Physics and Astronomy

Photo of Prof Matthew Browning

Prof Matthew Browning

Associate Professor

 M.K.M.Browning@exeter.ac.uk

Overview

Overview

My primary research interests are in plasma astrophysics, computational fluid dynamics generally, and stellar astronomy. I am particularly interested in convection and magnetism in stars: most stars harbor magnetic fields somewhere in their interiors, and those fields likely play a role in nearly every phase of stellar evolution.  Most of my research involves using three-dimensional simulations of magnetized fluids, but recently I've also delved a bit into observational studies of stellar rotation and activity.  Before coming to Exeter (as Lecturer) in 2011, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA), in Toronto, and an NSF postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley (and concurrently at U. Chicago) before that.  I did my doctoral work with Juri Toomre in Boulder (at JILA, within the University of Colorado), my undergrad at Rice (Houston, Texas), and grew up in West Virginia (which is even hillier than Exeter, and quite a bit farther from the ocean).

Research group

Over the past few years my work has been supported primarily by a (5-year, 1.5 MEuro) Starting Grant from the European Research Council, which I was awarded in 2013.  I currently supervise three postdoctoral researchers here --  Dr. Laura Currie, Dr. Lucia Duarte, and Felix Sainsbury-Martinez; I also continue to collaborate with one of my former postdocs (Dr. Maria Weber), who has recently (late 2017) moved to the University of Chicago to take up an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics postdoctoral fellowship.  I've been primary supervisor at Exeter for two PhD students (Felix Sainsbury-Martinez and Lewis Ireland), and secondary supervisor for several others.  

Some selected papers (recent and/or significant)

Ireland & Browning 2018, "The radius and entropy of a magnetized, rotating fully-convective star: analysis with depth-dependent mixing length theories," in press at the Astrophysical Journal https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.02664

Brun & Browning 2017, "Magnetism, dynamo action, and the solar-stellar connection," in Living Reviews in Solar Physics http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017LRSP...14....4B

Currie & Browning 2017, "The magnitude of viscous dissipation in strongly stratified two-dimensional convection," in Astrophysical Journal Letters, 845, L17 http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2017ApJ...845L..17C

Browning et al. 2016, "Theoretical limits on magnetic field strengths in low-mass stars," in the Astrophysical Journal, with Maria Weber, Gilles Chabrier, and Angela Massey http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016ApJ...818..189B

Weber & Browning 2016, "Modeling the rise of fibril magnetic fields in fully convective stars," in the Astrophysical Journal, with Maria Weber http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016ApJ...827...95W

Duarte et al. 2016, "Helicity inversion in spherical convection as a means for equatorward dynamo wave propagation," with Lucia Duarte, Johannes Wicht, and Thomas Gastine, in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016MNRAS.456.1708D

Brown et al. 2011, "Magnetic Cycles in a Convective Dynamo Simulation of a Young Solar-type Star," with Ben Brown, Mark Miesch, A.S. Brun, and Juri Toomre http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011ApJ...731...69B

Browning, 2008, "Simulations of dynamo action in fully convective stars," in the Astrophysical Journal http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008ApJ...676.1262B

Browning et al. 2006, "Dynamo Action in the Solar Convection Zone and Tachocline: Pumping and Organization of Toroidal Fields," in the Astrophysical Journal, with Mark Miesch, Allan Sacha Brun, and Juri Toomre http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006ApJ...648L.157B

Browning, Brun, Toomre 2004, "Simulations of Core Convection in Rotating A-Type Stars: Differential Rotation and Overshooting," in the Astrophysical Journal http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004ApJ...601..512B

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Publications

Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.

| 2024 | 2023 | 2020 | 2019 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 |

2024

2023

  • Lance S, Browning M, Currie L. (2023) Viscous Dissipation and Dynamics in Simulations of Rotating, Stratified Plane-layer Convection (dataset).
  • Lance S. (2023) Convection, dissipation, and rotation in simulations of stellar and planetary interiors and atmospheres.
  • Kaepylae PJ, Browning MK, Brun AS, Guerrero G, Warnecke J. (2023) Simulations of Solar and Stellar Dynamos and Their Theoretical Interpretation, SPACE SCIENCE REVIEWS, volume 219, no. 7, article no. ARTN 58, DOI:10.1007/s11214-023-01005-6. [PDF]
  • Clarke J. (2023) The Impact of the Hydrodynamic Instabilities on Stellar Evolution.

2020

  • Finley A. (2020) Constraining the Angular Momentum-loss Rates of the Sun and Other Sun-like Stars.

