On the Hemispheric Rule of Magnetic Helicity in the Sun: Test with the Active Regions in Solar Cycle 24

Abstract:

Magnetic twist in solar active regions (ARs) has been found to have a hemispheric preference in sign (hemisphere rule): negative in the northern hemisphere and positive in the southern. The preference reported in previous studies ranges greatly, from ~ 58% to 82%. In this study, we examine this hemispheric preference with ARs in Solar Cycle 24 using vector magnetic field data taken by Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) and find that 75% ± 7% of 151 ARs studied obey the hemisphere rule, well within the preference range in previous studies. If the sample is divided into two groups: ARs having magnetic twist and writhe of the same sign (group-same) and having opposite signs (group-opposite), the strength of the hemispheric preference differs substantially: 64% ± 11% for group-same and 87% ± 8% for group-opposite. This difference becomes even more significant in a sub-sample of 82 ARs having a simple bipole magnetic configuration: 56% ± 16% for the ARs in group-same, and 93% with lower and upper confidence bounds of 80% and 98% for the ARs in group-opposite. This may suggest that, prior to emergence of magnetic tubes, either the sign of twist does not have a hemispheric preference or the twist is relatively weak.

Emerging ARs show an even greater difference between the two groups. In a sample of 116 emerging ARs, it is found that 84% of ARs in group-opposite follows the hemispheric rule, whereas only 34% of ARs in group-same follows the rule. A sample without emerging ARs (120 ARs) shows 88% in group-opposite and 71% of ARs in group-opposite that obey the rule. This suggests that surface dynamics plays a role in building-up magnetic twist in ARs after they emerge.