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Electric Current Systems in Active Regions at a Late Stage of Evolution and Their Role in the Processes of Stabilization/Destabilization of Sunspots

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Data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) on the components of the magnetic field vector in the sun’s photosphere are obtained for 46 active regions (AR) in the final stage of evolution to calculate the magnitudes of the horizontal, vertical, and large-scale electric current at the solar photosphere level. In each case the dynamics of the parameters of the electric current over the time the regions are within ±35° from the central solar meridian was studied. The parameters of the electric current with the decay rate of the magnetic flux in a sunspot was compared. The following results are obtained: (1) a direct relationship between the value of the average unsigned density of the local vertical electric currents and the decay rate of the magnetic flux in a spot with a correlation coefficient of k = 0.56 was found. (2) A nonzero large-scale electric current only in ARs with a relatively low decay rate of the magnetic flux in a sunspot (not exceeding the value 6.0∙1019 Mx h-1) was detected. Thus, a large-scale electric current can have a stabilizing effect on a sunspot without being the only mechanism for stabilizing sunspots, since only for the 37% of the ARs in the analyzed sample for which decay rate of the magnetic flux in a sunspot was below 6.0∙1019 Mx h-1, its value, taking into account the computational errors is nonzero. (3) A statistical analysis also indicates stabilization of sunspots by the inductive component of the annular horizontal electrical current described by Faraday’s law and caused by a change in the magnetic flux of the sunspot over time. A correlation coefficient k = 0.42 between the average value of the horizontal electric current density square in the annular structure around the sunspot and the decay rate of the magnetic flux was found.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Russian Academy of Sciences, Crimean Republic, Russia

    Yu. A. Fursyak & A. A. Plotnikov

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  1. Yu. A. Fursyak
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Correspondence to Yu. A. Fursyak.

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Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 65, No. 3, pp. 397-418 (August 2022)

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Fursyak, Y.A., Plotnikov, A.A. Electric Current Systems in Active Regions at a Late Stage of Evolution and Their Role in the Processes of Stabilization/Destabilization of Sunspots. Astrophysics 65, 384–403 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10511-022-09748-w

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