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Stably stratified layers may be present at the top of the electrically conducting fluid layers of many planets either because the temperature gradient is locally subadiabatic or because a stable composition gradient is maintained by the segregation of chemical elements. Here we study the double‐diffusive processes taking place in such a stable layer, considering the case of Mercury's core where the temperature gradient is stable but the composition gradient is unstable over a 800 km‐thick layer. The large difference in the molecular diffusivities leads to the development of buoyancy‐driven instabilities that drive radial flows known as fingering convection. We model fingering convection using hydrodynamical simulations in a rotating spherical shell and varying the rotation rate and the stratification strength. For small Rayleigh numbers (i.e., weak background temperature and composition gradients), fingering convection takes the form of columnar flows aligned with the rotation axis and with an azimuthal size comparable with the layer thickness. For larger Rayleigh numbers, the flows retain a columnar structure but the azimuthal size is drastically reduced leading to thin sheet‐like structures that are elongated in the meridional direction. The azimuthal size decreases when the thermal stratification increases, following closely the scaling law expected from the linear planar theory (Stern, 1960, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2153-3490.1960.tb01295.x). We find that the radial flows always remain laminar with local Reynolds number of order 1–10. Equatorially symmetric zonal flows form due to latitudinal variations of the axisymmetric composition. The zonal velocity exceeds the non‐axisymmetric velocities at the largest Rayleigh numbers. We discuss plausible implications for planetary magnetic fields. Plain Language Summary: Convection occurs in planetary interiors due to local changes of density, which can be produced by changes of temperature or chemical composition. In particular, convection occurs in the electrically conducting fluid layers located deep inside planets and is at the origin of the generation of planetary magnetic fields. However, for many planets, the upper part of this electrically conducting region might not be subject to standard convection because the gradients of either temperature or chemical composition produce a further increase of the density with depth, leading to the formation of a stable layer. In some cases, the gradients of these two components act in opposition. Such might be the case of the upper part of Mercury's core, where the stable layer is maintained by the thermal gradient, but the compositional gradient is unstable. This situation is prone to fingering convection, where fluid instabilities release the potential energy associated with the compositional gradient. Here we show that fingering convection consists of sheet‐like flows with a narrow longitudinal size of approximately 1 m in Mercury‐like conditions. Strong zonal (i.e., east/westward) flows also form. The presence of fingering convection in stable layers might have important consequences for the magnetic fields observed at the planet's surface. Key Points: Fingering convection in a Mercury‐like stable layer produces thin sheet‐like radial flows that are elongated in the meridional directionThe radial flows are always laminar and their azimuthal length is expected to be about 1 m in planetary coresStrong zonal flows form as a by‐product of the latitudinal variations of the composition transport [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report simulations of thermal convection and magnetic-field generation in a rapidly-rotating spherical shell, in the presence of a uniform axial magnetic field of variable strength. We consider the effect of the imposed field on the critical parameters (Rayleigh number, azimuthal wavenumber and propagation frequency) for the onset of convection, and on the relative importance of Coriolis, buoyancy and Lorentz forces in the resulting solutions. The imposed field strength must be of order one (corresponding to an Elsasser number of unity) to observe significant modifications of the flow; in this case, all the critical parameters are reduced, an effect that is more pronounced at small Ekman numbers. Beyond onset, we study the variations of the structure and properties of the magnetically-modified convective flows with increasing Rayleigh numbers. In particular, we note the weak relative kinetic helicity, the rapid breakdown of the columnarity, and the enhanced heat transport efficiency of the flows obtained for imposed field strengths of order one. Furthermore, magnetic and thermal winds drive a significant zonal flow in this case, which is not present with no imposed field or with stronger imposed fields. The mechanisms for magnetic field generation (particularly the lengthscales involved in the axisymmetric field production) vary with the strength of the imposed field, with three distinct regimes being observed for weak, order one, and stronger imposed fields. In the last two cases, the induced magnetic field reinforces the imposed field, even exceeding its strength for large Rayleigh numbers, which suggests that magnetically-modified flows might be able to produce large-scale self-sustained magnetic field. These magnetoconvection calculations are relevant to planets orbiting magnetically active hosts, and also help to elucidate the mechanisms for field generation in a strong-field regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several recent studies have demonstrated how large-scale vortices may arise spontaneously in rotating planar convection. Here, we examine the dynamo properties of such flows in rotating Boussinesq convection. For moderate values of the magnetic Reynolds number (100≲Rm≲550, with Rm based on the box depth and the convective velocity), a large-scale (i.e. system-size) magnetic field is generated. The amplitude of the magnetic energy oscillates in time, nearly out of phase with the oscillating amplitude of the large-scale vortex. The large-scale vortex is disrupted once the magnetic field reaches a critical strength, showing that these oscillations are of magnetic origin. The dynamo mechanism relies on those components of the flow that have length scales