Convection and Magnetism in Stars: How magnetic fields are built, and what they can do

Matt Browning

CITA

Magnetic fields are ubiquitous in astrophysics. In stars, they help govern spindown and mass loss; in accretion disks, they likely play a crucial role in facilitating angular momentum transport; for some planets, they can act act as partial shields against potentially harmful radiation. But a comprehensive theory of how such magnetic fields are built &emdash; how magnetic “dynamos” work &emdash; remains elusive. I will talk about how recent observations and theoretical models of stellar convection are providing powerful new clues about the operation of astrophysical dynamos.

Date:	Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Time:	16:00
Where:	McGill University
	Ernest Rutherford Physics Building, R.E. Bell Conference Room (room 103)