scholarly journals Optimization of surface flux transport models for the solar polar magnetic field

2019 ◽  
Vol 632 ◽  
pp. A87 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Petrovay ◽  
M. Talafha
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Cycle ◽  
Parameter Space ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Surface Flux ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Flux Transport ◽  
Polar Magnetic Field ◽  
Flow Profiles ◽  
Magnetic Diffusivity

Context. The choice of free parameters in surface flux transport (SFT) models describing the evolution of the large-scale poloidal magnetic field of the Sun is critical for the correct reproduction of the polar magnetic flux built up during a solar cycle, which is known to be a good predictor of the amplitude of the upcoming cycle. Aims. For an informed choice of parameters it is important to understand the effects of and interplay among the various parameters and to optimize the models for the polar magnetic field. Methods. Here we present the results of a large-scale systematic study of the parameter space in an SFT model where the source term representing the net effect of tilted flux emergence was chosen to represent a typical, average solar cycle as described by observations. Results. Comparing the results with observational constraints on the spatiotemporal variation of the polar magnetic field, as seen in magnetograms for the last four solar cycles, we mark allowed and excluded regions in the 3D parameter space defined by the flow amplitude u0, the magnetic diffusivity η and the decay time scale τ, for three different assumed meridional flow profiles. Conclusions. Without a significant decay term in the SFT equation (i.e., for τ >  10 yr) the global dipole moment reverses too late in the cycle for all flow profiles and parameters, providing independent supporting evidence for the need of a decay term, even in the case of identical cycles. An allowed domain is found to exist for τ values in the 5–10 yr range for all flow profiles considered. Generally higher values of η (500–800 km2 s−1) are preferred though some solutions with lower η are still allowed.

scholarly journals Hemispheric injection of magnetic helicity by surface flux transport

2019 ◽  
Vol 631 ◽  
pp. A138 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Hawkes ◽  
A. R. Yeates
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Cycle ◽  
Solar Rotation ◽  
Surface Flux ◽  
Magnetic Helicity ◽  
Solar Cycles ◽  
Flux Transport ◽  
Transport Models ◽  
Radial Magnetic Field ◽  
Helicity Injection

Aims. We estimate the injection of relative magnetic helicity into the solar atmosphere by surface flux transport over 27 solar cycles (1700–2009). Methods. We determine the radial magnetic field evolution using two separate surface flux transport models: one driven by magnetogram inputs and another by statistical active region insertion guided by the sunspot number record. The injection of relative magnetic helicity is then computed from this radial magnetic field together with the known electric field in the flux transport models. Results. Neglecting flux emergence, solar rotation is the dominant contributor to the helicity injection. At high latitudes, the injection is always negative/positive in the northern/southern hemisphere, while at low latitudes the injection tends to have the opposite sign when integrated over the full solar cycle. The overall helicity injection in a given solar cycle depends on the balance between these two contributions. This net injected helicity correlates well with the end-of-cycle axial dipole moment.

scholarly journals Identifying solar-like magnetic cycles with Zeeman-Doppler-Imaging

2020 ◽  
Vol 500 (1) ◽  
pp. 1243-1260
Author(s):  
L T Lehmann ◽  
G A J Hussain ◽  
A A Vidotto ◽  
M M Jardine ◽  
D H Mackay
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Cycle ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Doppler Imaging ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Flux Emergence ◽  
Flux Transport ◽  
Scale Field ◽  
Large Scale Field ◽  
Magnetic Cycles

ABSTRACT We are reaching the point where spectropolarimetric surveys have run for long enough to reveal solar-like magnetic activity cycles. In this paper, we investigate what would be the best strategy to identify solar-like magnetic cycles and ask which large-scale magnetic field parameters best follow a solar-type magnetic cycle and are observable with the Zeeman-Doppler-Imaging (ZDI) technique. We approach these questions using the 3D non-potential flux transport simulations of Yeates & Mackay (2012) modelling the solar vector magnetic field over 15 yr (centred on solar cycle 23). The flux emergence profile was extracted from solar synoptic maps and used as input for a photospheric flux transport model in combination with a non-potential coronal evolution model. We synthesize spectropolarimetric data from the simulated maps and reconstruct them using ZDI. The ZDI observed solar cycle is set into the context of other cool star observations and we present observable trends of the magnetic field topology with time, sunspot number, and S-index. We find that the axisymmetric energy fraction is the best parameter of the ZDI detectable large-scale field to trace solar-like cycles. Neither the surface averaged large-scale field or the total magnetic energy is appropriate. ZDI seems also to be able to recover the increase of the toroidal energy with S-index. We see further that ZDI might unveil hints of the dynamo modes that are operating and of the global properties of the small-scale flux emergence like active latitudes.

scholarly journals The Sun’s polar magnetic field: datasets, proxies and theoretical issues

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (S340) ◽  
pp. 289-292
Author(s):  
Arnab Rai Choudhuri
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Sunspot Cycle ◽  
Surface Flux ◽  
Dynamo Model ◽  
Flux Transport ◽  
Polar Magnetic Field ◽  
Theoretical Issues ◽  
Dynamo Process ◽  
Good Precursor

AbstractThe polar magnetic field of the Sun is a manifestation of certain aspects of the dynamo process and is a good precursor for predicting a sunspot cycle before its onset. Although actual synoptic measurements of this field exist only from the mid-1970s, it has now been possible to determine its evolution from the beginning of the twentieth century with the help of various proxies. The recently developed 3D kinematic dynamo model can study the build-up of the Sun’s polar magnetic field more realistically than the earlier surface flux transport model.

