Abstract
Two different multiresolution analyses are used to decompose the structure of active-region magnetic flux into concentrations of different size scales. Lines separating these opposite polarity regions of flux at each size scale are found. These lines are used as a mask on a map of the magnetic field gradient to sample the local gradient between opposite polarity regions of given scale sizes. It is shown that the maximum, average, and standard deviation of the magnetic flux gradient for α,β,β γ, and β γ δ active-regions increase in the order listed, and that the order is maintained over all length scales. Since magnetic flux gradient is strongly linked to active-region activity, such as flares, this study demonstrates that, on average, the Mt. Wilson classification encodes the notion of activity over all length scales in the active-region, and not just those length scales at which the strongest flux gradients are found. Further, it is also shown that the average gradients in the field, and the average length-scale at which they occur, also increase in the same order. Finally, there are significant differences in the gradient distribution, between flaring and non-flaring active regions, which are maintained over all length scales. It is also shown that the average gradient content of active-regions that have large flares (GOES class “M” and above) is larger than that for active regions containing flares of all flare sizes; this difference is also maintained at all length scales. All of the reported results are independent of the multiresolution transform used. The implications for the Mt. Wilson classification of active-regions in relation to the multiresolution gradient content and flaring activity are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abramenko, V.I.: 2005, Multifractal analysis of solar magnetograms. Solar Phys. 228, 29 – 42. doi:10.1007/s11207-005-3525-9.
Abramenko, V.I., Yurchyshyn, V.B., Wang, H., Spirock, T.J., Goode, P.R.: 2002, Scaling behavior of structure functions of the longitudinal magnetic field in active regions on the sun. Astrophys. J. 577, 487 – 495. doi:10.1086/342169.
Barlow, R.J.: 1989, Statistics: A Guide to the Use of Statistical Methods in the Physical Sciences, Wiley, New York.
Bratsolis, E., Sigelle, M.: 1998, Solar image segmentation by use of mean field fast annealing. Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. 131, 371 – 375.
Conlon, P.A., Gallagher, P.T., McAteer, R.T.J., Ireland, J., Young, C.A., Kestener, P., Hewett, R.J., Maguire, K.: 2008, Multifractal properties of evolving active regions. Solar Phys. 248, 297 – 309. doi:10.1007/s11207-007-9074-7.
Cui, Y., Li, R., Zhang, L., He, Y., Wang, H.: 2006, Correlation between solar flare productivity and photospheric magnetic field properties 1. Maximum horizontal gradient, length of neutral line, number of singular points. Solar Phys. 237, 45 – 659. doi:10.1007/s11207-006-0077-6.
De Moortel, I., Munday, S.A., Hood, A.W.: 2004, Wavelet analysis: The effect of varying basic wavelet parameters. Solar Phys. 222, 203 – 228. doi:10.1023/B:SOLA.0000043578.01201.2d.
Domingo, V., Fleck, B., Poland, A.I.: 1995, The SOHO mission: An overview. Solar Phys. 162, 1 – 37.
Dudok de Wit, T.: 2006, Fast segmentation of solar extreme ultraviolet images. Solar Phys. 239, 519 – 530. doi:10.1007/s11207-006-0140-3.
Falconer, D.A., Moore, R.L., Gary, G.A.: 2002, Correlation of the coronal mass ejection productivity of solar active regions with measures of their global nonpotentiality from vector magnetograms: Baseline results. Astrophys. J. 569, 1016 – 1025. doi:10.1086/339161.
Falconer, D.A., Moore, R.L., Gary, G.A.: 2006, Magnetic causes of solar coronal mass ejections: Dominance of the free magnetic energy over the magnetic twist alone. Astrophys. J. 644, 1258 – 1272. doi:10.1086/503699.
Falconer, D.A., Moore, R.L., Porter, J.G., Gary, G.A., Shimizu, T.: 1997, Neutral-line magnetic shear and enhanced coronal heating in solar active regions. Astrophys. J. 482, 519 – 534. doi:10.1086/304114.
Gallagher, P.T., Moon, Y.J., Wang, H.: 2002, Active-region monitoring and flare forecasting I. Data processing and first results. Solar Phys. 209, 171 – 183. doi:10.1023/A:1020950221179.
