The Internal Rotation of the Sun

TLDR

Earlier studies mapped the Sun’s surface rotation, but recent helioseismic observations now provide a detailed picture of its internal rotation, transforming our understanding of stellar interior rotation. Researchers have advanced supercomputer simulations of turbulent convection and rotation in the Sun’s interior, building on mean‑field models. Helioseismology reveals that the Sun’s radiative interior rotates nearly uniformly, the convection zone exhibits unexpected rotation patterns and shear layers at its base and subphotosphere, and time‑dependent zonal‑flow bands and possible jet‑like structures migrate with the solar cycle.

Abstract

▪ Abstract Helioseismology has transformed our knowledge of the Sun's rotation. Earlier studies revealed the Sun's surface rotation, but now a detailed observational picture has been built up of the internal rotation of our nearest star. Unlike the predictions of stellar-evolution models, the radiative interior is found to rotate roughly uniformly. The rotation within the convection zone is also very different from prior expectations, which had been that the rotation rate would depend primarily on the distance from the rotation axis. Layers of rotational shear have been discovered at the base of the convection zone and in the subphotospheric layers. Studies of the time variation of rotation have uncovered zonal-flow bands, extending through a substantial fraction of the convection zone, which migrate over the course of the solar cycle, and there are hints of other temporal variations and of a jet-like structure. At the same time, building on earlier work with mean-field models, researchers have made great progress in supercomputer simulations of the intricate interplay between turbulent convection and rotation in the Sun's interior. Such studies are beginning to transform our understanding of how rotation organizes itself in a stellar interior.