Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Dec 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007apj...671l..81c&link_type=abstract
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 671, Issue 1, pp. L81-L84.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
16
Sun: Activity, Sun: Magnetic Fields
Scientific paper
We study the structure of 107 bright sigmoids using full-resolution (2.5" pixels) images from the Yohkoh Soft X-Ray Telescope (SXT) obtained between 1991 December and 2001 December. We find that none of these sigmoids are made of single loops of S or inverse-S shape; all comprise a pattern of multiple loops. We also find that all S-shaped sigmoids are made of right-bearing loops and all inverse-S-shaped sigmoids of left-bearing loops, without exception. We co-align the SXT images with Kitt Peak magnetograms to determine the magnetic field directions in each sigmoid. We use a potential-field source surface model to determine the direction of the overlying magnetic field. We find that sigmoids for which the relative orientation of these two fields has a parallel component outnumber antiparallel ones by more than an order of magnitude. We find that the number of sigmoids per active region varies with the solar cycle in a manner that is consistent with this finding. Finally, those few sigmoids that are antiparallel erupt roughly twice as often as those that are parallel. We briefly discuss the implications of these results in terms of formation and eruption mechanisms of flux tubes and sigmoids.
Acton Loren W.
Canfield Richard C.
Freeman Tanya L.
Kazachenko Maria D.
Mackay Duncan H.
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