2019

  • Pantolmos G. (2019) The Effects of Wind Energetics on the Angular Momentum Outflow from Late-Type Stars.
  • Burgasser A, Baraffe I, Browning M, Burrows A, Chabrier G, Creech-Eakman M, Demory B, Dieterich S, Faherty J, Huber D. (2019) Astro2020 Science White Paper: Fundamental Physics with Brown Dwarfs: The Mass-Radius Relation. [PDF]

2017

  • Brun AS, Browning MK. (2017) Magnetism, dynamo action and the solar-stellar connection, LIVING REVIEWS IN SOLAR PHYSICS, volume 14, article no. ARTN 4, DOI:10.1007/s41116-017-0007-8. [PDF]
  • Mayne NJ, Debras F, Baraffe I, Thuburn J, Amundsen, Acreman D, Smith C, Browning MK, Manners J, Wood N. (2017) Results from a set of three-dimensional numerical experiments of a hot Jupiter atmosphere, Astronomy and Astrophysics.
  • Weber MA, Browning MK, Boardman S, Clarke J, Pugsley S, Townsend E. (2017) The Suppression and Promotion of Magnetic Flux Emergence in Fully Convective Stars. [PDF]

2016

  • Weber MA, Browning MK. (2016) Modeling the Rise of Fibril Magnetic Fields in Fully Convective Stars. [PDF]
  • Browning MK, Weber MA, Chabrier G, Massey AP. (2016) Theoretical limits on magnetic field strengths in low-mass stars. [PDF]

2015

2014

2011

2010

2009

  • Reiners A, Basri G, Browning M. (2009) Saturation of magnetic flux generation at low Rossby numbers: The M stars, AIP Conference Proceedings, volume 1094, pages 728-731, DOI:10.1063/1.3099218.
  • Norman D, Agueros M, Brown TM, Browning M, Chakrabarti S, Cobb B, Coble K, Conselice C, Cruz K, Danly L. (2009) Research Science and Education: The NSF's Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship. [PDF]
  • Brown BP, Browning MK, Miesch MS, Brun AS, Toomre J. (2009) Wreathes of Magnetism in Rapidly Rotating Suns. [PDF]
  • Featherstone NA, Browning MK, Brun AS, Toomre J. (2009) EFFECTS OF FOSSIL MAGNETIC FIELDS ON CONVECTIVE CORE DYNAMOS IN A-TYPE STARS, ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, volume 705, no. 1, pages 1000-1018, DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/705/1/1000. [PDF]
  • Miesch MS, Browning MK, Brun AS, Toomre J, Brown BP. (2009) Three-Dimensional Simulations of Solar and Stellar Dynamos: The Influence of a Tachocline, SOLAR-STELLAR DYNAMOS AS REVEALED BY HELIO AND ASTEROSEISMOLOGY: GONG 2008/SOHO 21, volume 416, pages 443-+. [PDF]
  • Brown BP, Browning MK, Brun AS, Miesch MS, Toomre J. (2009) Dynamo Action and Wreaths of Magnetism in a Younger Sun, SOLAR-STELLAR DYNAMOS AS REVEALED BY HELIO AND ASTEROSEISMOLOGY: GONG 2008/SOHO 21, volume 416, pages 369-+. [PDF]
  • Reiners A, Scholz A, Eislöffel J, Hallinan G, Berger E, Browning M, Irwin J, Küker M, Matt S. (2009) The rotation-magnetic field relation, AIP Conference Proceedings, volume 1094, pages 250-257, DOI:10.1063/1.3099099.
  • Reiners A, Basri G, Browning M. (2009) Evidence for Magnetic Flux Saturation in Rapidly Rotating M Stars, Astrophysical Journal, volume 692, no. 1, pages 538-545, DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/692/1/538.

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

  • Brown BP, Browning MK, Brun AS, Toomre J. (2004) Differential rotation when the sun spun faster, European Space Agency, (Special Publication) ESA SP, no. 559, pages 341-344.
  • Browning MK, Brun AS, Toomre J. (2004) Simulations of core convection and dynamo activity in rotating a-type stars, European Space Agency, (Special Publication) ESA SP, no. 559, pages 349-352.
  • Browning M, Brun AS, Toomre J. (2004) Simulations of core convection and resulting dynamo action in rotating A-type stars. [PDF]
  • Browning MK, Brun AS, Toomre J. (2004) Simulations of core convection in rotating A-type stars: Differential rotation and overshooting, Astrophysical Journal, volume 601, no. 1 I, pages 512-529, DOI:10.1086/380198.
  • Brun AS, Browning M, Toomre J. (2004) Looking deep within an A-type star: Core convection under the influence of rotation, STELLAR ROTATION, no. 215, pages 388-393. [PDF]
  • Browning M, Brun AS, Toomre J. (2004) Simulations of core convection dynamos in rotating A-type stars, STELLAR ROTATION, no. 215, pages 376-377. [PDF]

2003

2002

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