Unusual aspects of solar convection

This talk will be about turbulent convection in the Sun, which is the dominant mode of heat transport outwards of 70% of its radius. Given the dimensions of the Sun (radius = 7 x 10⁸ m), all decent estimates of flow parameters such as the Rayleigh and Reynolds numbers suggest that the convective flow is highly turbulent. But the medium is severely stratified (many orders of magnitude variation in density), the Prandtl numbers are very low (10^-6 or lower), the deviation from adiabaticity is miniscule, etc. It is hard to assess the effects of all these unusual features with certainty but an attempt will be made. After discussing the standard solar model which gives us an idea of the Sun’s basic unperturbed state, we discuss some features of its extraordinarily complex and rich structure in the convection zone.