Is the Polar Region Different from the Quiet Region of the Sun?

Details Is the Polar Region Different from the Quiet Region of the Sun? Is the Polar Region Different from the Quiet Region of the Sun?

2010-05-20

arxiv.org/abs/1005.3667v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics

Accepted for publication in APJ

Scientific paper

Observations of the polar region of the Sun are critically important for understanding the solar dynamo and the acceleration of solar wind. We carried out precise magnetic observations on both the North polar region and the quiet Sun at the East limb with the Spectro-Polarimeter of the Solar Optical Telescope aboard Hinode to characterize the polar region with respect to the quiet Sun. The average area and the total magnetic flux of the kG magnetic concentrations in the polar region appear to be larger than those of the quiet Sun. The magnetic field vectors classified as vertical in the quiet Sun have symmetric histograms around zero in the strengths, showing balanced positive and negative flux, while the histogram in the North polar region is clearly asymmetric, showing a predominance of the negative polarity. The total magnetic flux of the polar region is larger than that of the quiet Sun. In contrast, the histogram of the horizontal magnetic fields is exactly the same between the polar region and the quiet Sun. This is consistent with the idea that a local dynamo process is responsible for the horizontal magnetic fields. A high-resolution potential field extrapolation shows that the majority of magnetic field lines from the kG-patches in the polar region are open with a fanning-out structure very low in the atmosphere, while in the quiet Sun, almost all the field lines are closed.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Is the Polar Region Different from the Quiet Region of the Sun? 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 Is the Polar Region Different from the Quiet Region of the Sun?, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Is the Polar Region Different from the Quiet Region of the Sun? will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-209845