Valentin Skoutnev (Columbia University) – Tayler Instability in Stars Revisited

The source of angular momentum transport in stellar radiative zones remains an open, fundamental problem in stellar physics. One candidate mechanism is turbulence driven by the Tayler instability of toroidal magnetic fields. I will discuss a recent systematic revision of the linear stability analysis, followed by its implications for the efficiency of angular momentum transport out of evolved stellar cores. In particular, the Tayler instability is suppressed in the compositionally stratified regions of evolved low mass stars, suggesting that the Tayler instability cannot explain observations of core-envelope coupling on its own.