Article proposing new physics in the solar cycle

[Covert Goat]

Article here, I found it interesting given the hypothetical planetary clocking debate. There is a paper but it is behind a paywall 😒

https://www.phys.org/news/2019-09-plasma-sun-surface-sunspots-solar.html

[Kaimbridge]

5 hours ago, Covert Goat said:

Article here, I found it interesting given the hypothetical planetary clocking debate. There is a paper but it is behind a paywall 😒

https://www.phys.org/news/2019-09-plasma-sun-surface-sunspots-solar.html

No, it is in the clear, https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.5087613

as well as the direct pdf file: http://aip.scitation.org/doi/pdf/10.1063/1.5087613?class=pdf

[theartist]

I think this is very interesting.  One of the main points in their (relatively*) new dynamo theory is that the sunspot generation process is contained within only a thin, 100-300km thick, region just below the photosphere.  [On relative scale dimensions--the sun diameter being ~109x that of earth--it would be like going down to a depth of only ~1.7 miles on earth.]  In contrast, conventional dynamo theory has sunspot generation occurring at 30% radial depth, down at the tachocline, where the flux tubes are then buoyantly conveyed to the surface.

(*They have been working on it a for a few years, related to their observations from fusion research.)

Another interesting point in their theory, somewhat related to what we have recently been discussing, is that prominences are the means by which plasma layers are sloughed off to expose spots for the new cycle.

If spots are indeed constrained to such a relatively thin layer, then maybe their manifestation would be more susceptible to what has previously been thought to be just 'weak' perturbation forces from planetary tidal pull (or even planetary electro-magnetic connection?).

Edited September 22, 2019 by theartist

[theartist]

So does this new solar dynamo theory explain the huge asymmetry in the number of sunspots between hemispheres that the sun is currently undergoing, per the following figure?

 

(Source of figure.)

46 minutes ago, theartist said:

explain the huge asymmetry

This may sound preposterous, but could it have anything to do with clocked planetary positions relative to the ecliptic plane (primarily Saturn, and even Pluto, due to their greater inclinations to the ecliptic)?

Note, there was an even larger asymmetry during the SC 19/20 minimum, per the following figure:

Edited September 22, 2019 by theartist

[Covert Goat]

The asymmetry is very interesting, there must be a cause. Thanks for posting, another rabbit hole to go down! 🤓

Here is an interesting lead of sorts; there is a planet about the size of Jupiter hugging a young 1 solar mass star from about 3 AU. You can see that the star is magnetically stressed where the planet is.

https://phys.org/news/2016-06-newborn-giant-planet-grazes-star.amp

Edited September 23, 2019 by Covert Goat

[theartist]

4 hours ago, Covert Goat said:

Here is an interesting lead of sorts

Wow, thanks!  I like your track of investigating other stars to crack the code of planetary clocking's affect on solar activity!  But your citation (found here) is somewhat mind-blowing, stating, "TTSs (i.e., young stars) are known to harbor spots and plages at their surfaces, generating RV (radial velocity) fluctuations with semi-amplitudes of several km/s10, i.e., much larger than the perturbations expected from a putative planet, even for close-in massive hJs (hot Jupiters) inducing typical RV signals of ~0.1!km/s."

The way that is written suggests spots and plages are responsible for the star's velocity fluctuations, rather than the other way around? 

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Speaking of sunspots and related solar surface activity, there is some neat imagery posted over here in this thread:

https://twitter.com/naoj_taiyo/status/1175970751691685888

Edited September 23, 2019 by theartist

[Covert Goat]

Perhaps it is the translation? The original content was in Japanese.

Thanks for the input, but I’m just a joker killing time. Not a professional researcher like you guys. I figure other stars would be a good starting place - particularly solar mass stars if you’ve got them. If you look at red dwarfs like Trappist or Proxima Centauri with lots of tidally locked planets, they produce flares the likes of which humanity has never seen. There was a recent Proxima flare where it was actually brighter than Alpha Centauri for a few hours. Current hypothesis places this cause to be the lack of a radiative zone, but given how many large planets these small stars have in close orbits, I’d be willing to wager there is a clocking effect as well. Trappist is an example of crazy size planets relative to star mass; 8 roughly earth mass planets all hugging the star within 1 AU. Those insane stats could explain monstrous superflares from these dwarf stars.

speaking of spots, this coronal hole and the high latitude phages(I think that is correct terminology) is very interesting. It’s nearly reached the South Pole where it looks like it might connect up to that other phage. It’s clear that the magnetic field is increasingly stressed. The brightened area just below the coronal hole is very bizarre, reminds me of Antares 🧐

Edited September 25, 2019 by Covert Goat