arXiv subjects

Sami K. Solanki

Publications and source records attributed to Sami K. Solanki.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Slow magneto-acoustic waves in simulations of a solar plage region carry enough energy to heat the chromosphere

We study the properties of slow magneto-acoustic waves that are naturally excited due to turbulent convection and investigate their role in the energy balance of a plage region using three dimensional (3D) radiation-MHD simulations. We calculate the horizontally averaged (over the whole domain) frequency power spectra for both longitudinal and vertical (i.e. the component perpendicular to the surface) components of velocity. To compare our results with the observations we degrade the simulation data with Gaussian kernels having FWHM of 100 km and 200 km, and calculate horizontally averaged power spectra for the vertical component of velocity. The power spectra of the longitudinal component of velocity, averaged over field lines in the core of a kG magnetic flux concentration, reveal that the dominant period of oscillations shifts from around 6.5 minutes in the photosphere to around 4 minutes in the chromosphere. At the same time, the velocity power spectra, averaged horizontally over the whole domain, show that low frequency waves (approximately 6.5 minute period) may reach well into the chromosphere. Importantly, waves with frequencies above 5 mHz propagating along different field lines are found to be out of phase with each other even within a single magnetic concentration. The horizontally averaged power spectra of the vertical component of velocity at various effective resolutions show that the observed acoustic wave energy fluxes are underestimated, by a factor of three even if determined from observations carried out at a high spatial resolution of 200 km. Our results show that longitudinal waves carry (just) sufficient energy to heat the chromosphere in solar plage. We conjecture that current observations (with spatial resolution around 200 km) underestimate the energy flux by roughly a factor of three, or more if the observations have lower spatial resolution.

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arXiv2021

Forward modelling of Kepler-band variability due to faculae and spots

Variability observed in photometric lightcurves of late-type stars (on timescales longer than a day) is a dominant noise source in exoplanet surveys and results predominantly from surface manifestations of stellar magnetic activity, namely faculae and spots. The implementation of faculae in lightcurve models is an open problem, with scaling typically based on spectra equivalent to hot stellar atmospheres or assuming a solar-derived facular contrast. We modelled rotational (single period) lightcurves of active G2, K0, M0 and M2 stars, with Sun-like surface distributions and realistic limb-dependent contrasts for faculae and spots. The sensitivity of lightcurve variability to changes in model parameters such as stellar inclination, feature area coverage, spot temperature, facular region magnetic flux density and active band latitudes is explored. For our lightcurve modelling approach we used actress, a geometrically accurate model for stellar variability. actress generates 2-sphere maps representing stellar surfaces and populates them with user-prescribed spot and facular region distributions. From this, lightcurves can be calculated at any inclination. Quiet star limb darkening and limb-dependent facular contrasts were derived from MURaM 3D magnetoconvection simulations using ATLAS9. 1D stellar atmosphere models were used for the spot contrasts. We applied actress in Monte-Carlo simulations, calculating lightcurve variability amplitudes in the Kepler band. We found that, for a given spectral type and stellar inclination, spot temperature and spot area coverage have the largest effect on variability of all simulation parameters. For a spot coverage of 1%, the typical variability of a solar-type star is around 2 parts-per-thousand. The presence of faculae clearly affects the mean brightness and lightcurve shape, but has relatively little influence on the variability.

