A new hypothesis of sunspot formation
Abstract
Description
The process of sunspot formation is considered with the account of heat effects. According to the Le Chatelier principle, a local overheating must precede to the cooling of solar surface in the places of sunspot formation. The sunspot dynamics is a process close to the surface nucleate-free boiling in a thin layer with formation of bubbles (or craters), so we focus on the analogy between these two processes. Solar spots and surface nucleate-free boiling in a thin layer have similarities in formation conditions, results of impact on the surface were they have been formed, periodicity, and their place in the hierarchy of self-organization in complex systems. The difference is in the working medium and method of channelling of extra energy from the overheated surface -for boiling process, the energy is forwarded to generation of vapor, and in sunspots the solar energy is consumed to formation of a strong magnetic field. This analogy explains the problem of a steady brightness (temperature) of a spot that is independent of the spot size and other characteristics.
10 pages in LaTeX, 5 figures (JPEG)
10 pages in LaTeX, 5 figures (JPEG)