Bibcode
Yelles-Chaouche, L.; Moreno-Insertis, F.; Martínez-Pillet, V.; Wiegelmann, T.; Bonet, J. A.; Knölker, M.; Bellot Rubio, L. R.; del Toro Iniesta, J. C.; Barthol, P.; Gandorfer, A.; Schmidt, W.; Solanki, S. K.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 727, Issue 2, article id. L30 (2011).
Advertised on:
2
2011
Citations
43
Refereed citations
35
Description
The relation of the solar surface magnetic field with mesogranular cells
is studied using high spatial (≈100 km) and temporal (≈30 s)
resolution data obtained with the IMaX instrument on board SUNRISE.
First, mesogranular cells are identified using Lagrange tracers (corks)
based on horizontal velocity fields obtained through local correlation
tracking. After ≈20 minutes of integration, the tracers delineate a
sharp mesogranular network with lanes of width below about 280 km. The
preferential location of magnetic elements in mesogranular cells is
tested quantitatively. Roughly 85% of pixels with magnetic field higher
than 100 G are located in the near neighborhood of mesogranular lanes.
Magnetic flux is therefore concentrated in mesogranular lanes rather
than intergranular ones. Second, magnetic field extrapolations are
performed to obtain field lines anchored in the observed flux elements.
This analysis, therefore, is independent of the horizontal flows
determined in the first part. A probability density function (PDF) is
calculated for the distribution of distances between the footpoints of
individual magnetic field lines. The PDF has an exponential shape at
scales between 1 and 10 Mm, with a constant characteristic decay
distance, indicating the absence of preferred convection scales in the
mesogranular range. Our results support the view that mesogranulation is
not an intrinsic convective scale (in the sense that it is not a primary
energy-injection scale of solar convection), but also give quantitative
confirmation that, nevertheless, the magnetic elements are
preferentially found along mesogranular lanes.
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