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arXiv2021

On the size distribution of spots within sunspot groups

Size distribution of sunspots provides key information about the generation and emergence processes of the solar magnetic field. Previous studies on the size distribution have primarily focused on either the whole group or individual spot areas. In this paper, we investigate the organization of spot areas within sunspot groups. In particular, we analyze the ratio, $\rm{R}$, of the area of the biggest spot ($\rm{A_{big\_spot}}$) inside a group, to the total area of that group ($\rm{A_{group}}$). We use sunspot observations from Kislovodsk, Pulkovo and Debrecen observatories, together covering solar cycles 17 to 24. We find that at the time when the group area reaches its maximum, the single biggest spot in a group typically occupies about 60% of the group area. For half of all groups, $\rm R$ lies in the range between roughly 50% and 70%. We also find R to change with the group area, $\rm{A_{group}}$, such that $\rm{R}$ reaches a maximum of about 0.65 for groups with $\rm{A_{group}}\approx 200μ$Hem and then remains at about 0.6 for lager groups. Our findings imply a scale invariant emergence pattern, providing an observational constraint on the emergence process. Furthermore, extrapolation of our results to larger sunspot groups may have a bearing on the giant unresolved starspot features found in Doppler images of highly active sun-like stars. Our results suggest that such giant features are composed of multiple spots, with the largest spot occupying roughly 55--75% of the total group area (i.e. of the area of the giant starspots seen in Doppler images).

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arXiv2021

Where have all the solar-like stars gone? Rotation period detectability at various inclinations and metallicities

The plethora of photometric data collected by the Kepler space telescope has promoted the detection of tens of thousands of stellar rotation periods. However, these periods are not found to an equal extent among different spectral types. Interestingly, early G-type stars with near-solar rotation periods are strongly underrepresented among those stars with known rotation periods. In this study we investigate whether the small number of such stars can be explained by difficulties in the period determination from photometric time series. For that purpose, we generate model light curves of early G-type stars with solar rotation periods for different inclination angles, metallicities and (magnitude-dependent) noise levels. We find that the detectability is determined by the predominant type of activity (i.e. spot or faculae domination) on the surface, which defines the degree of irregularity of the light curve, and further depends on the level of photometric noise. These two effects significantly complicate the period detection and explain the lack of solar-like stars with known near-solar rotation periods. We conclude that the rotation periods of the majority of solar-like stars with near-solar rotation periods remain undetected to date. Finally, we promote the use of new techniques to recover more periods of near-solar rotators.

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arXiv2020

Predictions of astrometric jitter for Sun-like stars. I. The model and its application to the Sun as seen from the ecliptic

The advent of Gaia, capable of measuring stellar wobbles caused by orbiting planets, raised an interest to the astrometric detection of exoplanets. Another source of such wobbles (often also called jitter) is stellar magnetic activity. A quantitative assessment of the stellar astrometric jitter is important for a more reliable astrometric detection and characterisation of exoplanets. We calculate the displacement of the solar photocentre due to the magnetic activity for an almost 16-year period (February 2, 1999 - August 1, 2014). We also investigate how the displacement depends on the spectral passband chosen for observations, including the wavelength range to be covered by the upcoming Small-JASMINE mission of JAXA. This is done by extending the SATIRE-S model for solar irradiance variability to calculating the displacement of the solar photocentre caused by the magnetic features on the surface of the Sun. We found that the peak to peak amplitude of the solar photocentre displacement would reach 0.5 mas if the Sun were located 10 pc away from the observer and observed in the Gaia G filter. This is by far too small to be detected by the Gaia mission. However, the Sun is a relatively inactive star so that one can expect significantly larger signals for younger, and, consequently, more active stars. The model developed in this study can be combined with the simulations of emergence and surface transport of magnetic flux which have recently became available to model the astrometric jitter over the broad range of magnetic activities.

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arXiv2020

Amplification of brightness variability by active-region nesting in solar-like stars

Kepler observations revealed that hundreds of stars with near-solar fundamental parameters and rotation periods have much stronger and more regular brightness variations than the Sun. Here we identify one possible reason for the peculiar behaviour of these stars. Inspired by solar nests of activity, we assume that the degree of inhomogeneity of active-region (AR) emergence on such stars is higher than on the Sun. To test our hypothesis, we model stellar light curves by injecting ARs consisting of spots and faculae on stellar surfaces at various rates and nesting patterns, using solar AR properties and differential rotation. We show that a moderate increase of the emergence frequency from the solar value combined with the increase of the degree of nesting can explain the full range of observed amplitudes of variability of Sun-like stars with nearly the solar rotation period. Furthermore, nesting in the form of active longitudes, in which ARs tend to emerge in the vicinity of two longitudes separated by $180^\circ$, leads to highly regular, almost sine-like variability patterns, rather similar to those observed in a number of solar-like stars.

