Broken Power-law Distributions of Photospheric Magnetic Concentrations and Implications for Solar Dynamo
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Photospheric magnetic concentrations (MCs) are a direct manifestation of the solar dynamos that govern the solar magnetic field evolution and solar cycles. By studying the magnetic flux, spatial size, and magnetic energy of 2,941,532 MCs during 2011–2022, we find that the appearance rate of MCs fits well to a broken power-law distribution. The power index of small-scale MCs is almost invariant during the solar cycle; however, that of the large-scale MCs is logarithmically related to the sunspot number. These results suggest that small-scale MCs are more susceptible to local dynamical processes, which may weaken their solar cycle dependence and produce more stochastic statistical behavior. In contrast, the statistical properties of large-scale MCs retain a stronger solar cycle modulation, implying that they preserve more of the large-scale magnetic field evolution associated with the solar cycle. The findings provide observational constraints on models of solar magnetic field generation and evolution and offer new insights into the scale-dependent properties of photospheric MCs over the solar cycle.
Source: The Astrophysical Journal
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,499
Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hungarian Scientific Research Fund, University of Science and Technology of China, Nemzeti Kutatási Fejlesztési és Innovációs Hivatal, National Science and Technology Major Project, Science and Technology Facilities Council
Awards: G104587016, G134384773, G1580936446, G1594289875, G2091470294, G3276237516, G3569666997, G4024076974, G4109898726, G4909751417, G5256511709, Application to STFC for Consolidated Grant Support for the Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre (SP2RC) at The University of Sheffield, G5788995006, G6488906540, G6572658055, G8061683924, G843167984, G8457409502, G8687263898, G8699320228, G993751968
OpenAlex ID: W7222939279