Signature of the turbulent component of solar dynamo on active region scales and its association with flaring activity

TL;DR

This study provides observational evidence that the turbulent component of the solar dynamo influences active regions and their flaring activity, especially during certain solar cycle phases, highlighting the role of turbulence in magnetic field generation.

Contribution

Introduces a magneto-morphological classification of active regions and demonstrates the significant influence of turbulent dynamo action on flaring activity and AR properties.

Findings

72% of flaring ARs violate global dynamo laws

Turbulent dynamo influence is stronger during solar cycle maximum and decline

Flaring activity linked to turbulent dynamo effects in ARs

Abstract

Obtaining observational evidence of the turbulent component of solar dynamo operating in the convective zone is a challenging problem because the dynamo action is hidden below the photosphere. Here we present results of a statistical study of flaring active regions (ARs) that produced strong solar flares of an X-ray class X1.0 and higher during a time period that covered solar cycles 23 and 24. We introduced a magneto-morphological classification (MMC) of ARs, which allowed us to estimate possible contribution of the turbulent component of the dynamo into the structure of an AR. We found that in 72\% of cases, flaring ARs do not comply with the empirical laws of the global dynamo (frequently they are not bipolar ARs, or, if they are, they violate either Hale polarity law, or the Joy's law, or the leading sunspot prevalence rule), which may be attributed to the influence of the turbulent dynamo action inside the convective zone on spatial scales of typical ARs. Thus it appears that the flaring is governed by the turbulent component of solar dynamo. A contribution into the flaring from these ARs-``violators'' is enhanced during the second maximum and the descending phase of a solar cycle, when the toroidal field weakens and the influence of the turbulent component becomes more pronounced. These observational findings are in consensus with a concept of the essential role of non-linearities and turbulent intermittency in the magnetic fields generation inside the convective zone, which follows from simulations of dynamo.