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arXiv2020

Sunspot simulations: penumbra formation and the fluting instability

The fluting instability has been suggested as the driver of the subsurface structure of sunspot flux tubes. We conducted a series of numerical experiments where we used flux tubes with different initial curvatures to study the effect of the fluting instability on the subsurface structure of spots. We used the MURaM code, which has previously been used to simulate complete sunspots, to first compute four sunspots in the slab geometry and then two complete circular spots of opposite polarities. We find that the curvature of a flux tube indeed determines the degree of fluting the flux tube will undergo - the more curved a flux tube is, the more fluted it becomes. In addition, sunspots with strong curvature have strong horizontal fields at the surface and therefore readily form penumbral filaments. The fluted sunspots eventually break up from below, with lightbridges appearing at the surface several hours after fluting commences.

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arXiv2020

Vortex Flow Properties in Simulations of Solar Plage Region: Evidence for their role in chromospheric heating

Vortex-flows exist across a broad range of spatial and temporal scales in the solar atmosphere. Small-scale vortices have been proposed to play an important role in energy transport in the solar atmosphere. However, their physical properties remain poorly understood due to the limited spatial resolution of the observations. We aim to explore and analyze the physical properties of small-scale vortices inside magnetic flux tubes using numerical simulations, and to investigate whether they contribute to heating the chromosphere in a plage region. Using the three-dimensional (3D) radiative magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation code 'MURaM', we perform numerical simulations of a unipolar solar plage region. To detect and isolate vortices, we use the Swirling Strength criterion and select the locations where the fluid is rotating with an angular velocity greater than a certain threshold. We concentrate on small-scale as they are the strongest and carry most of the energy. We explore the spatial profiles of physical quantities viz. density, horizontal velocity, etc. inside these vortices. Moreover, to apprehend their general characteristics, a statistical investigation is performed. Magnetic flux tubes have a complex filamentary substructure harbouring an abundance of small-scale vortices. At the interfaces between vortices strong current sheets are formed that may dissipate and heat the solar chromosphere. Statistically, vortices have higher densities and higher temperatures than the average values at the same geometrical height in the chromosphere. We conclude that small-scale vortices are ubiquitous in solar plage regions, and they are denser and hotter structures that contribute to chromospheric heating, possibly by dissipation of the current sheets formed at their interfaces.

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arXiv2020

Analysis of full disc Ca II K spectroheliograms III. Plage area composite series covering 1892-2019

We derive the plage area evolution over the last 12 solar cycles employing data from all Ca II K archives available publicly in digital form known to us, including several as yet unexplored Ca II K archives. We analyse more than 290,000 full-disc Ca II K observations from 43 datasets spanning the period 1892-2019. All images were consistently processed with an automatic procedure that performs the photometric calibration (if needed) and the limb-darkening compensation. The processing also accounts for artefacts plaguing many of the images, including some very specific artefacts such as bright arcs found in Kyoto and Yerkes data. We have produced a plage area time-series from each analysed dataset. We found that the differences between the plage areas derived from individual archives are mainly due to the differences in the central wavelength and the bandpass used to acquire the data at the various sites. We have empirically cross-calibrated and combined the results obtained from each dataset to produce a composite series of plage areas. "Backbone" series are used to bridge all the series together. We have also shown that the selection of the backbone series has little effect on the final plage area composite. We have quantified the uncertainty of determining the plage areas with our processing due to shifts in the central wavelength and found it to be less than 0.01 in fraction of the solar disc for the average conditions found on historical data. We also found the variable seeing conditions during the observations to slightly increase the plage areas during activity maxima. We provide the so far most complete time series of plage areas based on corrected and calibrated historical and modern Ca II K images. Consistent plage areas are now available on 88% of all days from 1892 onwards and on 98% from 1907 onwards.

