Magnetic helicity injection and velocity characteristics of rotating sunspots

dc.contributor.advisorAlexander, Daviden_US
dc.creatorZhu, Chunmingen_US
dc.date.accessioned2013-03-08T00:40:33Zen_US
dc.date.available2013-03-08T00:40:33Zen_US
dc.date.issued2011en_US
dc.description.abstractThis thesis presents calculations of the magnetic helicity injection due to rotating sunspots and a determination of the characteristics of the rotating sunspots in the active regions with simple magnetic configurations. Four active regions are investigated to study the relationship between rotating sunspots and magnetic helicity. The observations indicate that significantly more helicity is injected during the period of rotation in polarities with strong magnetic field. This may be a result of the emergence of a magnetic flux rope from below the solar surface. Moreover, our preliminary study on a large sample of 90 active regions shows that the level of flaring activity increases with the rate of helicity injection. Finally, a statistical study is carried out to determine the relation between rotating sunspots and the emergence of magnetic flux tubes. Among 82 active regions which exhibit flux emergence, 93% are associated with rotating sunspots. Among 50 active regions without well-defined flux emergence, 60% of sunspots are observed to be rotating, though relatively slowly. In addition, we find that sense of the rotation (i.e., clockwise or counter-clockwise) of the sunspots shows a weak hemispherical tendency.en_US
dc.format.extent85 p.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.callnoTHESIS PHYS. 2011 ZHUen_US
dc.identifier.citationZhu, Chunming. "Magnetic helicity injection and velocity characteristics of rotating sunspots." (2011) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/70521">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/70521</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.digitalZhuCen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/70521en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectPure sciencesen_US
dc.subjectAtomsen_US
dc.subjectSubatomic particlesen_US
dc.titleMagnetic helicity injection and velocity characteristics of rotating sunspotsen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentPhysicsen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineNatural Sciencesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelMastersen_US
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen_US
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