The gravitational heat conduction and the hierarchical structure in solar interior

¹ Department of Physics, School of Science, Tianjin University - Tianjin 300072, China
² Department of Physics, School of Science, Qiqihar University - Qiqihar City 161006, China

^(a) jiulindu@yahoo.com.cn
jldu@tju.edu.cn

Received: 9 December 2013
Accepted: 21 February 2014

Abstract

With the assumption of local Tsallis equilibrium, the newly defined gravitational temperature is calculated in the solar interior, whose distribution curve can be divided into three parts: the solar core region, the radiation region and the convection region, in excellent agreement with the solar hierarchical structure. By generalizing Fourier's law, one new mechanism of heat conduction, based on the gradient of the gravitational temperature, is introduced into the astrophysical system. This mechanism is related to the self-gravity of such self-gravitating system whose characteristic scale is large enough. It perhaps plays an important role in the astrophysical system which, in the solar interior, leads to the heat accumulation at the bottom of the convection layer and then motivates the convection motion.