Long-term variations of the Sun's photospheric magnetic field

TL;DR

This study analyzes long-term variations in the Sun's photospheric magnetic field over several decades, revealing a 22-year Hale cycle across most latitudes with some mid-latitude exceptions.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the latitudinal dependence of the 22-year magnetic cycle in the Sun's photosphere using synoptic maps from 1978 to 2016.

Findings

Detected a 22-year Hale cycle in weak magnetic fields at most latitudes.

Found that the amplitude of the cycle decreases from poles to equator.

Identified mid-latitude regions with predominant short-period variations.

Abstract

Variations of the weak magnetic fields of the photosphere with periods of the order of the solar magnetic cycle were investigated. Synoptic maps of the photospheric magnetic field produced by NSO Kitt Peak for the period from 1978 to 2016 were used as initial data. In order to study weak magnetic fields, the saturation threshold for synoptic maps was set at 5 G. On the base of transformed synoptic maps the time-latitude chart was built. 18 profiles of the magnetic field evenly distributed along the sine of latitude from the north to the south pole were selected in the diagram for the further analysis. Time dependencies were averaged by sliding smoothing over 21 Carrington rotations. The approximation of averaged time dependencies by the sinusoidal function made it possible to distinguish in weak magnetic fields a cyclic component with a period of about 22 years (the period of the Hale magnetic cycle). The dependence of 22-year variation on latitude was studied. In addition to the well-known 22-year change in the near-polar field, similar variations were found for the fields at all latitudes. The exception was latitudes $26^\circ$ and $33^\circ$ in the northern and $26^\circ$ in the southern hemisphere. These mid-latitude intervals were characterized by a predominance of short-period variations. The amplitude of the long-term variation decreased from the poles to the equator, with the period of variation remaining almost constant (T = 22.3 years).