Speaker
Description
We use statistical tools to analyse data from HMI to determine the magnetic flux distribution of photospheric magnetic features and its variation over a solar cycle. The nature of the observed flux distributions at different times during the solar cycle could be used to try and infer information about magnetic field generation mechanisms. In particular we compare whether the magnetic flux distributions are represented by a single power law or whether other distribution functions can provide a better representation of the data.
We find that the hypothesis that the distribution of observed photospheric fluxes follows a single power law over the full solar cycle cannot be discounted and investigate how the power law distribution changes over the solar cycle . We also consider whether a 'double' power law distribution could actually be more reasonable than that of a single power law. We also discuss potential implications of a double power law distribution for solar magnetic field generation.
