Related papers: Does the butterfly diagram indicate asolar flux-tr…
The butterfly diagram of the solar cycle is the equatorward migration of the emergence latitudes of sunspots as the solar cycle evolves. Revealing the mechanism for the butterfly diagram is essential for understanding the solar and stellar…
Sunspot groups observed by Royal Greenwich Observatory/US Air Force/NOAA from May 1874 to November 2008 and the Carte Synoptique solar filaments from March 1919 to December 1989 are used to investigate the relative phase shift of the paired…
We first discuss how the flux transport dynamo with reasonably high diffusion can explain both the regular and the irregular features of the solar cycle quite well. Then we critically examine the inadequacies of the model and the challenge…
The butterfly diagram of the solar cycle exhibits a poleward migration of the diffuse magnetic field resulting from the decay of trailing sunspots. It is one component of what is sometimes referred to as the "rush to the poles". We…
Observations of the solar butterfly diagram from sunspot records suggest persistent fluctuation in parity, away from the overall, approximately dipolar structure. We use a simple mean-field dynamo model with a solar-like rotation law, and…
The sunspot solar cycle has been usually explained as the result of a dynamo process operating in the sun. This is a classical problem in Astrophysics that until the present is not fully solved. Here we discuss current problems and…
After summarizing the relevant observational data, we discuss how a study of flux tube dynamics in the solar convection zone helps us to understand the formation of sunspots. Then we introduce the flux transport dynamo model and assess its…
We use the magnetic butterfly diagram to determine the speed of the magnetic flux transport on the solar surface towards the poles. The manifestation of the flux transport is clearly visible as elongated structures extended from the sunspot…
The profile of the differential rotation together with the sign of the alpha-effect determine the dynamo wave direction. In early models of the solar dynamo the dynamo wave often leads to a poleward migration of the activity belts. Flux…
The theory of the solar/stellar activity cycles is presented, based on the mean-field concept in magnetohydrodynamics. A new approach to the formulation of the electromotive force and the theory of differential rotation and meridional…
Stellar magnetic fields are poorly understood but are known to be important for stellar evolution and exoplanet habitability. They drive stellar activity, which is the main observational constraint on theoretical models for magnetic field…
We review the surface flux transport model for the evolution of magnetic flux patterns on the Sun's surface. Our underlying motivation is to understand the model's prediction of the polar field (or axial dipole) strength at the end of the…
We compare the zonal flow pattern in subsurface layers of the Sun with the distribution of surface magnetic features like sunspots and polar faculae. We demonstrate that in the activity belt, the butterfly pattern of sunspots coincides with…
We model the surface magnetic field and open flux of the Sun from 1913 to 1986 using a surface flux transport model, which includes the observed cycle-to-cycle variation of sunspot group tilts. The model reproduces the empirically derived…
At present, Babcock-Leighton flux transport solar dynamo models appear as the most promising model for explaining diverse observational aspects of the sunspot cycle. The success of these flux transport dynamo models is largely dependent…
Helioseismology provides important constraints for the solar dynamo problem. However, the basic properties and even the depth of the dynamo process, which operates also in other stars, are unknown. Most of the dynamo models suggest that the…
The torsional oscillation is a well established observational fact and there are theoretical attempts for its description but no final solution has yet been accepted. One of the possible candidates for its cause is the presence of sunspots…
The solar activity cycle is successfully modeled by the flux transport dynamo, in which the meridional circulation of the Sun plays an important role. Most of the kinematic dynamo simulations assume a one-cell structure of the meridional…
It is proposed that the observed near-surface inflows towards the active regions and sunspot zones provide a nonlinear feedback mechanism that limits the amplitude of a Babcock-Leighton-type solar dynamo and determines the variation of the…
The sunspot cycle is the magnetic cycle of the Sun produced by the dynamo process. A central idea of the solar dynamo is that the toroidal and the poloidal magnetic fields of the Sun sustain each other. We discuss the relevant observational…