Solar Pacifiers: Influence of the Planets May Subdue Solar Activity
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Solar pacifiers: Influence of the planets may subdue solar activity:
Our Sun is about five times less magnetically active than other sunlike stars - effectively a special case. The reason for this could reside in the planets in our solar system, say researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR). In the last ten years, they have developed a model that derives virtually all the Sun's known activity cycles from the cyclical influence of the planets' tidal forces. Now they have also been able to demonstrate that this external synchronization automatically curbs solar activity (DOI: 10.1007/s11207-025-02521-0).
At the moment, the Sun is actually reaching a maximum level of activity only seen roughly every eleven years. That is the reason why we on Earth observe more polar lights and solar storms as well as turbulent space weather in general. This has an impact on satellites in space right down to technological infrastructure on Earth. Despite this, in comparison with other sunlike stars, the strongest radiation eruptions from our Sun are 10 to 100 times weaker. This relatively quiet environment could be an important precondition for Earth being inhabitable. Not least for this reason, solar physicists want to understand what precisely drives solar activity.
It is known that solar activity has many patterns - both shorter and longer periodic fluctuations that range from a few hundred days to several thousand years. But researchers have very different ways of explaining the underlying physical mechanisms. The model developed by the team led by Frank Stefani at HZDR's Institute of Fluid Dynamics views the planets as pacemakers: on this understanding, approximately every eleven years, Venus, Earth and Jupiter focus their combined tidal forces on the Sun. Via a complex physical mechanism, each time they give the Sun's inner magnetic drive a little nudge. In combination with the rosette-shaped orbital motion of the Sun, this leads to overlapping periodic fluctuations of varying lengths - exactly as observed in the Sun.
"All the solar cycles identified are a logical consequence of our model; its explanatory power and internal consistency are really astounding. Each time we have refined our model we have discovered additional correlations with the periods observed," says Stefani. In the work now published, this is QBO - Quasi Biennial Oscillation - a roughly bi-annual fluctuation in various aspects of solar activity. The special point here is that in Stefani's model, QBO cannot only be assigned to a precise period, but it also automatically leads to subdued solar activity.
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