Origin and structure of magnetic fields in cool stars (A16)

• Subject Area: Astrophysics and Astronomy
• Term: from 2013 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 187005812

The generation of magnetic flux in electrically conducting fluids in turbulent motion is of fundamental importance for understanding magnetohydrodynamic turbulence at large Reynolds numbers. This Project ventures an interdisciplinary approach to address the astrophysical and turbulence aspects of stellar surface magnetism by using radiative MHD simulations of nearsurface stellar magnetoconvection on the one hand, and by obtaining reliable quantitative observations of magnetic fields in stars from sun-like to very-low mass stars on the other. The project consists of two parts: the first continuing our successful simulations of expected signatures of stellar magnetic fields using the MURaM code, the second observing magnetic fields in low-mass stars using different approaches including collaborations in the international BCool project and analysis of 300 stars, i.e., more than ten thousand spectra from the CAR-MENES project.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 963: Astrophysical Flow Instabilities and Turbulence
• Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Co-Applicant Institution: Max-Planck-Institut für Sonnensystemforschung (MPS)
• Project Heads: Dr. Sandra Jeffers; Professor Dr. Ansgar Reiners; Professor Dr. Manfred Schüssler