Interpretation of Solar Irradiance Monitor measurements through analysis of 3D MHD simulations

Abstract

Measurements from the Solar Irradiance Monitor (SIM) onboard the SORCE mission indicate that solar spectral irradiance at Visible and IR wavelengths varies in counter phase with the solar activity cycle. The sign of these variations is not reproduced by most of the irradiance reconstruction techniques based on variations of surface magnetism employed so far, and it is not clear yet whether SIM calibration procedures need to be improved, or if instead new physical mechanisms must be invoked to explain such variations. We employ three-dimensional magneto hydrodynamic simulations of the solar photosphere to investigate the dependence of solar radiance in SIM Visible and IR spectral ranges on variations of the filling factor of surface magnetic fields. We find that the contribution of magnetic features to solar radiance is strongly dependent on the location on the disk of the features, being negative close to disk center and positive toward the limb. If features are homogeneously distributed over a region around the equator (activity belt) then their contribution to irradiance is positive with respect to the contribution of HD snapshots, but decreases with the increase of their magnetic flux for average magnetic flux larger than 50 G in at least two of the Visible and IR spectral bands monitored by SIM. Under the assumption that the 50 G snapshots are representative of quiet Sun regions we find thus that the Spectral Irradiance can be in counter-phase with the solar magnetic activity cycle.

arXiv commentsubmitted to The Astrophysical Journal

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• Effects of continuum fudging on non-LTE synthesis of stellar spectra. I. Effects on estimates of UV continua and Solar Spectral Irradiance variability
• Irradiance Variations of the Sun and Sun-Like Stars -- Overview of Topical Collection
• Angular dependence of the facular-sunspot coverage relation as derived by MDI magnetograms
• The polarization signature of photospheric magnetic fields in 3D MHD simulations and observations at disk center
• A study of solar photospheric temperature gradient variation using limb darkening measurements
• Temperature gradient in the solar photosphere. Test of a new spectroscopic method and study of its feasibility for ground-based telescopes
• A High-resolution, Inversion-Based Synoptic Study of Solar Granulation