The Maximum Entropy Limit of Small-scale Magnetic Field Fluctuations in the Quiet Sun

A. Y. Gorobets, S. V. Berdyugina, T. L. Riethmüller, J. Blanco Rodriguez, S. K. Solanki, P. Barthol, A. Gandorfer, L. Gizon, J. Hirzberger, M. Van Noort, J. C. Del Toro Iniesta, D. Orozco Suárez, W. Schmidt, V. Martinez Pillet, M. Knölker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The observed magnetic field on the solar surface is characterized by a very complex spatial and temporal behavior. Although feature-tracking algorithms have allowed us to deepen our understanding of this behavior, subjectivity plays an important role in the identification and tracking of such features. In this paper, we continue studies of the temporal stochasticity of the magnetic field on the solar surface without relying either on the concept of magnetic features or on subjective assumptions about their identification and interaction. We propose a data analysis method to quantify fluctuations of the line-of-sight magnetic field by means of reducing the temporal field's evolution to the regular Markov process. We build a representative model of fluctuations converging to the unique stationary (equilibrium) distribution in the long time limit with maximum entropy. We obtained different rates of convergence to the equilibrium at fixed noise cutoff for two sets of data. This indicates a strong influence of the data spatial resolution and mixing-polarity fluctuations on the relaxation process. The analysis is applied to observations of magnetic fields of the relatively quiet areas around an active region carried out during the second flight of the Sunrise/IMaX and quiet Sun areas at the disk center from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number5
JournalAstrophysical Journal, Supplement Series
Volume233
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2017

Keywords

  • Convection
  • Sun
  • Sun
  • Sun
  • granulation
  • magnetic fields
  • photosphere

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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