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Realistic Magnetohydrodynamics Simulations of Turbulent Convection on the Sun
Abstract
Realistic numerical simulations of the fluid dynamics and magnetism in the Sun are very important for analysis and interpretation of observational data from space missions, such as Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (ESA/NASA), Solar-B/Hinode (Japan/NASA), and Solar Dynamics Observatory (NASA), and also for developing physics-based methods of space weather forecasts that are essential for future space exploration, both manned and unmanned. We have developed a highly efficient parallel radiative magnetohydrodynamics code for 3D simulations of solar turbulent convection in magnetic field regions. The code includes all essential physics from first principles, and various subgrid-scale LES turbulence models. The implementation of this code on the NASA/Ames supercomputer systems Columbia and Pleiades shows a very efficient, nearly 100% scaling for large number of processors. The parallelization is done purely with standard MPI methods; no shared-memory techniques were used or needed. The code has been applied for realistic simulations of solar convection and oscillation in the presence of strong inclined magnetic fields. The results reveal very interesting dynamics and self-organization processes of solar magnetoconvection, reproducing several phenomena observed in solar active regions, and provide an explanation for the Evershed effect in sunspots. We present a general description of the code, its performance, the simulation results and examples of visualization of the magnetoconvection flows using LIC and particle tracing techniques.