scholarly journals Active regions and the interplanetary magnetic field

1968 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 390-394
Author(s):  
John M. Wilcox ◽  
Norman F. Ness ◽  
Kenneth H. Schatten

The relation of solar active regions to the large-scale sector structure of the interplanetary field is discussed. In the winter of 1963–64 (observed by the satellite IMP-1) the plage density was greatest in the leading portion of the sectors and lesser in the trailing portion of the sectors. The boundaries of the sectors (places at which the direction of the interplanetary magnetic field changed from toward the Sun to away from the Sun, or vice versa) were remarkably free of plages. The very fact that since the first observations in 1962 the average interplanetary field has almost always had the property of being either toward the Sun or away from the Sun (along the Archimedean spiral angle) continuously for several days must be considered in the discussion of large-scale evolution of active regions. Using the observed interplanetary magnetic field at 1 AU and a set of reasonable assumptions the magnetic configuration in the ecliptic from 0·4 AU to 1·2 AU has been reconstructed. In at least one case a pattern emerges which appears to be related to the evolution of an active region from an early stage in which the magnetic lines closely couple the preceding and following halves of the region to a later stage in which the two halves of the region are more widely separated.

1976 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 135-135
Author(s):  
Leif Svalgaard ◽  
John M. Wilcox

The large-scale structure of the solar magnetic field during the past five sunspot cycles (representing by implication a much longer interval of time) has been investigated using the polarity (toward or away from the Sun) of the interplanetary magnetic field as inferred from polar geomagnetic observations. The polarity of the interplanetary magnetic field has previously been shown to be closely related to the polarity (into or out of the Sun) of the large-scale solar magnetic field. It appears that a solar structure with four sectors per rotation persisted through the past five sunspot cycles, with a synodic rotation period near 27.0 days, and a small relative westward drift during the first half of each sunspot cycle and a relative eastward drift during the second half of each cycle. Superposed on this four-sector structure there is another structure with inward field polarity, a width in solar longitude of about 100° and a synodic rotation period of about 28 to 29 days. This 28.5 day structure is usually most prominent during a few years near sunspot maximum. Some preliminary comparisons of these observed solar structures with theoretical considerations are given.


1976 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 113-118
Author(s):  
P. Ambrož

The measurement of the magnitude of the limb effect was homogenized in time and a recurrent period of maxima of 27.8 days was found. A relation was found between the maximum values of the limb effect of the redshift, the boundaries of polarities of the interplanetary magnetic field, the characteristic large-scale distribution of the background magnetic fields and the complex of solar activity.


1971 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 744-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Wilcox

The solar sector structure consists of a boundary in the north-south direction such that on one side of the boundary the large-scale weak photospheric magnetic field is predominantly directed out of the Sun, and on the other side of the boundary this field is directed into the Sun. The region westward of a solar sector boundary tends to be unusually quiet and the region eastward of a solar sector boundary tends to be unusually active. This tendency is discussed in terms of flares, coronal enhancements, plage structure and geomagnetic response.


1985 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 999 ◽  
Author(s):  
CR DeVore ◽  
NR Sheeley Jr ◽  
JP Boris ◽  
TR Young Jr ◽  
KL Harvey

We have solved numerically a transport equation which describes the evolution of the large-scale magnetic field of the Sun. Data derived from solar magnetic observations are used to initialize the computations and to account for the emergence of new magnetic flux during the sunspot cycle. Our objective is to assess the ability of the model to reproduce the observed evolution of the field patterns. We discuss recent results from simulations of individual active regions over a few solar rotations and of the magnetic field of the Sun over sunspot cycle 21.


1968 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 403-403
Author(s):  
C. Y. Fan ◽  
M. Pick ◽  
R. Ryle ◽  
J. A. Simpson ◽  
D. R. Smith

The Pioneer-6 and Pioneer-7 space probes carried charged-particle telescopes which measure, for the first time, both the direction of arrival and differential energy spectra of protons and alpha particles. The intensity changes, directional distributions and energy spectra of proton fluxes associated with solar activity are investigated. The data were obtained in the beginning of the new solar cycle (no. 20), when it is possible to unambiguously associate proton-flux increases with specific solar active regions. The origin, possibly long-term storage, and propagation of these proton fluxes are investigated. It was observed that enhanced 0·6–13 MeV proton fluxes associated with specific active regions were present over heliographic longitude ranges as great as ~ 180°. These enhanced fluxes exhibit definite onsets and cut-offs which appear to be associated with the magnetic-sector boundaries observed by Ness on Pioneer-6. Discrete flare-produced intensity increases extending in energy to more than 50 MeV are observed, superposed on the enhanced flux. These increases displayed short transit times and short rise times. Both the enhanced and flare-produced fluxes propagate along the spiral interplanetary magnetic field from the Western hemisphere of the Sun. From these observations we are led to a model in which the magnetic fields from the active region are spread out over a longitude range of 100–180° in the solar corona. The existence of strong unidirectional anisotropies in the initial phases of flare-proton events implies that little scattering occurs between the Sun and spacecraft. However, the gradual approach to an isotropic flux at late times indicates that the decay phase is controlled by the interplanetary magnetic field.


