Helical Surface Structures

Abstract

Over the past few years there has been growing interest in helical magnetic field structures seen at the solar surface, in coronal mass ejections, as well as in the solar wind. Although there is a great deal of randomness in the data, on average the extended structures are mostly left-handed on the northern hemisphere and right-handed on the southern. Surface field structures are also classified as dextral (= right bearing) and sinistral (= left bearing) occurring preferentially in the northern and southern hemispheres respectively. Of particular interest here is a quantitative measurement of the associated emergence rates of helical structures, which translate to magnetic helicity fluxes. In this review, we give a brief survey of what has been found so far and what is expected based on models. Particular emphasis is put on the scale dependence of the associated fields and an attempt is made to estimate the helicity flux of the mean field vs. fluctuating field.