Stellar mixing III. The case of a passive tracer

作者：Canuto V M^*

来源：Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2011, 528: A78.

DOI：10.1051/0004-6361/201015372

• diffusion
• instabilities
• turbulence
• stars: interiors
• convection
• methods: analytical

In Papers I-II, we derived the expressions for the turbulent diffusivities of momentum, temperature T, and mean molecular weight mu. Since the scalar T-mu fields are active tracers (by influencing the density and thus the velocity field), whereas passive tracers such as(7)Li are carried along by the flow without influencing it, it would be unjustified to use the diffusivities of the T-mu fields to represent the diffusivity of passive tracers.
In this paper, we present the first derivation of a passive tracer diffusivity. Some key results are:
a) In the general 3D case, the passive tracer diffusivity is a tensor given in algebraic form; b) the diffusivity tensor depends on shear, vorticity, T, and mu-gradients, thus including double diffusion and differential rotation; c) in the 1D version of the model, the passive tracer diffusivity is a scalar denoted by K-c; d) in doubly stable regimes, del(mu) > 0, del - del(ad) < 0, K-c is nearly the same as those of the T-mu fields; e) in semi-convection regimes, del(mu) > 0, del - del(ad) > 0, K-c is larger than that of the mu-field; f) in salt fingers regimes del(mu) < 0, del - del(ad) < 0, K-c is smaller than that of the mu-field; and finally, g) in the only case we know of a direct measurement of a passive tracer diffusivity, the oceanographic North Atlantic Tracer Release Experiment (NATRE), the model reproduces the data quite closely.

• 出版日期2011-4