Testing the Steady-State Fluctuation Relation in the Solar Photospheric Convection

Abstract

The turbulent thermal convection on the Sun is an example of an irreversible non-equilibrium phenomenon in a quasi-steady state characterized by a continuous entropy production rate. Here, the statistical features of a proxy of the local entropy production rate, in solar quiet regions at different timescales, are investigated and compared with the symmetry conjecture of the steady-state fluctuation theorem by Gallavotti and Cohen. Our results show that solar turbulent convection satisfies the symmetries predicted by the fluctuation relation of the Gallavotti and Cohen theorem at a local level.

Keywords

• fluctuation theorems
• non-equilibrium stationary state
• convection
• astrophysical fluid dynamics
• Sun
• photosphere