Georgoulis, M.K.: 2005, Turbulence in the solar atmosphere: Manifestations and diagnostics via solar image processing. Solar Phys. 228, 5 – 27. doi:10.1007/s11207-005-2513-4.
Gonzalez, R.C., Woods, R.E.: 2001, Digital Image Processing, Addison-Wesley Longman, Boston. ISBN 0201180758.
Hewett, R.J., Gallagher, P.T., McAteer, R.T.J., Young, C.A., Ireland, J., Conlon, P.A., Maguire, K.: 2008, Multiscale analysis of active region evolution. Solar Phys. 248, 311 – 322. doi:10.1007/s11207-007-9028-0.
Keeping, E.S.: 1995, Introduction to Statistical Inference, Dover International, New York (first published 1962).
Lawrence, J.K., Ruzmaikin, A.A., Cadavid, A.C.: 1993, Multifractal measure of the solar magnetic field. Astrophys. J. 417, 805 – 811. doi:10.1086/173360.
Lawrence, J.K., Cadavid, A.C., Ruzmaikin, A.A.: 1996, On the multifractal distribution of solar magnetic fields. Astrophys. J. 465, 425 – 435. doi:10.1086/177430.
Leka, K.D., Barnes, G.: 2003a, Photospheric magnetic field properties of flaring versus flare-quiet active regions. I. Data, general approach, and sample results. Astrophys. J. 595, 1277 – 1295. doi:10.1086/377511.
Leka, K.D., Barnes, G.: 2003b, Photospheric magnetic field properties of flaring versus flare-quiet active regions. II. Discriminant analysis. Astrophys. J. 595, 1296 – 1306. doi:10.1086/377512.
Leka, K.D., Barnes, G.: 2007, Photospheric magnetic field properties of flaring versus flare-quiet active regions. IV. A statistically significant sample. Astrophys. J. 656, 1173 – 1186. doi:10.1086/510282.
McAteer, R.T.J., Gallagher, P.T., Ireland, J.: 2005, Statistics of active region complexity: A large-scale fractal dimension survey. Astrophys. J. 631, 628 – 635. doi:10.1086/432412.
McAteer, R.T.J., Gallagher, P.T., Ireland, J., Young, C.A.: 2005, Automated boundary-extraction and region-growing techniques applied to solar magnetograms. Solar Phys. 228, 55 – 66. doi:10.1007/s11207-005-4075-x.
McIntosh, P.S.: 1990, The classification of sunspot groups. Solar Phys. 125, 251 – 267.
Scherrer, P.H., Bogart, R.S., Bush, R.I., Hoeksema, J.T., Kosovichev, A.G., Schou, J., Rosenberg, W., Springer, L., Tarbell, T.D., Title, A., Wolfson, C.J., Zayer, I., MDI Engineering Team: 1995, The solar oscillations investigation – Michelson Doppler imager. Solar Phys. 162, 129 – 188.
Schrijver, C.J.: 2007, A characteristic magnetic field pattern associated with all major solar flares and its use in flare forecasting. Astrophys. J. 655, L117 – L120. doi:10.1086/511857.
Starck, J.L., Murtagh, F., Bijaoui, A.: 1998, Image Processing and Data Analysis. The Multiscale Approach, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN: 0521590841.
Turmon, M., Pap, J.M., Mukhtar, S.: 2002, Statistical pattern recognition for labeling solar active regions: Application to SOHO/MDI imagery. Astrophys. J. 568, 396 – 407. doi:10.1086/338681.
Wall, J.V., Jenkins, C.R.: 2003, Practical Statistics for Astronomers, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Wasserman, L.: 2004, All of Statistics: A Concise Course in Statistical Inference, Springer Texts in Statistics, Springer, New York. ISBN 0387402721.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ireland, J., Young, C.A., McAteer, R.T.J. et al. Multiresolution Analysis of Active Region Magnetic Structure and its Correlation with the Mount Wilson Classification and Flaring Activity. Sol Phys 252, 121–137 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-008-9233-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-008-9233-5