Dynamics of Turbulent Convection in Moderate-Mass Stars
Speaker: Irina N. Kitiashvili, Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI), NASA Ames Research Center
Presentation
Abstract
The dramatic increase in observational data from NASA’s Kepler and K2 missions and supporting ground-based observatories has opened new opportunities to investigate the internal structure, dynamics, and evolution of stars and their atmospheres. However, the analysis and interpretation of the photometric, spectral, and asteroseismic observations are very challenging, especially for characterizing the structure and dynamics of the outer stellar convection layers and atmospheres. I will present results from 3D time-dependent radiative hydrodynamics models of stellar outer convection zones and atmospheres using the "StellarBox" code (developed by Alan Wray and Nagi Mansour) for several moderate-mass stars GFA spectral types including a case where the computational domain includes layer from the photosphere, convection zone and transition to the radiative zone (overshoot layer), and will discuss applications of these simulations for explaining helioseismology results, studying dynamical properties of stars, and improving accuracy of exoplanet detection.
Biography
Irina Kitiashvili is a Research Fellow at NASA Ames Research Center and BAERI. Her research interests include realistic-type modeling of solar and stellar MHD phenomena, and prediction of solar activity. She obtained her Ph.D. in 2005 from Moscow State University, Russia. After this she worked as Research Scientist at the Engelgardt Astronomical Observatory at Kazan University, Russia, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Turbulence Research at Stanford University, and Physical Sciences Research Associate at the W.W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory and Center for Turbulence Research, Stanford University.