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arXiv2020

The Sun is less active than other solar-like stars

Magnetic activity of the Sun and other stars causes their brightness to vary. We investigate how typical the Sun's variability is compared to other solar-like stars, i.e. those with near-solar effective temperatures and rotation periods. By combining four years of photometric observations from the Kepler space telescope with astrometric data from the Gaia spacecraft, we measure photometric variabilities of 369 solar-like stars. Most of the solar-like stars with well-determined rotation periods show higher variability than the Sun and are therefore considerably more active. These stars appear nearly identical to the Sun, except for their higher variability. Their existence raises the question of whether the Sun can also experience epochs of such high variability.

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arXiv2020

Sunspot area catalogue revisited: Daily cross-calibrated areas since 1874

Long and consistent sunspot area records are important for understanding the long-term solar activity and variability. Multiple observatories around the globe have regularly recorded sunspot areas, but such individual records only cover restricted periods of time. Furthermore, there are also systematic differences between them, so that these records need to be cross-calibrated before they can be reliably used for further studies. We produce a cross-calibrated and homogeneous record of total daily sunspot areas, both projected and corrected, covering the period between 1874 and 2019. A catalogue of calibrated individual group areas is also generated for the same period. We have compared the data from nine archives: Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO), Kislovodsk, Pulkovo, Debrecen, Kodaikanal, Solar Optical Observing Network (SOON), Rome, Catania, and Yunnan Observatories, covering the period between 1874 and 2019. Mutual comparisons of the individual records have been employed to produce homogeneous and inter-calibrated records of daily projected and corrected areas. As in earlier studies, the basis of the composite is formed by the data from RGO. After 1976, the only datasets used are those from Kislovodsk, Pulkovo and Debrecen observatories. This choice was made based on the temporal coverage and the quality of the data. In contrast to the SOON data used in previous area composites for the post-RGO period, the properties of the data from Kislovodsk and Pulkovo are very similar to those from the RGO series. They also directly overlap the RGO data in time, which makes their cross-calibration with RGO much more reliable. We have also computed and provide the daily Photometric Sunspot Index (PSI) widely used, e.g., in empirical reconstructions of solar irradiance.

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arXiv2020

Solar disk center shows scattering polarization in the Sr I 4607 Å line

Magnetic fields in turbulent, convective high-$β$ plasma naturally develop highly tangled and complex topologies---the solar photosphere being the paradigmatic example. These fields are mostly undetectable by standard diagnostic techniques with finite spatio-temporal resolution due to cancellations of Zeeman polarization signals. Observations of resonance scattering polarization have been considered to overcome these problems. But up to now, observations of scattering polarization lack the necessary combination of high sensitivity and high spatial resolution in order to directly infer the turbulent magnetic structure at the resolution limit of solar telescopes. Here, we report the detection of clear spatial structuring of scattering polarization in a magnetically quiet solar region at disk center in the Sr~{\sc i} 4607~Å~spectral line on granular scales, confirming theoretical expectations. We find that the linear polarization presents a strong spatial correlation with the local quadrupole of the radiation field. The result indicates that polarization survives the dynamic and turbulent magnetic environment of the middle photosphere and is thereby usable for spatially resolved Hanle observations. This is an important step toward the long-sought goal of directly observing turbulent solar magnetic fields at the resolution limit and investigating their spatial structure.

