Phase Relationship between the Activity Cycles of Sunspots and Polar Faculae

The eleven-year activity cycles of polar faculae and sunspots are out of phase by half a cycle. We studied the phase relationship between the cycles of sunspots and polar faculae, by using the data of sunspot and facular numbers obtained at Mitaka in the period of 1952--1998 (47 years, four sunspot cycles). We applied the cross-correlation analysis and wavelet phase differences, and found that the phase relationship was not persistent. The polar faculae were better correlated with the sunspots of the previous cycle over two sunspot cycles of 1964--1987, while the reverse was the case if the data of the whole four cycles were used.