The stretching of magnetic flux tubes in the convective overshoot region
The present study examines the fate of a magnetic flux tube initially lying at the bottom of the solar convective overshoot region. Stretching of the flux tube, e.g., by differential rotation, reduces its density, causing it to rise quasi-statically (a process referred to as vertical flux drift) until it reaches the top of the overshoot region and enters the buoyantly unstable convection region, from which a portion of it may ultimately protrude to form an active region on the surface. It is suggested that vertical flux drift and flux destabilization are inevitable consequences of field amplification, and it is surmised that these phenomena should be considered in self-consistent models of solar and stellar dynamos operating in the overshoot region.