The solar dynamo process as a non-linear dynamical system
Abstract
The solar activity cycle is one of the most astonishing and widely known examples of the self-organized generation of the magnetic field. Persistency and regularity of the solar periodicity through thousands of years remains impressive. A drastically different picture arises when one takes a closer look at the photosphere: chaos of continuously renewing mixed-polarity magnetic elements is revealed on all scales, until the resolution limits of modern instruments. One promising approach to explain the dualism is to consider the solar dynamo process as a non-linear dynamical system (NDS). Like any NDS, the solar dynamo is capable of self-organization on large scales and displays chaotic nature on small scales. In this case, the dynamo is intrinsically a multi-scale process, when the inter-scale exchange is at work and parameters of the system are scale-dependent. This paradigm offers new approaches to understand the solar dynamo. One of the conditions for the dynamo to operate on diminishing scales is the diminishing with scale turbulent magnetic diffusivity - the super-diffusion regime. Moreover, this regime implies multifractality and intermittency of the photospheric magnetized plasma. We present our resent results on super-diffusivity and multifractality detected in the quiet sun photosphere on scales below 1 Mm and shorter than 10 minutes from observations with the New Solar Telescope (NST) of Big Bear Solar observatory. Consequences of the varying with scales diffusivity on supergranular scales for mean-field dynamo models are also discussed.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2011
- Bibcode:
- 2011AGUFMSH51C2023A
- Keywords:
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- 7524 SOLAR PHYSICS;
- ASTROPHYSICS;
- AND ASTRONOMY / Magnetic fields;
- 7805 SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS / Chaos;
- 7839 SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS / Nonlinear phenomena;
- 7863 SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS / Turbulence