Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, January 2007.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, February 2008.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references. / Microfiche. / xii, 158 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

Solar magnetic fields, as well as temperature changes, introduce pressure deviations that play a significant role in modulating the resonant frequencies of p-mode oscillations. Those pressure deviations occurring in the atmosphere or sub-surface of the Sun can explain the frequency shifts observed on the timescale of the solar activity cycle. A separate study of the contribution of internal magnetic layers can clarify the relative importance of surface effects. Results from helioseismology provide realistic constraints for choosing parameters suitable to represent the magnetic layers buried in the solar interior and available for modelling, i.e. at the base of the convection zone and in the sunspots' anchoring zone. Diagnostics of the internal magnetic layers are obtained through a schematic model in which the Sun is plane-stratified. The influence of a buried magnetic field on p-modes is explored, and the nature of various waves and instabilities that can arise on such a buried magnetic field is assessed. By treating the effects of internal magnetic layers, this thesis contributes to the building of a bridge between theories and observations. On the one hand, the theoretical analysis is explored carefully in the course of its formulation, which generates new hypotheses that were not obvious so far. On the other hand, observations help to understand which explanations of the solar cycle frequency shifts may apply.

The solar corona is a highly complex and active plasma environment, containing many exotic phenomena such as solar flares, coronal mass ejections, prominences, coronal loops, and bright points. The fundamental element giving coherence to all this apparent diversity is the strong coronal magnetic field, the dominant force shaping the plasma there. In this thesis, I model the 3D magnetic fields of various coronal features using the techniques of magnetic charge topology (MCT) in a potential field. Often the real coronal field has departures from its potential state, but these are so small that the potential field method is accurate enough to pick out the essential information about the structure and evolution of the magnetic field. First I perform a topological analysis of the magnetic breakout model for an eruptive solar flare. Breakout is represented by a topological bifurcation that allows initially enclosed flux from the newly emerging region in my MCT model of a delta sunspot to reconnect out to large distances. I produce bifurcation diagrams showing how this behaviour can be caused by changing the strength or position of the emerging flux source, or the force-free parameter α. I also apply MCT techniques to observational data of a coronal bright point, and compare the results to 3D numerical MHD simulations of the effects of rotating the sources that underlie the bright point. The separatrix surfaces that surround each rotating source are found to correspond to locations of high parallel electric field in the simulations, which is a signature of magnetic reconnection. The large-scale topological structure of the magnetic field is robust to changes in the method of deriving point magnetic sources from the magnetogram. Next, I use a Green’s function expression for the magnetic field to relax the standard topological assumption of a flat photosphere and extend the concept of MCT into a spherical geometry, enabling it to be applied to the entire global coronal magnetic field. I perform a comprehensive study of quadrupolar topologies in this new geometry, producing several detailed bifurcation diagrams. These results are compared to the equivalent study for a flat photosphere. A new topological state is found on the sphere which has no flat photosphere analogue; it is named the dual intersecting state because of its twin separators joining a pair of magnetic null points. The new spherical techniques are then applied to develop a simple six-source topological model of global magnetic field reversal during the solar cycle. The evolution of the large-scale global magnetic field is modelled through one complete eleven-year cycle, beginning at solar minimum. Several distinct topological stages are exhibited: active region flux connecting across the equator to produce transequatorial loops; the dominance of first the leading and then the following polarities of the active regions; the magnetic isolation of the poles; the reversal of the polar field; the new polar field connecting back to the active regions; the polar flux regaining its dominance; and the disappearance of the transequatorial loops.

A fossil magnetic field embedded in the radiative core of the Sun has been thought possible for some time now. However, such a fossil magnetic field has, a priori, not been considered a visible phenomenon due to the effects of turbulence in the solar convection zone. Since a well developed theory (referred to herein as magnetohydrodynamic dynamo theory) exists for describing the regeneration of magnetic fields in astrophysical objects like the Sun, it is possible to quantitatively evaluate the interaction of a fossil magnetic field with the magnetohydrodynamic dynamo operating in the solar convection zone. In this work, after a brief description of the basic dynamo equations, a spherical model calculation of the solar dynamo is introduced. First, we calculate the interaction of a fossil magnetic field with a dynamo in which the regeneration mechanisms of cyclonic convection and large-scale, nonuniform rotation are confined to spherical shells. It is argued that the amount of amplification or suppression of a fossil magnetic field will be smallest for a uniform distribution of cyclonic convection and nonuniform rotation, as expected in the Sun. Secondly, we calculate the interaction of a fossil magnetic field with a dynamo having a uniform distribution of cyclonic convection and large-scale, nonuniform rotation. We find that the dipole or quadrupole moments of a fossil magnetic field are suppressed by factors of -0.35 and -0.37, respectively. The dynamo modified fossil field, superimposed on the theoretically calculated magnetic fields of the solar magnetic cycle, are compared with the actual sunspot cycle and solar magnetic fields as observed by others, indicating that a fossil magnetic field may be responsible for asymmetries in the sunspot cycle and an observed solar magnetic quadrupole moment. Further observations and reduction of the data are required before the presence of a fossil magnetic field can be established. A discussion is given of the implications for the Sun if a fossil magnetic field is observed and identified. It is considered most likely that a fossil magnetic field would be a remnant of the possible Hayashi phase of a fully convective, protosun. Other possibilities also exist.

