On changes of the rotation velocities of stable,recurrent sunspots and their interpretation with a flux tube model     

Horst Balthasar  Manfred Schüssler  Hubertus Wöhl 《Solar physics》1982,76(1):21-28

The angular rotation velocities of stable, recurrent sunspots were investigated using data from the Greenwich Photoheliographic Results 1940 until 1968. We found constant rotation velocities during the passages on the solar disk with errors of about ±4 m s^–1. During their lifetime these spots show a decreasing braking of their rotation velocities from 0.8 to 0.3 m s^–1 per day. A plausible interpretation is found by assuming the spots to be coupled to a slowly rising subsurface flux tube and a rotation velocity which increases with depth.Mitteilungen aus dem Kiepenheuer-Institut Nr. 201.  相似文献   

Differential rotation,meridional and random motions of the solar Ca+ network     

E. H. Schröter  H. Wöhl 《Solar physics》1975,42(1):3-16

From high precision computer controlled tracings of bright Ca⁺-mottles we investigated differential rotation, meridional and random motions of these chromospheric fine structures. The equatorial angular velocity of the Ca⁺-mottles agrees well with that of sunspots (14°.50 per day, sidereal) and is 5 % higher than for the photosphere. The slowing down with increasing latitude is larger than for sunspots. Hence in higher latitudes Ca⁺-mottles rotate as fast as the photospheric plasma. A systematic meridional motion of about 0.1 km s^–1 for latitudes around 10° was found. The Ca⁺-mottles show horizontal random motions due to the supergranular flow pattern with an rms velocity of about 0.15 km s^–1. We finally investigated the correctness of the solar rotation elements i and derived by Carrington (1863).  相似文献   

Large-scale solar velocity fields     

Thomas L. Duvall Jr. 《Solar physics》1979,63(1):3-15

Daily observations of Doppler line shifts made with very low spatial resolution (3) with the Stanford magnetograph have been used to study the equatorial rotation rate, limb effect on the disk, and the mean meridonial circulation. The equatorial rotation rate was found to be approximately constant over the interval May 1976–January 1977 and to have the value 2.82 rad s^–1 (1.96 km s^–1). This average compares favorably with the results of Howard (1977) of 2.83 rad s^–1 for the same time period. The RMS deviation of the daily measurements about the mean value was 1% of the rate (20 m s^–1), much smaller than the fluctuations reported by Howard and Harvey (1970) of several per cent. These 1% fluctuations are uncorrelated from day-to-day and may be due to instrumental problems. The limb effect on the disk was studied in equatorial scans (after suppressing solar rotation). A redshift at the center of the disk relative to a position 0.60R from the center of 30 m s^–1 was found for the line Fe i 5250 Å. Central meridian scans were used (after correcting for the limb effect defined in the equatorial scans) to search for the component of mean meridonial circulation symmetric across the equator. A signal is found consistent with a polewards flow of 20 m s^–1 approximately constant over the latitude range 10–50°. Models of the solar differential rotation driven by an axisymmetric meridonial circulation and an anisotropic eddy viscosity (Kippenhahn, 1963; Cocke, 1967; Köhler, 1970) predict an equatorwards flow at the surface. However, giant cell convection models (Gilman, 1972, 1976, 1977) predict a mean polewards flow (at the surface). The poleward-directed meridonial flow is created as a by-product of the giant cell convection and tends to limit the differential rotation. The observation of a poleward-directed meridonial circulation lends strong support to the giant cell models over the anisotropic eddy viscosity models.Now at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson, Ariz., U.S.A.  相似文献   

The peculiarities of rotation of the solar polar regions     

Yu. A. Solonsky  V. V. Makarova 《Solar physics》1992,139(2):233-245

The sidereal rotation rate of the high-latitude solar regions is examined using long-lived photospheric polar faculae. The observations were carried out with the photoheliograph of Kislovodsk Mountain Station of the Pulkovo Observatory from 1982 to 1986. The following facts have been established: (a) There is a differential rotation of the polar faculae close to the maximum of solar activity, while the amount of latitude gradient of solar rotation decreases towards the sunspot minimum; (b) small differences of rotation in the northern and southern hemispheres of the Sun are observed; (c) some deviations of differential rotation curves constructed for each Carrington rotation from the mean curve of differential rotation are revealed. The total amplitude of the maximum positive and negative excesses is about 40–50 m s^–1. The positive surplus velocities of solar rotation (the amplitude of which is about 20–25 m s^–1) move in the form of a wave from heliographic latitudes 40° with a velocity of 1.6 m s^–1. The latitude width of this flow is B 15°. This wave of abnormally high velocity starts in the year of minimum solar activity and reaches the pole 11 years later. The picture is symmetrical relative to the equator.  相似文献   

