Do the solar flares originating from an individual active region follow a random process or a memory-dependent correlation?
Abstract
We investigate the waiting time statistics of solar flares both in a flare-productive active region (AR 12673) of the solar cycle 24 and in a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulated AR. The statistical models of a discrete random process and a continuous memory-dependent process are applied to interpret the waiting time distributions (WTDs) of solar flares. Our results indicate that the occurrence of a solar flare in an individual AR maintains a certain amount of memory, and probably arises from MHD turbulence rather than from intermittent avalanches in a self-organized criticality system. It differs from the occurrence of 'super flares' when treating the star/Sun as a single non-linear system.
- Publication:
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Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- May 2020
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/staa688
- Bibcode:
- 2020MNRAS.494..975L
- Keywords:
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- methods: statistical;
- Sun: activity;
- Sun: flares