The surface (photosphere) of the Sun is threaded throughout by magnetic fields. Groups of magnetic fields form magnetic features (of a wide range of sizes in flux and area) on the surface where the fields are directed into or out of the Sun. The aim of this thesis is to examine in detail the four key processes, emergence, cancellation, fragmentation and coalescence, which determine the behaviour of small-scale magnetic features, in the Sun's photosphere. I identify features in both Hinode/NFI and SOHO/MDI full-disk to enable these processes to be examined at the currently smallest observable scales and over an entire solar cycle. The emerging event frequency versus flux distribution, for intranetwork emerging regions to active regions, is found to follow a power-law distribution with index -2.50, which spans nearly 7 orders of magnitude in flux (10¹⁶ - 10²³ Mx) and 18 orders of magnitude in frequency. The global rate of flux emergence is found to be 3.9 x 10²⁴ Mx day⁻¹. Since the slope of all emerged fluxes is less than -2 this implies that most of the new flux that is fed into the solar atmosphere is from small-scale emerging events. This single power-law distribution over all emerged fluxes suggest a scale-free dynamo, therefore indicating that in addition to dynamo actions in the tachocline producing sunspots, a turbulent dynamo may act throughout the convection zone. Similarly for cancellations I find a power-law relationship between the frequency of cancellation and the peak flux lost per cancelling event (for events detected in both Hinode/NFI and SOHO/MDI full-disk), with slope -2.10. Again, the process of cancellation appears to be scale free and the slope is less than -2 indicating that numerous small-scale features are cancelling the majority of flux on the Sun. I also estimate the frequency of all surface processes at solar maximum and find, 1.3 x 10⁸, 4.5 x 10⁷, 4.0 x 10⁷ and 3.6 x 10⁶ events per day over the whole surface for emergence, cancellation, fragmentation and coalescence events, respectively. All the surface processes are found to behave in a similar manner over all flux scales. The majority of events for all processes occur in features with flux below 10²º Mx, which highlights the dynamic nature of the magnetic carpet. Using SOHO/MDI full-disk data I investigate the cyclic variation of the 4 key processes throughout cycle 23. It is found that the rate of emerging events, cancellations, fragmentations and coalescences varied in anti-phase with the solar cycle by factors of 3.4, 3.1, 2.4 and 2.2, respectively over the cycle. Not surprisingly, therefore, the number of network features detected throughout the cycle also exhibits an anti-phase variation over the solar cycle by a factor of 1.9. The mean peak flux of tracked small-scale network, fragmenting, coalescing and cancelling features showed in-phase relationships with the solar cycle by factors of 1.4, 1.7, 2.4 and 1.2, respectively. The total flux which is emerged and cancelled by small-scale events, varied in anti-phase with the solar cycle, by factors of 1.9 and 3.2. This is clearly due to the variation in the number of emerging and cancelling events and the fact that the flux of individual emerging events showed no cyclic variation. The results in this thesis show that the large-scale solar cycle plays a complex role in the surface processes features undergo. The fact that the number of ephemeral regions emerging has an anti-phase variation to the solar cycle has a knock-on effect in the number of features which are available to undergo surface processes. Also decaying active regions, during more active periods, contribute more small-scale features, with high flux density, into the network which has an effect on the surface processes. This work has revealed the significant importance of small-scale features in the flux budget through continual emergence and cancellation, plus highlighted how through dynamic surface motions, small-scale features form the fundamental components with which the network is developed.

