Vol 56, No 8 (2016)

The challenges of ‘standard’ model of solar flares motivated by new observations with the spacecrafts and ground-based telescopes are presented. The most important problems are in situ heating of photospheric and chromospheric loop footpoints up to the coronal temperatures without precipitating particle beams accelerated in the corona, and the sunquakes which are unlikely to be explained by the impact of highenergy particles producing hard X-ray emission. There is also the long-standing ‘number problem’ in the physics of solar flares. It is shown that modern observations favored an important role of the electric currents in the energy release processes in the low solar atmosphere. Particle acceleration mechanism in the electric fields driven by the magnetic Rayleigh-Taylor instability in the chromosphere is proposed. The electric current value I ≥ 10¹⁰ A, needed for the excitation of super-Dreicer electric fields in the chromosphere is determined. It is shown that both Joule dissipation of the electric currents and the particles accelerated in the chromosphere can be responsible for in situ heating of the low solar atmosphere. Alternative model of the solar flare based on the analogy between the flaring loop and an equivalent electric circuit which is good tool for the electric current diagnostics is presented. Interaction of a current-carrying loop with the partially-ionized plasma of prominence in the context of particle acceleration is considered. The role of plasma radiation mechanism in the sub-THz emission from the chromosphere is discussed.

We compare changes in the solar global magnetic field (GMF) given by the distribution of magnetic fields on the source surface and spot activity characterized by Wolf numbers, the number of spots, and their area reflecting the dynamics of local magnetic fields of active regions during cycles 21 to 24 (1976–2015). The results indicate that the changes in the GMF and spot activity have certain differences, both in different cycles generally and in the phases of growth, maximum, and decline in each individual cycle. The maximum and minimum correlations between the GMF and spot activity are observed in cycles 22 and 24, respectively. The maximum correlation is reached in growth phases (cycles 21, 22, and 24) and in the phase of decline (cycle 23), which can be associated with the fact that the phase of decline in cycle 23 is anomalously extended. Almost no correlation between the GMF and spot activity can be found at the phases of the maximum and early beginning of decline in all cycles. This can be associated with structural reorganization and sign change in the GMF.

According to measurements of the magnetic fields in quiescent prominences carried out by different teams in 1964–1989, the maximum values of the field correspond to the minimum values of the Wolf numbers averaged through the corresponding periods of observations. It has been shown that the synoptic noneclipse 2D linear polarimetry of quiescent Hα-prominences can be actually implemented; this method is based on the use of a coronagraph with a primary-optics diameter equal to or larger than 100 mm, a narrow-band filter with FWHM ≤ 0.4 nm, a standard linear polariod, and a high-precision linear polarimetric technique.

It is shown that “active longitudes” for the sunspots of old and new cycles manifest themselves approximately in the same longitudinal intervals and remain for several 11-year cycles. To be more accurate, they vanish in some cycles but then appear again at the same longitudinal intervals in the other cycles. The entire period is characterized by a total of four active longitudes. The old-cycle sunspots observed at low equatorial latitudes in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are characterized by a shift by ≈180°, which indicates antipodality of the active longitudes in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. In the case of highlatitude sunspots (new-cycle sunspots), the best correlation is observed for the shift of ≈90°. There is supposedly a dependence of the rotation speed of active longitudes on the secular cycle.

Temporal variations of the maximum (B_max) and average (〈B〉) magnetic inductions, minimum (α_min) and average (〈α〉) inclination angles of the field lines to the radial direction from the center of the Sun, and areas of the sunspot umbra S in the umbra of single sunspots during their passage across the solar disk are investigated. The variation of the properties of single sunspots has been considered at different stages of their existence, i.e., during formation, the “quiet” period, and the disappearance stage. It has been found that, for the majority of the selected single sunspots, there is a positive correlation between B_max and S and between 〈B〉 and S defined at different times during the passage of sunspots across the solar disk. It is shown in this case that the nature of the dependence between the parameters α_min and B_max, α_min and S, as well as between 〈α〉 and 〈B〉, 〈α〉 and S, can vary from sunspot to sunspot, but for many sunspots the inclination angle of the field lines decreases on average with the growth of the sunspot umbra area and the field strength.

