Magnetic flux tubes, with a size of a few hundred kilometres, are essential to the picture because large structures such as sunspots are made up of smaller elements. Seen at a scale of one thousand kilometres, the surface of the Sun seems to be governed by granulation, a convective phenomenon similar to the bubbling of boiling water: low density hot gas rises to the surface; as it cools off, its density increases and the gas descends again. Among the granules we find weak magnetic field concentrations, says Iker S. Requerey, researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) and first author of the study. The granules converge around a centre towards which they drag the small fields, which then agglomerate and intensify, giving rise to a magnetic flux tube.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Jul 2014 02:24:05 +0000
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