Magnetic Flux in the Sun Emerges Unaffected by Supergranular-scale Surface Flows

Magnetic flux emergence from the convection zone into the photosphere and beyond is a critical component of the behavior of large-scale solar magnetism. Flux rarely emerges amid field-free areas at the surface, but when it does, the interaction between the magnetism and plasma flows can be reliably...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Astrophysical journal 2024-04, Vol.965 (2), p.186
Main Authors: Mani, Prasad, Hanson, Chris S., Dhanpal, Siddharth, Hanasoge, Shravan, Das, Srijan Bharati, Rempel, Matthias
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Convection
Convective flow
Convolutional neural networks
Critical components
Emergence
Fluctuations
Magnetic flux
Magnetism
Photosphere
Signal to noise ratio
Solar active region magnetic fields
Solar active regions
Solar convective zone
Solar magnetic flux emergence
Solar magnetism
Turbulence
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Summary:Magnetic flux emergence from the convection zone into the photosphere and beyond is a critical component of the behavior of large-scale solar magnetism. Flux rarely emerges amid field-free areas at the surface, but when it does, the interaction between the magnetism and plasma flows can be reliably explored. Prior ensemble studies have identified weak flows forming near emergence locations, but the low signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) required averaging over the entire data set, erasing information about variation across the sample. Here, we apply deep learning to achieve an improved S/N, enabling a case-by-case study. We find that these associated flows are dissimilar across instances of emergence and also occur frequently in the quiet convective background. Our analysis suggests the diminished influence of supergranular-scale convective flows and magnetic buoyancy on flux rise. Consistent with numerical evidence, we speculate that small-scale surface turbulence and/or deep convective processes play an outsized role in driving flux emergence.
ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.3847/1538-4357/ad2ae3