Abstract

For a long time 3D radiative MHD simulations of sunspots were out of reach. With increasing computing power there has been recently substantial progress in modeling magneto-convection in strong magnetic field regions and complete sunspots including the transition from umbra toward plage-like solar granulation. 3D simulations point toward a unified understanding of sunspot fine structure in terms of a magneto convection process in a background field with varying inclination angle. We summarize here briefly the most recent developments.