Rotation and Magnetic Polarity Separation in Active Regions

Other

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Scientific paper

The separations of the leading and following components of plages and, separately, of sunspot groups are used as parameters in the study of the rotation of these features. These quantities are determined by calculating the magnetic flux-weighted positions of fields of leading or following polarity magnetic flux in the case of plages and by calculating the area weighted positions of the spots west or east of the area-weighted longitude centroid of the sunspot groups. (For the sunspot groups there is no magnetic information available as a part of this data set.) After correcting for the effects of magnetically complex regions, it is found that there is a significant correlation between polarity separation and rotation rate; plages with larger polarity separation rotate slower than those with smaller polarity separation. In the case of individual spots, it is known that smaller spots rotate faster than larger spots and for groups the same effect is found, but with a very low amplitude. It is suggested that the group effect is strongly, and perhaps totally, influenced by the spot effect. When the rotation rates of spot groups of varying polarity separations are examined, the opposite effect is seen: Groups with larger polarity separations rotate faster than those with smaller polarity separations. It is suggested that this discrepancy, which is somewhat analogous to other recently-discovered differences in dynamic behavior between plages and sunspot groups, may result from the fact that the magnetic fields of sunspots and plages are anchored in toroidal magnetic flux tubes that are located at different distances beneath the solar surface. The variation with rotation rate in each case might then be a depth effect and represent an indication of the vertical angular velocity gradient.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Rotation and Magnetic Polarity Separation in Active Regions does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Rotation and Magnetic Polarity Separation in Active Regions, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Rotation and Magnetic Polarity Separation in Active Regions will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1513366

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.