Straylight correction to doppler rotation measurements     

Andersen  B. N. 《Solar physics》1985,98(1):173-176

The data published by Pierce and LoPresto (1984) are corrected for straylight. This correction increases the observed equatorial rotation velocity from 1977 to 2004 m s ^–1. The correction has an uncertainty of approximately 10 m s^–1 because the accurate form of the straylight function is not available.  相似文献   

Large-scale motions in the sun     

J. H. Piddington 《Solar physics》1971,21(1):4-20

Large-scale solar motions comprise differential rotation (with latitudinal, and perhaps radial gradients), axially symmetric meridional motions, and possible asymmetric motions (giant convective cells or Rossby-type waves or both). These motions must be basic in any satisfactory theory of the changing pattern of solar magnetic fields and of the 22-yr cycle. In the present paper available data are discussed and, as far as possible, evaluated and explained.Rotational measurements are based on the changing positions of discrete features such as sunspots, on Doppler shifts, on geophysical changes and on statistical evaluation of the motions of diffuse objects. The first mentioned, comprising faculae, sunspots, K-corona (to latitudes 45°) and filaments, show agreement better than 0.7 %. A new formula for surface rotation _s , based on faculae and sunspot data, is _s = 14.52 – 2.48 sin² b – 2.51 sin⁶ b deg day^–1, where b is latitude, and validity may extend to about 70°. Errors in Doppler shift measurements and statistical treatments are discussed. There is evidence of a much slower coronal rate at high latitudes, and of a slower sub-surface rate at lower latitudes.Ordered meridional motions have been revealed by statistical investigations of the positions of spot groups, of spots and of filaments. All these results seem explicable in terms of an oscillating hydro-magnetic circulation in each hemisphere. These have both 11-yr and 22-yr components, and these periods are provided by a general dipole field of about one gauss, together with a pair of toroidal fields centred at latitudes ±16° and of average strength of order 10 G.Evidence of large-scale (perhaps 3 × 10⁵ km), irregular surface motions is provided by the distribution of surface magnetic flux, the motions of sunspots, and Doppler-shift observations; it is supported by Ward's theory of the equatorial acceleration. The possibility is suggested that these asymmetric motions also drive the oscillatory meridional motions.  相似文献   

Plasma motion in umbrae and the surrounding photosphere derived from spectroscopic Doppler measurements and tracer measurements of spots     

Axel Koch 《Solar physics》1984,93(1):53-72

The rotational velocity of the Sun is determined by sunspot tracings and by spectroscopic measurements of the photospheric plasma using the non-Zeeman-split line Fe i 5576 and absolute iodine reference. Stationary line shifts as limb-effect and longperiodical shifts introduced by supergranulation are discussed. The dependence on solar activity as Ca⁺ emissivity and magnetic fields is investigated including line asymmetries. The results are: (a) The non active photospheric regions rotate with 1995 ± 30 m s^-1. Solar active regions yield a 60 m s^-1 higher value. (b) In quiet regions the absolute limb shift varies between 170 m s^-1 at the line core and 310 m s^-1 at I/I _cont 0.8 (C-shape); thus the limb shift is mainly due to entire line shifts. (c) In solar active regions (close to spots) asymmetries are widely reduced in line cores; this effect cannot be associated with a variation of the limb effect due to a large scatter of Doppler shifts near spots. (d) A reduced limb shift of 50 m s^-1 is found in network boundaries and is mainly due to a small scale downflow. (e) Observations with a smaller influence of stray light yield symmetric profiles in umbrae. (f) Differences between umbral rotation rates from tracer and spectroscopic measurements do not exceed 20 m s^-1, when considering straylight. The rotational velocity from umbrae exceeds that from the photosphere by 30–60 m s^-1. Some individual spots yield nearly the same rotation rate as the photosphere.  相似文献   

Observations of the horizontal velocity field surrounding sunspots     

N. R. Sheeley Jr. 《Solar physics》1972,25(1):98-103

During the summer and fall of 1971, Doppler spectroheliograms were obtained for several sunspots located near the solar limb. These observations confirm a previous result based on the study of only a few sunspots that in the plage-free photosphere surrounding sunspots the spatially-averaged, horizontal flow tends to be outward at 0.5–1.0 km s^–1 for distances typically 10000–20000 km beyond the outer boundary of the penumbra. It is suggested that these material motions are the means by which small-scale fragments of magnetic flux are carried away from sunspots.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.  相似文献   

