Just how much Helicity did the Sun Shed in Solar Cycle 23? Magnitude, Balance, Periodicities, and Further Implications

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

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Scientific paper

Using solar magnetic field measurements, we calculate the total relative magnetic helicity injected in the solar atmosphere and eventually
transported to the heliosphere in the course of the latest solar cycle. We report on (i) the magnitude of the heliospheric helicity over cycle 23, (ii) the net helicity and its significance, and (iii) the possible
periodicities of helicity injection in the solar atmosphere. Our simple calculations raise several questions regarding the fundamental nature of solar magnetism. The lack of significant net helicity may place the solar dynamo in the category of
astrophysical dynamos without a net helicity effect over an average time scale. The strong enhancement of the hemispheric helicity preference by solar differential rotation - although the latter has a much weaker effect than intrinsic active-region plasma flows - warrants further investigation. Finally, the absence of any credible periodicity of helicity injection, in spite of numerous reported periodicities in solar activity, perhaps prompts the re-evaluation of the notion that the Sun works through a sequence of internal cycles: active-region emergence and evolution appears as an inherently disorganized, aperiodic process.

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