Sunspot magnetic structure and interspot radio source formation

Abstract

The magnetic structure of a typical sunspot is represented as a set of three interacting magnetic fluxes. The first one, F1, escapes upward from the sunspot umbra and closes through the corona on the sunspot of opposite polarity. The second, F2, forms the sunspot penumbra. It includes Evershed flows emerging from the sunspot, the heavy photospheric plasma of which cannot be pulled up to the corona. For this reason, the F2 flux at the outer edge of the penumbra should close on the photosphere adjacent to the sunspot, i.e., here the F2 field changes sign. The third flux, F3, is the external magnetic field flux and has the same polarity as F1. Thus, magnetic fields of different signs occur near the outer boundary of the sunspot penumbra. Magnetic reconnections will inevitably take place there. Smalland multiscale current sheets in which particles are accelerated are formed. The latter fill short and low magnetic loops that connect sunspots of different polarity in the bipolar group and form interspot radio sources at the tops of these loops.