Confinement of the Solar Tachocline by Dynamo Action in the Radiative Interior

A major outstanding problem in solar physics is the confinement of the solar tachocline, the thin shear layer that separates nearly solid-body rotation in the radiative interior from strong differential rotation in the convection zone. Here, we present the first 3D, global solar simulation that displays a magnetically confined tachocline. The nonaxisymmetric magnetism is initially built in the convection zone and then diffusively imprints downward, similar to the proposed fast magnetic confinement scenario by the Sun's cyclic dynamo field.