) has solved numerically
the Navier-Stokes equations, wi t h no assumpt i on about the Reynol ds number and
finds t hat for the observed differential rot at i on at the Sun' s surface ~o = Oo(1-0.137
P2 ( cos 0)) the value of ~70 is equal to 194 cm s- 1 K6hl er takes v = 4.5 x 1022 cm 2 s- 1
and L=0 . 2 Ro; f r om Equat i on (2) we obt ai n t hen ~0~220 cm s -1 in good agreement
with K6hl er' s result. We will assume, therefore, t hat Equat i on (2) gives the right order
of magni t ude for ~70 as a funct i on of co 2.
The relation between AT and ~70 can be obt ai ned as follows: A T= (t~/91Ao-A~T)/o
where 9t is the gas constant, /z is the molecular weight, and AP, and A ~ are pole-equator
differences in pressure and density, respectively. Appl yi ng dimensional analysis to
Equat i ons (4.5) and (4.6) of Paper DR we obt ai n
A T ~ ( L ) ( L ) ( t o ~ ( L ) 2 ( L ) 2 c o 2 , (4)
6 B. DURNEY
where t he last rel at i on follows f r om Equat i on (2). At r=rL=r~+L(r~)N 5.6 x 10 ~~ cm
we find t hat ~70,.~4 x 103 cm s -1 and AT,,~IK.
The correspondi ng radial velocities are not neglegible in rel at i on t o t he convective
velocities, and significant pol e- equat or differences in flux can develop. We write t he
energy equat i on QC~u VT+p di vu+ d i v E= 0 in t he fol l owi ng f or m
div ~ = up - - -- AVT (5)
7 - - 1 T
where 7 is t he rat i o of t he specific heats and AVT is t he superadi abat i c gradi ent :
AVT = ( 1 - I ) TVP - (6)
Assuming t hat all t he flux is carri ed by convect i on and wi t h t he help of Schwarzschild' s
(1958) expression f or t he convective flux we can write Equat i on (5) as follows:
with
div ~ _ u,Te + u o ~ P (AVT)o (7)
7 - 1 7 - T
( 1 ) 1 / 3 1 ( 1 ~2/3(4#oFoRZ) 2/3
= T ,, rC,Bl ( Mo)
( 8 )
here l is t he mixing length, C1,B=#oCp/9t (the quant i t y t abul at ed by Baker and
Temesvary),/~0 is t he mol ecul ar weight of un-i oni zed material, and F o and M o are t he
solar energy flux and mass, respectively. An estimate of (AVT)o can be obt ai ned f r om
Equat i on (6): (AVT)o,-, AT/ R o. Fr om Equat i on (7) and with urn,, v/Lo32 (cf. Equat i on
(2)) it follows t hat t he difference in flux over a scale height near t he equat or is given by
~3 ~ urc~L; 63 arises because of meri di onal mot i ons t ransport i ng energy bet ween t he
equat or and t he pol e and t hus 6 3 ~ A 3 . Our order of magni t ude sol ut i on of t he
moment um equat i on will t herefore also satisfy t he energy equat i on i f urc~L~-.
,,, Uo r (p/T) (AVT)o. Explicit calculations show t hat at r = rL, ureL,., 2 x 109 erg c m- 2
s -1 and uor(p/T) (AVT)o~4.6 x 10 ~~ erg cm -2 s -1. These quantities are of the same
order of magni t ude and a small readj ust ment (decrease) of (AVT)o woul d result in a
mor e accurat e equality. It is seen t hat A 3 / 3 ~ 5 x 10 -2. The above results are not
changed i f t he calculations are per f or med at ot her values of r (at rL+L(rL), f or
example, u~eL,,,2 x 10 9 erg cm - 2 s - a, uor(p/T) (AVT)o~9 x 10 ~~ erg cm - z s -1 and
A 3 / 3 ~ 2 . 3 x 10-2). Mot i ons extending over several scale heights coul d reduce our
estimate of A 3 ; nevertheless t he present calculations seem to be in agreement with
Gi l man' s results (1972) (cf. also Dur ney, 1970), t hat significant pol e- equat or difference
in flux and t emper at ur e are a necessary consequence of the large scale mot i ons giving
rise t o t he observed differential r ot at i on of t he Sun; A3 and AT could, however, be
unobservabl e at t he surface because the Sun' s convect i on zone is sufficiently deep to
redi st ri but e pol e- equat or differences in flux and t emper at ur e arising at t he bot t om o f
t he convect i on zone (cf. Osaki, 1970).
ON THE SUN' S DIFFERENTIAL ROTATION AND POLE-EQUATOR TEMPERATURE DIFFERENCE 7
3. Conclusions
Me r i d i o n a l mo t i o n s i n t he u p p e r p a r t o f t he c o n v e c t i o n z one r e d i s t r i b u t i n g t he pol e -
e q u a t o r di f f er ence i n f l ux a n d t e mp e r a t u r e o f t he l owe r p a r t o f t he c onve c t i on z one
( a n d ha vi ng t he i r or i gi n i n t he i n t e r a c t i o n o f r o t a t i o n wi t h c onve c t i on) c o u l d be essen-
t i al t o t he g e n e r a t i o n o f t he o b s e r v e d di f f er ent i al r o t a t i o n o f t he Sun. I f t hes e me r i d i o n a l
mo t i o n s e xt e nd over s ever al scal e hei ght s , t he p o l e - e q u a t o r di f f er ences i n f l ux a n d
t e mp e r a t u r e ne c e s s a r y t o dr i ve t he o b s e r v e d di f f er ent i al r o t a t i o n c oul d be si gni f -
i c a nt l y r e duc e d. The pos s i bi l i t y t h a t di f f er ent i al r o t a t i o n i s es s ent i al l y a s ur f ace
p h e n o me n a c a n n o t be excl uded.
Acknowledgements
The a u t h o r i s gr a t e f ul t o Pr of . R. Ki p p e n h a h n f or an i l l u mi n a t i n g di s cus s i on.
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