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Outstanding Issues in Solar Dynamo Theory
The magnetic activity of the Sun, as manifested in the sunspot cycle,
originates deep within its convection zone through a dynamo mechanism which
involves non-trivial interactions between the plasma and magnetic field in the
solar interior. Recent advances in magnetohydrodynamic dynamo theory have led
us closer towards a better understanding of the physics of the solar magnetic
cycle. In conjunction, helioseismic observations of large-scale flows in the
solar interior has now made it possible to constrain some of the parameters
used in models of the solar cycle. In the first part of this review, I briefly
describe this current state of understanding of the solar cycle. In the second
part, I highlight some of the outstanding issues in solar dynamo theory related
to the the nature of the dynamo -effect, magnetic buoyancy and the
origin of Maunder-like minima in activity. I also discuss how poor constraints
on key physical processes such as turbulent diffusion, meridional circulation
and turbulent flux pumping confuse the relative roles of these vis-a-vis
magnetic flux transport. I argue that unless some of these issues are
addressed, no model of the solar cycle can claim to be ``the standard model'',
nor can any predictions from such models be trusted; in other words, we are
still not there yet.Comment: To appear in "Magnetic Coupling between the Interior and the
Atmosphere of the Sun", eds. S.S. Hasan and R.J. Rutten, Astrophysics and
Space Science Proceedings, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin, 200
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