On the Rotation of the Solar Chromosphere

TL;DR

This study analyzes over 40 years of Mg II index data to investigate the solar chromosphere's rotation, revealing a trend of accelerating rotation correlated with declining solar activity and modulated by the solar cycle.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of synchrosqueezed wavelet transform to determine time-varying rotational periods of the solar chromosphere from long-term data.

Findings

RPLs of the chromosphere show a downward trend

Solar atmospheric rotation has been accelerating in recent cycles

RPL variations are modulated by the solar activity cycle

Abstract

Rotation is a significant characteristic of the Sun and other stars, and it plays an important role in understanding their dynamo actions and magnetic activities. In this study, the rotation of the solar chromospheric activity is investigated from a global point of view with an over 40 yr Mg II index. We determined the time-varying rotational period lengths (RPLs) with the synchrosqueezed wavelet transform which provides high temporal and frequency resolution; furthermore, we compared the RPLs with the photospheric and coronal RPLs obtained from the sunspot numbers and the 10.7 cm radio flux data. The significance of the RPLs is taken into consideration. We found that the RPLs of the chromosphere exhibit a downward trend, as do those that of the photosphere and corona; in addition, their RPLs at the recent four solar maxima also show a declining trend. It suggests that the rotation of the solar atmosphere has been accelerating during the recent four solar cycles, which is inferred to be caused by the declining strength of solar activity. The variations of the solar atmospheric RPLs show periodicities of multiple harmonics of the solar cycle period, and it is modulated by the solar activity cycle.