Numerical Simulations of Solar Magneto-Convection

Subsurface field structure?Monolithic Cluster (Parker 1979)• Simulations start with monolithic setup• Fragmentation of subsurface field through interaction with ambientconvection– Scale ~ few Mm– Umbral dots have different origin (near surface magneto-convection present inmonolithic background field)• Fragmentation not hidden from surface!– Light bridge formation– Flux separation– Islands of granulation• Surface appearance of sunspots tells us a lot about subsurface structure– Dark umbrae are only found in more or less monolithic regionsNSO Workshop 27 May 7-10, 2013