Modelling dynamos in rapidly rotating late-type stars

Abstract

There is growing observational evidence that magnetic activity in rapidly rotating late-type stars is very different from that found in the Sun. In particular, polar spots and other high-latitude features are often observed on rapid rotators. In this Letter, I propose a plausible rotation profile for these rapidly rotating stars and this is then built into a non-linear mean-field dynamo model. It is shown that this model naturally gives rise to polar magnetic features and the relevance of these results to rapidly rotating late-type stars is discussed.