Turbulence, Complexity, and Solar Flares

TL;DR

This paper explores the complex physics behind solar flares, emphasizing the role of magnetic field complexity and energy distribution in predicting these phenomena and understanding their underlying mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces the analysis of magnetic energy and multifractal spectra as novel approaches to predict solar flares and understand their physics.

Findings

Magnetic energy spectrum correlates with flare activity.

Multifractal spectrum provides insights into magnetic complexity.

Study advances space weather prediction methods.

Abstract

The issue of predicting solar flares is one of the most fundamental in physics, addressing issues of plasma physics, high-energy physics, and modelling of complex systems. It also poses societal consequences, with our ever-increasing need for accurate space weather forecasts. Solar flares arise naturally as a competition between an input (flux emergence and rearrangement) in the photosphere and an output (electrical current build up and resistive dissipation) in the corona. Although initially localised, this redistribution affects neighbouring regions and an avalanche occurs resulting in large scale eruptions of plasma, particles, and magnetic field. As flares are powered from the stressed field rooted in the photosphere, a study of the photospheric magnetic complexity can be used to both predict activity and understand the physics of the magnetic field. The magnetic energy spectrum and multifractal spectrum are highlighted as two possible approaches to this.