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arXiv2020

3D Radiative MHD simulations of starspots

There are no direct spatially resolved observations of spots on stars other than the Sun and starspot properties are inferred indirectly through lightcurves and spectropolarimetric data. We present the first self-consistent 3D radiative MHD computations of starspots on G2V, K0V and M0V stars, which will help to better understand observations of activity, variability and magnetic fields in late-type main-sequence stars. We used the MURaM code, which has been extensively used to compute "realistic" sunspots, for our simulations. We aim to study how fundamental starspot properties such as intensity contrast, temperature and magnetic field strength vary with spectral type. We first simulated in 2D, multiple spots of each spectral type to find out appropriate initial conditions for our 3D runs. We find that with increasing stellar effective temperature, there is an increase in the temperature difference between the umbra of the spot and its surrounding photosphere, from 350K on the M0V star to 1400K on the G2V star. This trend in our simulated starspots is consistent with observations. The magnetic field strengths of all the starspot umbrae are in the 3-4.5 kG range. The G2V and K0V umbrae have comparable magnetic field strengths around 3.5 kG, while the M0V umbra has a relatively higher field strength around 4 kG. We discuss the physical reasons behind both these trends. All of the three starspots develop penumbral filament-like structures with Evershed flows. The average Evershed flow speed drops from 1.32 km s$^{-1}$ in the G2V penumbra to 0.6 km s$^{-1}$ in the M0V penumbra.

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arXiv2020

Solar-cycle irradiance variations over the last four billion years

The variability of the spectral solar irradiance (SSI) over the course of the 11-year solar cycle is one of the manifestations of solar magnetic activity. There is a strong evidence that the SSI variability has an effect on the Earth's atmosphere. The faster rotation of the Sun in the past lead to a more vigorous action of solar dynamo and thus potentially to larger amplitude of the SSI variability on the timescale of the solar activity cycle. This could led to a stronger response of the Earth's atmosphere as well as other solar system planets' atmospheres to the solar activity cycle. We calculate the amplitude of the SSI and TSI variability over the course of the solar activity cycle as a function of solar age. We employ the relationship between the stellar magnetic activity and the age based on observations of solar twins. Using this relation we reconstruct solar magnetic activity and the corresponding solar disk area coverages by magnetic features (i.e. spots and faculae) over the last four billion years. These disk coverages are then used to calculate the amplitude of the solar-cycle SSI variability as a function of wavelength and solar age. Our calculations show that the young Sun was significantly more variable than the present Sun. The amplitude of the solar-cycle Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) variability of the 600 Myr old Sun was about 10 times larger than that of the present Sun. Furthermore, the variability of the young Sun was spot-dominated (the Sun being brighter at the activity minimum than in the maximum), i.e. the Sun was overall brighter at activity minima than at maxima. The amplitude of the TSI variability decreased with solar age until it reached a minimum value at 2.8 Gyr. After this point, the TSI variability is faculae-dominated (the Sun is brighter at the activity maximum) and its amplitude increases with age.

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arXiv2019

Metis: the Solar Orbiter visible light and ultraviolet coronal imager

Metis is the first solar coronagraph designed for a space mission capable of performing simultaneous imaging of the off-limb solar corona in both visible and UV light. The observations obtained with Metis aboard the Solar Orbiter ESA-NASA observatory will enable us to diagnose, with unprecedented temporal coverage and spatial resolution, the structures and dynamics of the full corona from 1.7 $R_\odot$ to about 9 $R_\odot$. Due to the uniqueness of the Solar Orbiter mission profile, Metis will be able to observe the solar corona from a close vantage point (down to 0.28 AU), achieving out-of-ecliptic views with the increase of the orbit inclination over time. Moreover, observations near perihelion, during the phase of lower rotational velocity of the solar surface relative to the spacecraft, will allow longer-term studies of the coronal features. Thanks to a novel occultation design and a combination of a UV interference coating of the mirrors and a spectral bandpass filter, Metis images the solar corona simultaneously in the visible light band, between 580 and 640 nm, and in the UV H I Lyman-α line at 121.6 nm. The coronal images in both the UV Lyman-α and polarised visible light are obtained at high spatial resolution with a spatial scale down to about 2000 km and 15000 km at perihelion, in the cases of the visible and UV light, respectively. A temporal resolution down to 1 second can be achieved when observing coronal fluctuations in visible light. The Metis measurements will allow for complete characterisation of the main physical parameters and dynamics of the electron and neutral hydrogen/proton plasma components of the corona in the region where the solar wind undergoes acceleration and where the onset and initial propagation of coronal mass ejections take place, thus significantly improving our understanding of the region connecting the Sun to the heliosphere.

