U-loop emergence on the Sun

In this talk we explain U-loop emergence, in which U-shaped field lines emerge into the solar surface against gravitational force. In principle, they hardly emerge because mass tends to accumulate at the bottom of U-loops, thereby decreasing buoyancy. A key is found to be the shape of U-loops, that is, if U-loops have a shallow dip whose depth is of the order of the photospheric gravitational scale height, then a diverging flow is generated via a siphon-like mechanism by which the mass accumulated at the dip of the loops is drained out to enhance buoyancy. This successfully makes U-part of the loops emerge against gravity. We also discuss the relation between U-loop emergence and the so-called flux cancellation observed on the Sun in which opposite polarity regions apparently approach together and disappear.