The Effects of Magnetic Fields on the Dynamics of Radiation Pressure Dominated Massive Star Envelopes

Understand

We use three dimensional radiation magneto-hydrodynamic simulations to study the effects of magnetic fields on the energy transport and structure of radiation pressure dominated main sequence massive star envelopes at the region of the iron opacity peak.

• We focus on the regime where the local thermal timescale is shorter than the dynamical timescale, corresponding to inefficient convective energy transport.
• We begin with initially weak magnetic fields relative to the thermal pressure, from 100-1000G in differing geometries.
• The unstable density inversion amplifies the magnetic field, increasing the magnetic energy density to values close to equipartition with the turbulent kinetic energy density.