Solar flares caused by electromagnetism?

[TalonThorn]

Am I correct in thinking that this isn't mainstream thinking?

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories201 ... flare.html

For decades, experts have searched for signs in the sun that could lead to more accurate forecasts of solar flares — powerful blasts of energy that can supercharge Earth’s upper atmosphere and disrupt satellites and the land-based technologies on which modern societies depend. Now a scientist at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center and her colleagues have found a technique for predicting solar flares two to three days in advance with unprecedented accuracy.

The long-sought clue to prediction lies in changes in twisting magnetic fields beneath the surface of the sun in the days leading up to a flare, according to the authors. The findings will be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters next month.

(article continues at link: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories201 ... flare.html )

[Anaconda]

Hi TalonThorn:

TalonThorn asked:
Am I correct in thinking that this isn't mainstream thinking?

Well, the article doesn't identify or mention 'electricity', but "twisting magnetic fields" does lead to an 'electricity' conclusion, as Birkeland currents are electrical currents in space and they do have a signature of "twisting magnetic fields".

I suspect that there is movement in the "community" at the levels closest to the observations & measurements.

Actual experimentalists do follow observation & measurement, it is the mathematical theoreticians that cling most tightly to the gravity "only" model.

Here are some more papers that suggest at least part of the "community" understand that the Sun is a plasmoid -- Plasma-Magnetic-Enity:

Generation of large scale electric fields in coronal flare circuits

Submission August 6, 2009

A large number of energetic electrons are generated during solar flares. They carry a substantial part of the flare released energy but how these electrons are created is not fully understood yet. This paper suggests that plasma motion in an active region in the photosphere is the source of large electric currents. These currents can be described by macroscopic circuits. Under special circumstances currents can establish in the corona along magnetic field lines. The energy released by these currents when moderate assumptions for the local conditions are made, is found be comparable to the flare energy.

http://arxiv.org/abs/0908.0813

To highlight:

This paper suggests that plasma motion in an active region in the photosphere is the source of large electric currents.

And further:

Driving Currents for Flux Rope Coronal Mass Ejections

Submitted on 23 Oct 2008

We present a method for measuring electrical currents enclosed by flux rope structures that are ejected within solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Such currents are responsible for providing the Lorentz self-force that propels CMEs. Our estimates for the driving current are based on measurements of the propelling force obtained using data from the LASCO coronagraphs aboard the SOHO satellite. We find that upper limits on the currents enclosed by CMEs are typically around $10^{10}$ Amperes. We estimate that the magnetic flux enclosed by the CMEs in the LASCO field of view is a few $\times 10^{21}$ Mx.

http://arxiv.org/abs/0810.4210

To highlight:

We present a method for measuring electrical currents enclosed by flux rope structures that are ejected within solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

So, it would seem there is some movement towards the recognition that the Sun is a plasmoid -- Plasma-Magnetic-Enity.

And that's a good thing.

[Anaconda]

The interesting observation & measurement in the report posted by TalonThorn is this quote:

The long-sought clue to prediction lies in changes in twisting magnetic fields beneath the surface of the sun in the days leading up to a flare, according to the authors.

So, beneath the surface of the Sun there are "twisting magnetic fields" leading up to a flare, also called a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME).

Well, also, it has been observed & measured that once CME's have been ejected out into the heliosphere as part of the solar wind (a charged particle plasma flow) have the shape of a "croissant". Obviously, the French pastry has a twist and this twisted shape owes to the CME's magnetic field.

As reported by NASA: The Surprising Shape of Solar Storms (see link below):

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/14apr_3dcme.htm

April 14, 2009: This just in: The Sun is blasting the solar system with croissants.

Researchers studying data from NASA's twin STEREO probes have found that ferocious solar storms called CMEs (coronal mass ejections) are shaped like a French pastry. The elegance and simplicity of the new "croissant model" is expected to dramatically improve forecasts of severe space weather.

Coronal mass ejections are billion-ton clouds of hot magnetized gas [plasma] that explode away from the sun at speeds topping a million mph. Sometimes the clouds make a beeline for Earth and when they hit they can cause geomagnetic storms, satellite outages, auroras, and power blackouts. The ability to predict the speed and trajectory of a CME is key to space weather forecasting.

"This is an important advance," says Lika Guhathakurta, STEREO program scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington DC. From a distance, CMEs appear to be a complicated and varied population. Almost all of the 40-plus CMEs we have studied so far with STEREO have a common shape--akin to a croissant."

Vourlidas says he is not surprised that CMEs resemble French pastries. "I have suspected this all along. The croissant shape is a natural result of twisted magnetic fields on the sun..."

"That's how CMEs get started—as twisted ropes of solar magnetism. When the energy in the twist reaches some threshold, there is an explosion [exploding double layers?] which expels the CME away from the sun. It looks like a croissant because the twisted ropes are fat in the middle and thin on the ends."

But there is more that NASA researchers want to find out:

The shape alone, however, does not tell the full story of a CME. The contents of the CME must be considered, too. How much plasma does it contain? What is the orientation and strength of its internal magnetic field? When a CME strikes, the havoc it causes will depend on the answers—answers the croissant model does not yet provide.

"There is more work to do. We must learn to look at a CME and not only trace its shape, but also inventory in contents," says Guhathakurta. "We are halfway there."

So, from below the surface of the Sun and continuing far from the Sun's surface "twisted magnetic fields" are observed & measured.

Interesting...

[mharratsc]

Yah, but those yahoos are gonna need to be hit on the head by whatever satellite makes the observation that the Sun is connected electrically with the rest of the galaxy before they'll believe that the currents and EM fields they see on the Sun are generated anywhere else than the Sun's 'built in nuclear reactor' and 'magnetic dynamo'...

[nick c]

The long-sought clue to prediction lies in changes in twisting magnetic fields beneath the surface of the sun in the days leading up to a flare, according to the authors. The findings will be published in Astrophysical Journal Letters next month.

These researchers would do well to study Alfvens solar model, as well as Don Scott's The Electric Sky, especially chapter 11, "The Sun's Electrical Atmosphere."

Hannes Alfven's Solar Prominence Circuit

Electric Currents beneath the Sun's Surface
[...]
A secondary leakage current that flows on or just below the Sun's surface, back toward the equator from each of the poles, can explain another one of the "mysteries" the Sun poses for solar astrophysicists.
It is highly likely that such a current system has already been discovered. Stanford University recently announced, "Scientists using the joint European Space Agency (ESA)/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft have discovered 'jet streams' or 'rivers' of hot, electrically charged gas (plasma) flowing beneath the surface of the Sun. They also found features similar to 'trade winds' that transport gas beneath the Sun's fiery surface." Rivers of plasma are electric currents. Currents cause mangetic fields.

The Electric Sky, Scott, p.111

Nick