We have analyzed the geometric characteristics of sunspots. The form of sunspots has been studied by sunspot image normalization to obtain the average profile of spots and the profile relative to the position of cores. The deviation of the sunspot form from the axisymmetric configuration has been studied. We have found that the spots of leading and trailing polarities have a drop shape. The cores of leading and trailing sunspots are shifted toward the western and eastern edges of the photosphere–penumbra boundary, respectively. The strength of the magnetic field of the cores of leading spots in the eastern hemisphere exceeds the field strength in the western hemisphere. We considered the tilt of the form of sunspots as a function of size. The form of spots of a large area (S > 1000 ppm of solar hemisphere) is elongated along the magnetic axis of the bipole of a group of sunspots.

The behavior of radial oscillations of coronal magnetic tubes is considered in a weakly nonlinear approximation. The nonlinear Schrödinger equation, the coefficients of which are found from the tube and radial mode parameters, has been obtained for the oscillation amplitude. The coefficients have been calculated for the fundamental radial mode, which is characterized by the absence of the cutoff in the region of low frequencies. It has been shown that the modulation instability condition is satisfied in a wide range of mode parameter values, which indicates that large-amplitude radial oscillations can exist in coronal loops.

Thirty small-scale structures in the solar atmosphere, i.e., facula nodes at ±(20°–46°) latitudes, have been studied in order to analyze quasi-periodic variations in the magnetic field. SDO/HMI magnetograms have been used for this purpose. Long-period variations in the magnetic field strength of the considered objects in the 60–280 min range have been revealed as a result of data processing. It has been shown that there are no dependences between the magnetic field and period, nor between the magnetic field and object area. It has been assumed that the discovered variations are not natural oscillations of the magnetic field strength.

The influence of scattering of accelerated electrons in the turbulent plasma on the transformation of their distribution function is studied. The turbulence is connected with the emergence of magnetic inhomogeneities and ion-sound mode. The level of ion-sound turbulence is specified by the ratio W^s/nk_BT_e = 10⁻³, while the value of magnetic fluctuations is δB/B = 10^–3. Different initial angular distributions of the function of accelerated-electron source are regarded: from isotropic to narrow directional distributions. For the chosen energy-density values of the ion-sound turbulence and the level of magnetic fluctuations, it is shown that both types of turbulence lead to a qualitative change in the hard X-ray brightness along the loop, moreover their influence was found to be different. Models with magnetic fluctuations and the ion sound can be distinguished not only by the difference in the hard X-ray distribution along the loop but also by the photon spectrum.

In the current work we describe the Langmuir Probe (LP) and its operation on board the International Space Station. This instrument is a part of the scientific complex “Ostonovka”. The main goal of the complex is to establish, on one hand how such big body as the International Space Station affects the ambient plasma and on the other how Space Weather factors influence the Station. The LP was designed and developed at BAS–SRTI. With this instrument we measure the thermal plasma parameters–electron temperature Te, electron and ion concentration, respectively Ne and Ni, and also the potential at the Station’s surface. The instrument is positioned at around 1.5 meters from the surface of the Station, at the Russian module “Zvezda”, located at the farthermost point of the Space Station, considering the velocity vector. The Multi- Purpose Laboratory (MLM) module is providing additional shielding for our instrument, from the oncoming plasma flow (with respect to the velocity vector). Measurements show that in this area, the plasma concentration is two orders of magnitude lower, in comparison with the unperturbed areas. The surface potential fluctuates between–3 and–25 volts with respect to the ambient plasma. Fast upsurges in the surface potential are detected when passing over the twilight zone and the Equatorial anomaly.

The paper discusses the results of the forecast of solar wind parameters at a distance of 1 AU made according to observations made by the STOP telescope magnetograph during 2014–2015. The Wang–Sheeley–Arge (WSA) empirical model is used to reconstruct the magnetic field topology in the solar corona and estimate the solar wind speed in the interplanetary medium. The proposed model is adapted to STOP magnetograph observations. The results of the calculation of solar wind parameters are compared with ACE satellite measurements. It is shown that the use of STOP observations provides a significant correlation of predicted solar wind speed values with the observed ones.

Long-term correlations between the state of low clouds and variations in the flux of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) were studied. It has been shown that the links between low cloud anomalies and GCR fluxes at midlatitudes of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are caused by variations in the extratropical cyclogenesis intensity which correlated with changes of GCR fluxes in the period from the early 1980s to 2000. At the beginning of the 2000s, the correlation between cloudiness and variations of GCR fluxes was violated, a possible reason being a sharp weakening of the stratospheric polar vortices in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, which resulted in the change of GCR contribution to the circulation of the lower atmosphere.