Abstract Details
| Name: Piyali Chatterjee Affiliation: Indian Institute of Astrophysics Conference ID: ASI2016_664 Title : Mystery of repeatedly flaring delta sunspots Authors and Co-Authors : Viggo Hansteen Mats Carlsson Abstract Type : Invited Abstract Category : Sun and the Solar System Abstract : Delta sunpots - special kind of sunspots seen on the solar surface with North-South polarity regions appearing very close to each other - are known to flare repeatedly and are responsible for about 95% of the X-ray flares we observe on the Sun. Most energetic of these X-ray flares if Earth-directed have tremendous potential to affect our antropological activities that we take for granted e.g., electricity supply, GPs, radio communication, air flights etc. Here we present results from a computer simulation showing how, starting from a very simple initial condition, the interaction between solar magnetic fields and turbulent convection produces a pair of opposite polarity sunspots which collide and merge to form a delta sunspot. This delta-sunspot produces flares with energies comparable to those typically observed on our Sun during the simulation spanning four solar hours. The novelty of this work is that it captures various aspects of flare observations like the formation and eruption of hot and bright sigmoid-shaped structures, cool and dark filaments, as well as bipolar jets and their temporal correlation with the epoch of magnetic energy release. |