Work

Magnetic Taylor-Proudman Constraint Explains Flows into the Tangent Cylinder

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: Tangent cylinders (TCs) have shaped our understanding of planetary dynamos and liquid cores. The Taylor-Proudman constraint creates these imaginary surfaces because of planetary rotation, separating polar and equatorial regions, but cannot explain the flows meandering through them. Here, we establish and verify experimentally that magnetic fields aligned with rotation drive flows into TCs, linked to the flows along TCs by a magnetic Taylor-Proudman constraint. This constraint explains and quantifies how magnetic fields reshape rotating flows in planetary interiors and magnetorotating flows in general.

Source: Physical Review Letters

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.133.184101

Authors: Alban Pothérat, Kélig Aujogue, François Debray

Institutions: Coventry University, Laboratoire National des Champs Magnétiques Intenses

Language: English

Topic: Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism Studies

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,750

Funders: Leverhulme Trust, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council