Stability of the toroidal magnetic field in rotating stars

Abstract

The magnetic field in stellar radiation zones can play an important role in phenomena such as mixing, angular momentum transport, etc. We study the effect of rotation on the stability of a predominantly toroidal magnetic field in the radiation zone. In particular we considered the stability in spherical geometry by means of a linear analysis in the Boussinesq approximation. It is found that the effect of rotation on the stability depends on a magnetic configuration. If the toroidal field increases with the spherical radius, the instability cannot be suppressed entirely even by a very fast rotation. Rotation can only decrease the growth rate of instability. If the field decreases with the radius, the instability has a threshold and can be completey suppressed.