Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Professor Axel Brandenburg, Dr Graeme Sarson
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
There is mounting evidence that the ejection of magnetic helicity from the solar surface is important for the solar dynamo. Observations suggest that in the northern hemisphere the magnetic helicity flux is negative. We propose that this magnetic helicity flux is mostly due to small scale magnetic fields; in contrast to the more systematic large scale field of the 11 year cycle, whose helicity flux may be of opposite sign, and may be excluded from the observational interpretation. Using idealized simulations of MHD turbulence as well as a simple two-scale model, we show that shedding small scale (helical) field has two important effects. (i) The strength of the large scale field reaches the observed levels. (ii) The evolution of the large scale field proceeds on time scales shorter than the resistive time scale, as would otherwise be enforced by magnetic helicity conservation. In other words, the losses ensure that the solar dynamo is always in the near-kinematic regime. This requires, however, that the ratio of small scale to large losses cannot be too small, for otherwise the large scale field in the near-kinematic regime will not reach the observed values. © 2003 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Author(s): Brandenburg A, Blackman EG, Sarson GR
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Advances in Space Research
Year: 2003
Volume: 32
Issue: 10
Pages: 1835-1844
Print publication date: 01/01/2003
ISSN (print): 0273-1177
ISSN (electronic):
Publisher: Pergamon
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0273-1177(03)90617-X
DOI: 10.1016/S0273-1177(03)90617-X
Altmetrics provided by Altmetric
