The rush to the poles and the role of magnetic buoyancy in the solar dynamo

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Auteurs principaux: Cloutier, Simon, Cameron, Robert H., Gizon, Laurent
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Cloutier, Simon
Cameron, Robert H.
Gizon, Laurent
author_facet Cloutier, Simon
Cameron, Robert H.
Gizon, Laurent
contents 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 investigate under which conditions the rush to the poles can be reproduced in flux-transport Babcock-Leighton dynamo models. We identify three main ways to reproduce it: a flux emergence probability that decreases rapidly with latitude; a threshold in subsurface toroidal field strength between slow and fast emergence; and an emergence rate based on magnetic buoyancy. We find that all three mechanisms lead to solar-like butterfly diagrams, but which present notable differences between them. The shape of the butterfly diagram is very sensitive to model parameters for the threshold prescription, while most models incorporating magnetic buoyancy converge to very similar butterfly diagrams, with butterfly wings widths of $\lesssim\pm 30^\circ$, in very good agreement with observations. With turbulent diffusivities above $35~\text{km}^2/\text{s}$ but below about $40~\text{km}^2/\text{s}$, buoyancy models are strikingly solar-like. The threshold and magnetic buoyancy prescriptions make the models non-linear and as such can saturate the dynamo through latitudinal quenching. The period of the models involving buoyancy is independent of the source term amplitude, but emergence loss increases it by $\simeq 60\%$. For the rush to the poles to be visible, a mechanism suppressing (enhancing) emergences at high (low) latitudes must operate. It is not sufficient that the toroidal field be stored at low latitudes for emergences to be limited to low latitudes. From these models we infer that the Sun is not in the advection-dominated regime, but also not in the diffusion-dominated regime. The cycle period is set through a balance between advection, diffusion and flux emergence.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2411_05623
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The rush to the poles and the role of magnetic buoyancy in the solar dynamo
Cloutier, Simon
Cameron, Robert H.
Gizon, Laurent
Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
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 investigate under which conditions the rush to the poles can be reproduced in flux-transport Babcock-Leighton dynamo models. We identify three main ways to reproduce it: a flux emergence probability that decreases rapidly with latitude; a threshold in subsurface toroidal field strength between slow and fast emergence; and an emergence rate based on magnetic buoyancy. We find that all three mechanisms lead to solar-like butterfly diagrams, but which present notable differences between them. The shape of the butterfly diagram is very sensitive to model parameters for the threshold prescription, while most models incorporating magnetic buoyancy converge to very similar butterfly diagrams, with butterfly wings widths of $\lesssim\pm 30^\circ$, in very good agreement with observations. With turbulent diffusivities above $35~\text{km}^2/\text{s}$ but below about $40~\text{km}^2/\text{s}$, buoyancy models are strikingly solar-like. The threshold and magnetic buoyancy prescriptions make the models non-linear and as such can saturate the dynamo through latitudinal quenching. The period of the models involving buoyancy is independent of the source term amplitude, but emergence loss increases it by $\simeq 60\%$. For the rush to the poles to be visible, a mechanism suppressing (enhancing) emergences at high (low) latitudes must operate. It is not sufficient that the toroidal field be stored at low latitudes for emergences to be limited to low latitudes. From these models we infer that the Sun is not in the advection-dominated regime, but also not in the diffusion-dominated regime. The cycle period is set through a balance between advection, diffusion and flux emergence.
title The rush to the poles and the role of magnetic buoyancy in the solar dynamo
topic Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.05623