Temporal filters for isolating steady photospheric flows     

David H. Hathaway 《Solar physics》1988,117(1):1-12

A variety of temporal filters are tested on artificial data with 60 and 75 s sampling intervals to determine their accuracy in separating the nearly-steady photospheric flows from the p-mode oscillations in Doppler velocity data. Longer temporal averages are better at reducing the residual signal due to p-modes but they introduce additional errors from the rotation of the supergranule pattern across the solar disk. Unweighted filters (boxcar averages) leave residual r.m.s. errors of about 6 m s^–1 from the p-modes after 60 min of averaging. Weighted filters, with nearly Gaussian shapes, leave similar residual errors after only 20 min of averaging and introduce smaller errors from the rotation of the supergranule pattern. The best filters found are weighted filters that use data separated by 150 or 120 s so that the p-modes are sampled at opposite phases. These filters achieve an optimum error level after about 20 min, with the r.m.s. errors due to the p-mode oscillations and the rotation of the supergranules both at a level of only 1.5 m s^–1.  相似文献   

Solar differential rotation determined by polar crown filaments     

R. Brajša  B. Vršnak  V. Ruždjak  A. Schroll  S. Pohjolainen  S. Urpo  H. Teräsranta 《Solar physics》1991,133(2):195-203

The rotation rates obtained by tracing 124 polar crown filaments are presented in comparison with previous results. Higher filament rotation rate in polar regions was detected and discussed in terms of the various phenomena such as: the projection effect due to the height of measured tracers, the connection of polar filaments with the magnetic field patterns which show an increase of the rotation rate at high latitudes, rigid rotation of polar filaments which form pivot points, and eventual change of the differential rotation law during the cycle. However, when the height correction for an average height of 1% of the solar radius is applied, the filament rotation rate in polar regions decreases. Then the rotation law becomes: () = 14.45 – 0.11 sin² – 3.69 sin⁴ (° day^–1, sidereal).  相似文献   

Some remarks on the universal X-ray background     

Probhas Raychaudhuri  Pratul Bandyopadhyay 《Astrophysics and Space Science》1971,13(1):185-188

It is shown that a universal steady X-ray background with the energy flux 10^–7 erg cm^–2 s^–1 sr^–1 can arise as a superposition of radiation from pulsars (neutron stars) in various galaxies when it is taken into account that supernova outburst occurs in a galaxy at the rate of 10^–2/year.  相似文献   

Differential rotation and giant cell circulation of solar Ca+-network     

E. H. Schröter  H. Wöhl 《Solar physics》1976,49(1):19-32

We report new results obtained from high precision computer controlled tracings of ca. 400 bright Ca⁺-mottles made during summer 1975 in continuation of our 1974 program (Schröter and Wöhl, 1975). In particular, we looked in 1975 for the existence of a giant circulation pattern in the equatorial zone. We find for the differential rotation: = 13.93 – 2.90 sin² B (deg/day, sidereal) when combining the new measurements with those obtained in 1974. Observations from 26th April until June 19th give strong evidence that at that time four giant circulation cells, crossing the solar equator, (i.e. a nonaxisymmetric velocity field pattern with respect to the solar equator) did exist. This yields two more rapid and two slower rotating sectors with v = ±80 m s^–1. These giant cells transport angular momentum towards the equator.  相似文献   

Sunspot nests as traced by a cluster analysis     

M. P. Brouwer  C. Zwaan 《Solar physics》1990,129(2):221-246

The appearance of sunspot groups between August 1959 and December 1964 is investigated in search of sunspot nests. A sunspot nest is a relatively small space on the surface within which a succession of spot groups appears. A single-linkage clustering technique is used to trace clusters in the three dimensions longitude, latitude and time. The number of genuine sunspot nests is estimated and their properties are determined.At least one third of the sunspot appearances belong to intrinsically physical clusters. Even a substantial fraction of the clusters of two-member groups is genuine.The clustering criteria are set such that the smallest scales in the clustering are brought out. The sizes of the nests turn out very small: the typical (1-) spread about the longitude-time regression line is about 2°, and the spread about the mean latitude is about 1°. The lifetimes range from one to seven months. The nests follow the rotation rate-latitude relation of recurrent sunspots within a small but intrinsic spread of about 15 m s^–1. In the present sample the displacements in latitude are extremely small: the amplitude of any large-scale flow pattern must be less than 3 m s^–1, whereas the intrinsic proper motions in latitude are less than 5 m s^–1.The appearance of spot groups in a nest is intermittent. On one hand, in an active nest spots may be absent for nearly two complete rotations. On the other hand, in many nests more than one spot group has been recorded during one disk crossing.There is a strong tendency for the nests to cluster once again in larger nests: more than 1/3 of the compact nests are components in larger nests. Within such a large nest the components overlap in time, their mean latitudes differ by less than 2°.5, but the difference in longitude may extend up to 55°.The present and earlier results are either in harmony, or seemingly discordant results are readily explained by properties of the nests and differences in the search criteria.  相似文献   

The Pattern of Moving Magnetic Inhomogeneities in and Around Sunspots     

B.?RavindraEmail author  P.?Venkatakrishnan  Brajesh?Kumar 《Solar physics》2004,225(1):47-58

