Dynamos in Stably Stratified Fluids

Department of Astrophysical Sciences

Graduation: July 2022

Advisor: Dr. Amitava Bhattacharjee

While magnetic fields are thought to play a dominant role in transport processes in stellar radiative zones, present theory of radiative zone dynamos and even properties of stellar stably stratified turbulence is fragmented and incomplete. This thesis examined the fundamentals of small-scale and large-scale dynamo theory in the conditions of a stellar radiative zone: turbulence, stable stratification, and mean shear. The main takeaway from this thesis is that both small and large scale magnetic fields can, in principle, spontaneously emerge from the local stably stratified turbulence of a differentially rotating radiative zone.