Turbulent dynamo action at low magnetic Reynolds number

1970 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 435-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. K. Moffatt
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Reynolds Number ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Isotropic Turbulence ◽  
Magnetic Energy ◽  
Magnetic Reynolds Number ◽  
Dynamo Action ◽  
Ohmic Dissipation ◽  
Magnetic Energy Density ◽  
Magnetic Diffusivity

The effect of turbulence on a magnetic field whose length-scale L is initially large compared with the scale l of the turbulence is considered. There are no external sources for the field, and in the absence of turbulence it decays by ohmic dissipation. It is assumed that the magnetic Reynolds number Rm = u0l/λ (where u0 is the root-mean-square velocity and λ the magnetic diffusivity) is small. It is shown that to lowest order in the small quantities l/L and Rm, isotropic turbulence has no effect on the large-scale field; but that turbulence that lacks reflexional symmetry is capable of amplifying Fourier components of the field on length scales of order Rm−2l and greater. In the case of turbulence whose statistical properties are invariant under rotation of the axes of reference, but not under reflexions in a point, it is shown that the magnetic energy density of a magnetic field which is initially a homogeneous random function of position with a particularly simple spectrum ultimately increases as t−½exp (α2t/2λ3) where α(= O(u02l)) is a certain linear functional of the spectrum tensor of the turbulence. An analogous result is obtained for an initially localized field.

scholarly journals How to make the Sun look less like the Sun and more like a star?

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (S328) ◽  
pp. 237-239
Author(s):  
A. A. Vidotto
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vector Fields ◽  
Radial Component ◽  
Field Vector ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
General Context ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Flux Transport ◽  
Large Scale Magnetic Field

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.

scholarly journals Impact of nonlinear surface inflows into activity belts on the solar dynamo

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Melinda Nagy ◽  
Alexandre Lemerle ◽  
Paul Charbonneau
Keyword(s):  
Solar Cycle ◽  
Magnetic Flux ◽  
Activity Cycle ◽  
Surface Flux ◽  
Meridional Flow ◽  
Cycle Model ◽  
Flux Transport ◽  
Bona Fide ◽  
Nonlinear Surface ◽  
The Impact

We examine the impact of surface inflows into activity belts on the operation of solar cycle models based on the Babcock–Leighton mechanism of poloidal field regeneration. Towards this end we introduce in the solar cycle model of Lemerle & Charbonneau (2017. ApJ 834: 133) a magnetic flux-dependent variation of the surface meridional flow based on the axisymmetric inflow parameterization developped by Jiang et al. (2010. ApJ 717: 597). The inflow dependence on emerging magnetic flux thus introduces a bona fide nonlinear backreaction mechanism in the dynamo loop. For solar-like inflow speeds, our simulation results indicate a decrease of 10–20% in the strength of the global dipole building up at the end of an activity cycle, in agreement with earlier simulations based on linear surface flux transport models. Our simulations also indicate a significant stabilizing effect on cycle characteristics, in that individual cycle amplitudes in simulations including inflows show less scatter about their mean than in the absence of inflows. Our simulations also demonstrate an enhancement of cross-hemispheric coupling, leading to a significant decrease in hemispheric cycle amplitude asymmetries and temporal lag in hemispheric cycle onset. Analysis of temporally extended simulations also indicate that the presence of inflows increases the probability of cycle shutdown following an unfavorable sequence of emergence events. This results ultimately from the lower threshold nonlinearity built into our solar cycle model, and presumably operating in the sun as well.

scholarly journals Reconstruction of Sun-as-Star Magnetic Field Structure and Evolution Using Filament Observations

1998 ◽  
Vol 167 ◽  
pp. 493-496
Author(s):  
Dmitri I. Ponyavin
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Cycle ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Solar Magnetic Field ◽  
Close Association ◽  
Field Structure ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Magnetic Field Structure ◽  
Large Scale Magnetic Field ◽  
Field Organization

AbstractA technique is used to restore the magnetic field of the Sun viewed as star from the filament distribution seen on Hα photographs. For this purpose synoptic charts of the large-scale magnetic field reconstructed by the McIntosh method have been compared with the Sun-asstar solar magnetic field observed at Stanford. We have established a close association between the Sun-as-star magnetic field and the mean magnetic field inferred from synoptic magnetic field maps. A filtering technique was applied to find correlations between the Sun-as-star and large-scale magnetic field distributions during the course of a solar cycle. The correlations found were then used to restore the Sun-as-star magnetic field and its evolution in the late 1950s and 1960s, when such measurements of the field were not being made. A stackplot display of the inferred data reveals large-scale magnetic field organization and evolution. Patterns of the Sun-as-star magnetic field during solar cycle 19 were obtained. The proposed technique can be useful for studying the solar magnetic field structure and evolution during times with no direct observations.

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