Description
In a rotating system with low Prandtl numbers (Pr < 0.7) the onset of convection occurs as oscillations rather than the stationary onset observed in non-rotating Rayleigh-Bénard convection. As we raise the Rayleigh number above onset, standard stationary convection will occur, however the oscillatory branch persists, and at low wavenumbers the system is unstable to oscillations but not to stationary convection. Studies of solar super-granulation such as Beck and Duvall (2001) show that the auto-correlation function for super-granulation becomes anti-correlated after approximately 40 hours. This behavior is reminiscent of the oscillatory branch of low Prandtl number rotating convection. We present simulations of low-Prandtl number rotating convection to determine if oscillatory signatures persist above convective onset, and if this mechanism could explain the anti-correlation of solar super-granulation.