Solar magnetic fields span a wide range of spatial scales from sunspots and plages to magnetic bright points. A clear understanding of the physical processes underlying the evolution of these magnetic features requires high-resolution spectropolarimetric observations of solar active regions and comparisons with synthetic data from simulations. This thesis is based on observations with the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) and the CRISP imaging spectropolarimeter which, processed with a sophisticated image restoration technique, produce data of unsurpassed quality. The Fe I 630.25 nm line is used for all the spectropolarimetric observations. It appears likely that present telescopes resolve the fundamental scales of penumbral filaments. However, the penumbrae of sunspots are still not fully understood, with various theoretical models competing to explain their fine structure and flows. We analyze spectropolarimetric observations with a resolution close to the SST diffraction limit of 0.16 arcsecond. Using inversion techniques, we map the line-of-sight velocities and the magnetic-field configuration of dark-cored penumbral filaments. Over the past decade, sunspots and quiet sun magnetic fields have received considerable attention, with intermediate plage regions being somewhat neglected. We perform a detailed analysis of a plage region and present the first observational evidence of a small-scale granular magneto-convection pattern associated with a plage region. Magnetic bright points are believed to be formed due to magnetic field intensification caused by flux-tube collapse involving strong downflows. Although magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulations agree with this view, only a few observations with adequate spatial resolution exist in support of the simulations. We present several cases of bright-point formation associated with strong downflows, which qualitatively agree with simulations and past observations. However, we find the field intensification to be transient rather than permanent. / At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished: Paper 3: Accepted.

The magnetic field in the solar atmosphere is highly inhomogeneous. In the photosphere, the field is concentrated into intense flux tubes and the coronal magnetic field consists of many loops and regions of open field. This thesis investigates some of the basic properties of inhomogeneous solar magnetic fields. First of all, the equilibrium properties of untwisted flux tubes, confined by a spatially varying external pressure distribution, are investigated. The behaviour of thick flux tubes, including the effects of a transverse field component and a variation in the field across the tube, is compared with slender flux tube theory. It is shown that slender tube theory is accurate for tubes which are approximately slender, but that completely misleading results can be obtained by applying slender tube theory if the pressure distribution is not slowly varying. Twisted flux tubes are then studied, with the aim of finding how twisting affects a tube confined by an inhomogeneous pressure distribution. It is shown that, in general, a tube expands as it is twisted; this is illustrated both by extensions to slender tube theory and by some exact analytical solutions. A family of linear solutions is used to model the evolution of a finite tube confined by a falling external pressure. It is shown that, if the confining pressure falls too low, the tube may burst, with some dynamic process ensuing. The equilibrium properties of a flux tube with a curved axis are then investigated, with the main aim of modelling coronal loops. Previous theory for the equilibrium of a curved slender flux tube in a gravitationally stratified atmosphere, with a balance between magnetic buoyancy and tension forces, is extended to take into account an external field and the effects of twist. Increasing the magnitude of the external field tends to lower the summit height of the tube. It is found that non-equilibrium sets in if the footpoints are separated more than a certain critical width, which does not depend on the magnitude of the external field. It is found that two possible equilibrium heights can exist for a twisted tube; however, if the tube is twisted too far, or if the footpoints are moved apart, non-equilibrium can set in. The critical width at which non-equilibrium occurs is lower for a twisted tube than for an untwisted one. This is suggested as an explanation for the rise of a filament prior to a two ribbon flare, and as a mechanism for coronal transients. An alternative description of the coronal magnetic field is given, using a perturbation expansion for an almost potential field, with small pressure gradients. The field is assumed to be line-tied at the photospheric base. Then the equilibrium properties of the global magnetic field of a star are investigated. A linear and non-linear family of solutions to the magnetostatic equilibrium equation are found. The linear solutions are used to investigate the twisting up of force-free dipolar and quadrupolar fields, including in a simple manner the effects of a stellar wind. In both cases, it was found that the field becomes physically unreasonable if it is twisted too far, with field lines detached from the star being formed, which would be pulled out by the stellar wind. Thus, if the field is twisted more than a critical amount, non-equilibrium sets in and some catastrophic behaviour takes place. This is suggested as a possible mechanism for stellar flares. Similar results are found in a study of the effects of increasing the pressure gradients at the stellar surface of a magnetostatic dipole-like field. The linear solutions are also used to study the equilibrium of a finite magnetosphere, and multiple equilibria are found. Finally, one aspect of the propagation of waves in an inhomogeneous magnetic field is studied, with particular reference to the problem of heating the solar corona. The mechanism of phase-mixing, which provides a means of dissipating shear Alfven waves that propagate in an inhomogeneous magnetic field, is investigated. The onset of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, which could disrupt the wave and thus enhance the dissipation, is studied. First, the dispersion relation of the instability is calculated for the case of fully developed phase-mixing. Then, the onset of the instability is investigated, to find out whether the instability can grow before the phase-mixing is fully developed. It is found that instability can set in after only a very few wave periods. It is suggested that the instability triggers off a turbulent cascade which dissipates the wave energy. The heating rates that could be produced by such a process are calculated, and are found to be more than adequate for coronal heating.