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A convection zone, convective zone or convective region of a star is a layer which is unstable due to convection. Energy is primarily or partially transported by convection in such a region. In a radiation zone , energy is transported by radiation and conduction .
For example, in the Sun the convection at the base of the convection zone, near the core, is adiabatic but that near the surface is not. The mixing length theory contains two free parameters which must be set to make the model fit observations, so it is a phenomenological theory rather than a rigorous mathematical formulation.
These form a visible component of magnetic flux tubes that are formed within a star's convection zone. Due to the differential rotation of the star, the tube becomes curled up and stretched, inhibiting convection and producing zones of lower than normal temperature. [ 9 ]
The radius of the radiative zone increases monotonically with mass, with stars around 1.2 solar masses being almost entirely radiative. Above 1.2 solar masses, the core region becomes a convection zone and the overlying region is a radiative zone, with the amount of mass within the convective zone increasing with the mass of the star. [7]
Above this spherical radiation zone lies a small convection zone just below the outer atmosphere. At lower stellar mass , the outer convection shell takes up an increasing proportion of the envelope, and for stars with a mass of around 0.35 M ☉ (35% of the mass of the Sun) or less (including failed stars ) the entire star is convective ...
The tachocline is the transition region of stars of more than 0.3 solar masses, between the radiative interior and the differentially rotating outer convective zone. This causes the region to have a very large shear as the rotation rate changes very rapidly. The convective exterior rotates as a normal fluid with differential rotation with the ...
By definition, during a dredge-up, a convection zone extends all the way from the star's surface down to the layers of material that have undergone fusion. Consequently, the fusion products are mixed into the outer layers of the star's atmosphere, where they can be seen in stellar spectra .
The convection zone of a star is the range of radii in which energy is transported outward from the core region primarily by convection rather than radiation. This occurs at radii which are sufficiently opaque that convection is more efficient than radiation at transporting energy.