Longitudinally Modulated Dynamo Action in Simulated M-dwarf Stars

M-dwarf stars are well known for the intense magnetic activity that many of them exhibit. In cool stars with near-surface convection zones, this magnetic activity is thought to be driven largely by the interplay of convection and the large-scale differential rotation and circulations it establishes. The highly nonlinear nature of these flows yields a fascinatingly sensitive and diverse parameter space, with a wide range of possible dynamics. We report here on a set of three global MHD simulations of rapidly rotating M2 (0.4 M ⊙) stars.