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arXiv2019

Delving into the Historical Ca II K Archive from the Kodaikanal Observatory: the Potential of the Most Recent Digitised Series

Full-disc Ca II K photographic observations of the Sun carry direct information about the evolution of solar-plage regions for more than a century and are therefore a unique dataset for solar-activity studies. For a long time Ca II K observations were barely explored, but recent digitisations of multiple archives have allowed their extensive analysis. However, various studies have reported diverse results partly due to the insufficient quality of the digitised data. Furthermore, inhomogeneities have been identified within the individual archives, which, at least partly, could be due to the digitisation. As a result, some of the archives, e.g. that from the Kodaikanal observatory, were re-digitised. The results obtained by different authors who analysed the data from the new digitisation of the Kodaikanal archive differ from each other as well as from those derived from the old digitisation. Since the data were processed and analysed using different techniques, it is not clear, however, whether the differences are due to the digitisation or the processing of the data. To understand the reasons for such discrepancies, we analyse here the data from the two most recent digitisations of this archive. We use the same techniques to consistently process the images from both archives and to derive the plage areas from them. Some issues have been identified in both digitisations, implying that they are intrinsic characteristics of the data. Moreover, errors in timing of the observations plague both digitisations. Overall, the most recent 16-bit digitisation offers an improvement over the earlier 8-bit one. It also includes considerably more data and should be preferred.

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arXiv2019

ALMA detection of dark chromospheric holes in the quiet Sun

We present Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) observations of a quiet-Sun region at a wavelength of 3 mm, obtained during the first solar ALMA cycle on April 27, 2017, and compare them with available chromospheric observations in the UV and visible as well as with photospheric magnetograms. ALMA images clearly reveal the presence of distinct particularly dark/cool areas in the millimeter maps having temperatures as low as 60% of the normal quiet Sun at 3 mm, which are not seen in the other data. We speculate that ALMA is sensing cool chromospheric gas, whose presence had earlier been inferred from infrared CO spectra.

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arXiv2019

Recovering the unsigned photospheric magnetic field from Ca II K observations

We reassess the relationship between the photospheric magnetic field strength and the Ca II K intensity for a variety of surface features as a function of the position on the disc and the solar activity level. This relationship can be used to recover the unsigned photospheric magnetic field from images recorded in the core of Ca II K line. We have analysed 131 pairs of high-quality, full-disc, near-co-temporal observations from SDO/HMI and Rome/PSPT spanning half a solar cycle. To analytically describe the observationally-determined relation, we considered three different functions: a power law with an offset, a logarithmic function, and a power law function of the logarithm of the magnetic flux density. We used the obtained relations to reconstruct maps of the line-of-sight component of the unsigned magnetic field (unsigned magnetograms) from Ca II K observations, which were then compared to the original magnetograms. We find that both power-law functions represent the data well, while the logarithmic function is good only for quiet periods. We see no significant variation over the solar cycle or over the disc in the derived fit parameters, independently of the function used. We find that errors in the independent variable, usually not accounted for, introduce attenuation bias. To address this, we binned the data with respect to the magnetic field strength and Ca II K contrast separately and derived the relation for the bisector of the two binned curves. The reconstructed unsigned magnetograms show good agreement with the original ones. RMS differences are less than 90 G. The results were unaffected by the stray-light correction of the SDO/HMI and Rome/PSPT data. Our results imply that Ca~II~K observations, accurately processed and calibrated, can be used to reconstruct unsigned magnetograms by using the relations derived in our study.

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