lying between that of the large-scale vortex and the typical convective cell size smaller-scale flows are not required. The large-scale vortex plays a crucial role in the magnetic induction despite being essentially two-dimensional we thus refer to this dynamo as a large-scale-vortex dynamo. For larger magnetic Reynolds numbers, the dynamo is small scale, with a magnetic energy spectrum that peaks at the scale of the convective cells. In this case, the small-scale magnetic field continuously suppresses the large-scale vortex by disrupting the correlations between the convective velocities that allow it to form. The suppression of the large-scale vortex at high Rm therefore probably limits the relevance of the large-scale-vortex dynamo to astrophysical objects with moderate values of Rm , such as planets. In this context, the ability of the large-scale-vortex dynamo to operate at low magnetic Prandtl numbers is of great interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study nonlinear convection in a rapidly rotating sphere with internal heating for values of the Prandtl number relevant for liquid metals (Pr ∈ [T10-2; 10-1]). We use a numerical model based on the quasi-geostrophic approximation, in which variations of the axial vorticity along the rotation axis are neglected, whereas the temperature field is fully three-dimensional. We identify two separate branches of convection close to onset: (i) a well-known weak branch for Ekman numbers greater than 10-6, which is continuous at the onset (supercritical bifurcation) and consists of thermal Rossby waves and (ii) a novel strong branch at lower Ekman numbers, which is discontinuous at the onset. The strong branch becomes subcritical for Ekman numbers of the order of 10-8. On the strong branch, the Reynolds number of the flow is greater than 10³, and a strong zonal flow with multiple jets develops, even close to the nonlinear onset of convection. We find that the subcriticality is amplified by decreasing the Prandtl number. The two branches can co-exist for intermediate Ekman numbers, leading to hysteresis (Ek = 10-6, Pr = 10-2). Nonlinear oscillations are observed near the onset of convection for Ek = 10-7 and Pr = 10-1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a self-consistent dynamo mechanism for the generation of large-scale magnetic fields in natural objects. Recent computational studies have described the formation of large-scale vortices in rotating turbulent convection. Here we demonstrate that for magnetic Reynolds numbers below the threshold for small-scale dynamo action, such turbulent flows can sustain large-scale magnetic fields, i.e., fields with a significant component on the scale of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a numerical study of dynamo action in a conducting fluid encased in a metallic spherical shell. Motions in the fluid are driven by differential rotation of the outer metallic shell, which we refer to as "the wall." The two hemispheres of the wall are held in counter-rotation, producing a steady, axisymmetric interior flow consisting of differential rotation and a two-cell meridional circulation with radial inflow in the equatorial plane. From previous studies, this type of flow is known to maintain a stationary equatorial dipole by dynamo action if the magnetic Reynolds number is larger than about 300 and if the outer boundary is electrically insulating. We vary independently the thickness, electrical conductivity, and magnetic permeability of the wall to determine their effect on the dynamo action. The main results are the following: (a) Increasing the conductivity of the wall hinders the dynamo by allowing eddy currents within the wall, which are induced by the relative motion of the equatorial dipole field and the wall. This processes can be viewed as a skin effect or, equivalently, as the tearing apart of the dipole by the differential rotation of the wall, to which the field lines are anchored by high conductivity, (b) Increasing the magnetic permeability of the wall favors dynamo action by constraining the magnetic field lines in the fluid to be normal to the wall, thereby decoupling the fluid from any induction in the wall, (c) Decreasing the wall thickness limits the amplitude of the eddy currents, and is therefore favorable for dynamo action, provided that the wall is thinner than the skin depth. We explicitly demonstrate these effects of the wall properties on the dynamo field by deriving an effective boundary condition in the limit of vanishing wall thickness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have performed numerical simulations of boundary-driven dynamos using a three-dimensional nonlinear magnetohydrodynamical model in a spherical shell geometry. A conducting fluid of magnetic Prandtl number Pm = 0.01 is driven into motion by the counter-rotation of the two hemispheric walls. The resulting flow is of von Kármán type, consisting of a layer of zonal velocity close to the outer wall and a secondary meridional circulation. Above a certain forcing threshold, the mean flow is unstable to non-axisymmetric motions within an equatorial belt. For fixed forcing above this threshold, we have studied the dynamo properties of this flow. The presence of a conducting outer wall is essential to the existence of a dynamo at these parameters. We have therefore studied the effect of changing the material parameters of the wall (magnetic permeability, electrical conductivity, and thickness) on the dynamo. In common with previous studies, we find that dynamos are obtained only when either the conductivity or the permeability is sufficiently large. However, we find that the effect of these two parameters on the dynamo process are different and can even compete to the detriment of the dynamo. Our self-consistent approach allow us to analyze in detail the dynamo feedback loop. The dynamos we obtain are typically dominated by an axisymmetric toroidal magnetic field and an axial dipole component. We show that the ability of the outer shear layer to produce a strong toroidal field depends critically on the presence of a conducting outer wall, which shields the fluid from the vacuum outside. The generation of the axisymmetric poloidal field, on the other hand, occurs in the equatorial belt and does not depend on the wall properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]