The nature of the sunspot phenomenon |
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| Authors: | Parker E N |
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| Institution: | (1) Dept. of Physics, Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 60637 Chicago, Ill., U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | Heat transport in the Sun is describable by a Fokker-Planck, or diffusion, transfer equation. A study of the general character of the solutions of the transfer equation shows that the inhibition of convective transport beneath the photosphere produces a photospheric dark ring surrounded by a bright ring, or at best, a dark area surrounded by a bright ring. The mean temperature beneath the  sunspot is unavoidably above normal, so that the enhanced gas pressure would disperse, rather than concentrate, the magnetic field. Hence we conclude that the inhibition of convection cannot be the cause of a sunspot.We suggest, instead, that a sunspot is a region of enhanced, rather than inhibited, energy transport and emissivity. The magnetic field of the sunspot causes a dynamical overstability in the outer thousand km of the convective zone, generating copious fluxes of hydromagnetic waves, which propagate rapidly out of the region along the magnetic field. We suggest that this heat engine is so efficient as to convert at least three fourths of the heat flux into waves. Solutions of the heat transport equation in the presence of a heat sink automatically resemble the observed sunspot, including a dark interior, a sharp transition at the edge of the umbra, and an extended grey area around the outside, the penumbra. The mean temperature is reduced, causing the observed concentration of the magnetic field.The enhanced radiation is in the form of hydromagnetic waves, which do not appear in ordinary photographs, but which light up the sky over the sunspot in a manner conspicuous in any UV or X-ray picture. In this respect, then, a sunspot is effectively a hole in the Sun, extending down to temperatures of 2 × 104 K or more.This work was supported in part by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant NGL 14-001-001. |
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