1990 ◽  
Vol 138 ◽  
pp. 281-295
Author(s):  
V. I. Makarov ◽  
K. R. Sivaraman

The main features concerning the evolution of the large scale photospheric magnetic fields derived from synoptic maps as well as from H-alpha synoptic charts are reviewed. The significance of a variety of observations that indicate the presence of a high latitude component as a counterpart to the sunspot phenomenon at lower latitudes is reviewed. It is argued that these two components describe the global magnetic field on the sun. It is demonstrated that this scenario is able to link many phenomena observed on the sun (coronal emission, ephemeral active regions, geomagnetic activity, torsional oscillations, polar faculae and global modes in the magnetic field pattern) with the global magnetic activity.


2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (S273) ◽  
pp. 56-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikhail Demidov

AbstractThe best way to test the stellar magnetic field mapping codes is to apply them, with some changes, to the Sun, where high-precision disk-integrated and disk-resolved observations are available for a long time. Data sets of the full-disk magnetograms and the solar mean magnetic fields (SMMF) measurements are provided, for example, by the J.M.Wilcox Solar observatory (WSO) and by the Sayan Solar observatory (SSO). In the second case the measurements in the Stokes-meter mode simultaneously in many spectral lines are available. This study is devoted to analysis of the SSO quasi-simultaneous full-disk magnetograms and SMMF measurements. Changes of the SMMF signal with rotation of the surface large-scale magnetic fields are demonstrated. Besides, by deleting of selected pixels with active regions (AR) from the maps their contribution to the integrated SMMF signal is evaluated. It is shown that in some cases the role of AR can be rather significant.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (S340) ◽  
pp. 85-86
Author(s):  
Souvik Bose ◽  
K. Nagaraju

AbstractThe Solar Mean Magnetic Field (SMMF) is generally defined as the disc-averaged line-of-sight (LOS) magnetic field on the sun. The role of the active regions and the large-scale magnetic field structures (also called the background) has been debated over the past few decades to understand whether the origin of the SMMF is either due to the active regions or the background. We, in this paper have investigated contribution of sunspots, plages, networks and the background towards the variability of the SMMF using the datasets from the SDO-AIA & HMI, and found that 89% of the SMMF is due to the background whereas the remaining 11% originates from the active regions and the networks.


2000 ◽  
Vol 179 ◽  
pp. 263-264
Author(s):  
K. Sundara Raman ◽  
K. B. Ramesh ◽  
R. Selvendran ◽  
P. S. M. Aleem ◽  
K. M. Hiremath

Extended AbstractWe have examined the morphological properties of a sigmoid associated with an SXR (soft X-ray) flare. The sigmoid is cospatial with the EUV (extreme ultra violet) images and in the optical part lies along an S-shaped Hαfilament. The photoheliogram shows flux emergence within an existingδtype sunspot which has caused the rotation of the umbrae giving rise to the sigmoidal brightening.It is now widely accepted that flares derive their energy from the magnetic fields of the active regions and coronal levels are considered to be the flare sites. But still a satisfactory understanding of the flare processes has not been achieved because of the difficulties encountered to predict and estimate the probability of flare eruptions. The convection flows and vortices below the photosphere transport and concentrate magnetic field, which subsequently appear as active regions in the photosphere (Rust & Kumar 1994 and the references therein). Successive emergence of magnetic flux, twist the field, creating flare productive magnetic shear and has been studied by many authors (Sundara Ramanet al.1998 and the references therein). Hence, it is considered that the flare is powered by the energy stored in the twisted magnetic flux tubes (Kurokawa 1996 and the references therein). Rust & Kumar (1996) named the S-shaped bright coronal loops that appear in soft X-rays as ‘Sigmoids’ and concluded that this S-shaped distortion is due to the twist developed in the magnetic field lines. These transient sigmoidal features tell a great deal about unstable coronal magnetic fields, as these regions are more likely to be eruptive (Canfieldet al.1999). As the magnetic fields of the active regions are deep rooted in the Sun, the twist developed in the subphotospheric flux tube penetrates the photosphere and extends in to the corona. Thus, it is essentially favourable for the subphotospheric twist to unwind the twist and transmit it through the photosphere to the corona. Therefore, it becomes essential to make complete observational descriptions of a flare from the magnetic field changes that are taking place in different atmospheric levels of the Sun, to pin down the energy storage and conversion process that trigger the flare phenomena.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (S328) ◽  
pp. 237-239
Author(s):  
A. A. Vidotto

AbstractSynoptic maps of the vector magnetic field have routinely been made available from stellar observations and recently have started to be obtained for the solar photospheric field. Although solar magnetic maps show a multitude of details, stellar maps are limited to imaging large-scale fields only. In spite of their lower resolution, magnetic field imaging of solar-type stars allow us to put the Sun in a much more general context. However, direct comparison between stellar and solar magnetic maps are hampered by their dramatic differences in resolution. Here, I present the results of a method to filter out the small-scale component of vector fields, in such a way that comparison between solar and stellar (large-scale) magnetic field vector maps can be directly made. This approach extends the technique widely used to decompose the radial component of the solar magnetic field to the azimuthal and meridional components as well, and is entirely consistent with the description adopted in several stellar studies. This method can also be used to confront synoptic maps synthesised in numerical simulations of dynamo and magnetic flux transport studies to those derived from stellar observations.


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