Small-scale Magnetic Flux Emergence in the Quiet Sun

Moreno-Insertis, F.; Martinez-Sykora, J.; Hansteen, V. H.; Muñoz, D.
Bibliographical reference

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 859, Issue 2, article id. L26, 7 pp. (2018).

Advertised on:
6
2018
Number of authors
4
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
26
Refereed citations
26
Description
Small bipolar magnetic features are observed to appear in the interior of individual granules in the quiet Sun, signaling the emergence of tiny magnetic loops from the solar interior. We study the origin of those features as part of the magnetoconvection process in the top layers of the convection zone. Two quiet-Sun magnetoconvection models, calculated with the radiation-magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Bifrost code and with domain stretching from the top layers of the convection zone to the corona, are analyzed. Using 3D visualization as well as a posteriori spectral synthesis of Stokes parameters, we detect the repeated emergence of small magnetic elements in the interior of granules, as in the observations. Additionally, we identify the formation of organized horizontal magnetic sheets covering whole granules. Our approach is twofold, calculating statistical properties of the system, like joint probability density functions (JPDFs), and pursuing individual events via visualization tools. We conclude that the small magnetic loops surfacing within individual granules in the observations may originate from sites at or near the downflows in the granular and mesogranular levels, probably in the first 1 or 1.5 Mm below the surface. We also document the creation of granule-covering magnetic sheet-like structures through the sideways expansion of a small subphotospheric magnetic concentration picked up and pulled out of the interior by a nascent granule. The sheet-like structures that we found in the models may match the recent observations of Centeno et al.
Related projects
Solar Eruption
Numerical Simulation of Astrophysical Processes
Numerical simulation through complex computer codes has been a fundamental tool in physics and technology research for decades. The rapid growth of computing capabilities, coupled with significant advances in numerical mathematics, has made this branch of research accessible to medium-sized research centers, bridging the gap between theoretical and
Daniel Elías
Nóbrega Siverio
Project Image
Magnetism, Polarization and Radiative Transfer in Astrophysics
Magnetic fields pervade all astrophysical plasmas and govern most of the variability in the Universe at intermediate time scales. They are present in stars across the whole Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, in galaxies, and even perhaps in the intergalactic medium. Polarized light provides the most reliable source of information at our disposal for the
Tanausú del
Pino Alemán