The Search for a Tipped Toroidal Field
Abstract
A magnetic tipping instability of the tachocline toroidal field has been predicted (Cally et al., 2003) that could produce a toroidal field tipped with respect to the equatorial axis. One result of a tipped toroidal band is the eruption of magnetic flux over a range of latitudes from the same toroidal ring. The longitudinal dependence of this flux emergence would contribute to non-axisymmetry of the whole flux emergence pattern by giving it a longitudinal wavenumber m=1 dependence. We search for evidence (or lack thereof) of a tipped toroidal field for some phases of the solar cycle by examining the dominant latitude of emerging flux as a function of longitude. We use the existing observational data from Kitt Peak synoptic Carrington Rotation magnetograms to identify the location of strong flux, independently in each hemisphere, and test whether the location of the flux reveals a pattern compatible with the tipping instability m=1.
- Publication:
-
AAS/Solar Physics Division Meeting #34
- Pub Date:
- May 2003
- Bibcode:
- 2003SPD....34.1903N