Solar and stellar dynamos - latest developments
Recent progress in the theory of solar and stellar dynamos is reviewed. Particular emphasis is placed on the mean-field theory which tries to describe the collective behavior of the magnetic field. In order to understand solar and stellar activity, a quantitatively reliable theory is necessary. Much of the new developments center around magnetic helicity conservation which is seen to be important in numerical simulations. Only a dynamical, explicitly time dependent theory of α-quenching is able to describe this behavior correctly.