High-resolution MDI magnetograms are used to study the pattern of moving magnetic inhomogeneities in sunspots. We examine the inward and outward moving features in sunspots. The velocity of these features is small in the umbra while it is about 0.5 km s^–1 in the outer penumbra. The inward and outward moving features may be the possible origin for the long-term fluctuations of magnetic field strength in sunspots.  相似文献   

Flux Cancellation Rates and Converging Speeds of Canceling Magnetic Features     

Chae  Jongchul  Moon  Yong-Jae  Wang  Haimin  Yun  H.S. 《Solar physics》2002,207(1):73-85

Canceling magnetic features are commonly believed to result from magnetic reconnection in the low atmosphere. According to the Sweet–Parker type reconnection model, the rate of flux cancellation in a canceling magnetic feature is related to the converging speed of each pole. To test this prediction observationally, we have analyzed the time variation of two canceling magnetic features in detail using the high-resolution magnetograms taken by the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). As a result, we have obtained the rate and converging speed of flux cancellation in each feature: 1.3×10¹⁸ Mx hr^–1 (or 1.1×10⁶ G cm s^–1 per unit contact length) and 0.35 km s^–1 in the smaller one, and 3.5×10¹⁸ Mx hr^–1 (1.2×10⁶ G cm s^–1) and 0.27 km s^–1 in the bigger one. The observed speeds are found to be significantly bigger than the theoretically expected ones, but this discrepancy can be resolved if uncertainty factors such as low area filling factor of magnetic flux and low electric conductivity are taken into account.  相似文献   

Solar rotation from a number of fraunhofer lines     

A. Keith Pierce  James C. Lopresto 《Solar physics》1984,93(1):155-170

Solar differential rotation for 1982–83 obtained at the double pass spectrograph of the McMath telescope at Kitt Peak, are presented for lines of Fe, Mg, Na, K, Si, and O in the wavelength interval 3820–10827. The results are analyzed by representations in Legendre polynominals and a power series. The differential rotation is very close to the result obtained by Howard and Harvey in 1966–68 at Mt. Wilson but with a slightly greater amplititude. We find a mean equatorial rate of rotation of 1.977 km s^-1. Day to day variations are observed in the equatorial zone; a stable rate of rotation is observed outside of the sunspot zone.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.  相似文献   

Rotation rate of high-latitude sunspots     

Frances Tang 《Solar physics》1981,69(2):399-404

Rotation rate of 19 high latitude (28–44°) short-lived sunspots collected in 1978–1979 are compared with Newton and Nunn's (1951) recurrent spots rate. To reduce the effect of proper motion in spots of new regions, our measurements start only when the spots have matured or very nearly so. Compared with the expression = 14.38–2.96 sin² derived from 1934–44 data by Newton and Nunn, our results show a slightly lower differential rotation in the 28–40° zone. They are in better agreement with the Greenwich average results of the five solar cycles beginning 1878: = 14.37–2.60 sin² .Hale Observatories are operated jointly by the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the California Institute of Technology.  相似文献   

Characteristics of the displacement of the penumbral bright grains of sunspots     

R. Muller 《Solar physics》1976,48(1):101-102

It is confirmed that the penumbral bright grains are moving towards the sunspots umbra. At the umbra-penumbra boundary their horizontal velocity is about 0.5 km s^–1 and their displacement is inclined downwards with an angle of 5° to 20°.  相似文献   

Proper motion measurements of umbral and penumbral structure     

Roberto Molowny-Horas 《Solar physics》1994,154(1):29-39

Horizontal proper motions of penumbral structure and umbral dots have been measured from a 17-min-long time series of sunspot images by numerical techniques. In the penumbra, inflows are seen to occur predominantly in the inner region, with an average velocity of 290 m s^–1. Penumbral outflows take place mostly in the outer part, where they reach velocities as high as 1.5 km s^–1, with an average velocity of 500 m s^–1. In the umbra, proper motions of 28 bright dots have been measured with an accuracy better than 50 m s^–1. The mean velocity of the umbral dots is 210 m s^–1. Most of the umbral dots display the well-known inward motion away from the peripheral umbra.  相似文献   

A refined measurement of the sunspot radiative flux deficit     

R. J. Bray 《Solar physics》1981,69(1):3-8

New measurements of the radiative flux deficits of two large sunspots are presented, based on detailed isophotometric maps. Results are given separately for umbrae and penumbrae. The umbral and penumbral deficits are 4–5 × 10¹⁰ and 1–1.5 × 10¹⁰ erg cm^–2 s^–1 respectively, the larger figures ref to the larger spot. Over limited areas centered on the umbral cores the deficits for the two spots amount to 76 and 86% of the photospheric flux.  相似文献