Strong horizontal photospheric magnetic field in a surface dynamo simulation

Abstract

Observations with the Hinode spectro-polarimeter have revealed strong horizontal internetwork magnetic fields in the quiet solar photosphere. We aim at interpreting the observations by means of results from numerical simulations. Radiative MHD simulations of dynamo action by near-surface convection are analyzed with respect to the relation between vertical and horizontal magnetic field components. The dynamo-generated fields show a clear dominance of the horizontal field in the height range where the spectral lines used for the observations are formed. The ratio between the averaged horizontal and vertical field components is consistent with the values derived from the observations. This behavior results from the intermittent nature of the dynamo field with polarity mixing on small scales in the surface layers. Our results provide further evidence that local near-surface dynamo action contributes significantly to the solar internetwork fields.

Astronomy & Astrophysics, in press

References in corpus (4)

• A Substantial Amount of Hidden Magnetic Energy in the Quiet Sun
• Emergence of Small-Scale Magnetic Loops in the Quiet Sun Internetwork
• Quiet Sun internetwork magnetic fields from the inversion of Hinode measurements
• Quiet Sun magnetic fields from space-borne observations: simulating Hinode's case

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Solar surface emerging flux regions: a comparative study of radiative MHD modeling and Hinode SOT observations
• Small-scale solar magnetic fields
• Coupling from the photosphere to the chromosphere and the corona
• Comparison of transient horizontal magnetic fields in a plage region and in the quiet Sun
• The horizontal internetwork magnetic field: numerical simulations in comparison to observations with Hinode
• 'Ultimate' Information Content in Solar and Stellar Spectra: Photospheric line asymmetries and wavelength shifts
• Horizontal Magnetic Fields in the Solar Photosphere