Temporal Evolution of Artificial Solar Granules

We study the evolution of artificial granulation on the basis of 2-D hydrodynamical simulations. These clearly show that granules die in two different ways. One route to death is the well known bifurcation or fragmentation of a large granule into 2 smaller ones (exploding granules). The other pathway to death is characterized by merging intergranular lanes and the accompanying dissolution of the granule located between them. It is found that the lifetime and maximum brightness is independent of the way in which granules evolve and die. They clearly differ in size, however, with exploding granules being in general significantly larger. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.