The Large-Scale Magnetic Field and Sunspot Cycles

Abstract

Extended abstractWe report on the correlation between the large scale magnetic field and sunspot cycles during the last 80 years that was found by Makarovet al. (1999) and Makarov & Tlatov (2000) in H-αspherical harmonics of the large scale magnetic field for 1915–1999. The sum of intensities of the low modes 1 = 1 and 3, A(t), was used for comparison with the Wolf number, W(t). It was shown that the large scale magnetic field cycles, A(t), precede the sunspot cycles, W(t), by 5.5 years.Let us consider the behaviour in time of the harmonics with low numbers 1 = 1 and 1 = 3. The radial component B(r) of the magnetic field may be expanded in terms of the spherical harmonicswhereθandϕare the latitude and longitude,are Legendre polynomials andandare coefficients of expansion on the spherical functions.The magnetic moments of a dipole (1 = 1) and an octopole (1 = 3) are determined by the following equations:Let us enter the parameter describing their intensity,