The variable magnetic field of the solar photosphere exhibits periodic reversals as a result of dynamo activity occurring within the solar interior. We decompose the surface field as observed by both the Wilcox Solar Observatory and the Michelson Dop
pler Imager into its harmonic constituents, and present the time evolution of the mode coefficients for the past three sunspot cycles. The interplay between the various modes is then interpreted from the perspective of general dynamo theory, where the coupling between the primary and secondary families of modes is found to correlate with large-scale polarity reversals for many examples of cyclic dynamos. Mean-field dynamos based on the solar parameter regime are then used to explore how such couplings may result in the various long-term trends in the surface magnetic field observed to occur in the solar case.
Nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) models are thought to be viable tools for investigating the structure, dynamics and evolution of the coronae of solar active regions. In a series of NLFFF modeling studies, we have found that NLFFF models are succes
sful in application to analytic test cases, and relatively successful when applied to numerically constructed Sun-like test cases, but they are less successful in application to real solar data. Different NLFFF models have been found to have markedly different field line configurations and to provide widely varying estimates of the magnetic free energy in the coronal volume, when applied to solar data. NLFFF models require consistent, force-free vector magnetic boundary data. However, vector magnetogram observations sampling the photosphere, which is dynamic and contains significant Lorentz and buoyancy forces, do not satisfy this requirement, thus creating several major problems for force-free coronal modeling efforts. In this article, we discuss NLFFF modeling of NOAA Active Region 10953 using Hinode/SOT-SP, Hinode/XRT, STEREO/SECCHI-EUVI, and SOHO/MDI observations, and in the process illustrate the three such issues we judge to be critical to the success of NLFFF modeling: (1) vector magnetic field data covering larger areas are needed so that more electric currents associated with the full active regions of interest are measured, (2) the modeling algorithms need a way to accommodate the various uncertainties in the boundary data, and (3) a more realistic physical model is needed to approximate the photosphere-to-corona interface in order to better transform the forced photospheric magnetograms into adequate approximations of nearly force-free fields at the base of the corona. We make recommendations for future modeling efforts to overcome these as yet unsolved problems.
