Where are the solar magnetic poles?

Abstract

Regardless of the physical origin of stellar magnetic fields - fossil or dynamo induced - an inclination angle between the magnetic and rotation axes is very often observed. Absence of observational evidence in this direction in the solar case has led to generally assume that its global magnetic field and rotation axes are well aligned. We present the detection of a monthly periodic signal of the photospheric solar magnetic field at all latitudes, and especially near the poles, revealing that the main axis of the Sun's magnetic field is not aligned with the surface rotation axis. This result reinforces the view of our Sun as a common intermediate-mass star. Furthermore this detection challenges and imposes a strong observational constraint to modern solar dynamo theories.

References in corpus (3)

• The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) Vector Magnetic Field Pipeline: Overview and Performance
• On Polar Magnetic Field Reversal and Surface Flux Transport During Solar Cycle 24
• On the 27-day Variations of Cosmic Ray Intensity in Recent Solar Minimum 23/24

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Solar cycle 24: an unusual polar field reversal
• Solar Coronal Magnetic Field Extrapolation from Synchronic Data with AI-generated Farside
• Improved AI-generated Solar Farside Magnetograms by STEREO and SDO Data Sets and Their Release
• The magnetic field vector of the Sun-as-a-star. II. Evolution of the large-scale vector field through activity cycle 24
• On Polar Magnetic Field Reversal in Solar Cycles 21, 22, 23, and 24
• Photospheric magnetic topology of a north polar region
• Probing the variations in the timing of the Sun's polar magnetic field reversals through observations and surface flux transport simulations
• Temporal Distribution of Solar Cycle 24 Sunspot Groups: Comparison to Cycles 12-23
• Asymmetric Distribution of the Solar Photospheric Magnetic Field Values