Cancelling Magnetic Features on the Sun

A cancelling magnetic feature (CMF) is believed to be a result of magnetic reconnection in the low atmosphere of the Sun. In this work, we investigate the physical properties of CMFs, focusing on the rates of flux cancellation in CMFs and the dynamics of chromospheric phenomena coupled with CMFs. First, we have determined the specific rates of flux cancellation using the magnetograms taken by the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) aboard the Hinode satellite. The specific rates determined with the SOT turned out to be systematically higher than those based on the data taken by the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) aborad the SOHO. Second, we analyzed transient Ca II brightenings associated with small-scale CMFs using the SOT/Hinode. We found that in most Ca II brightenings related to CMFs, and the Ca II intensity peaks after magnetic flux cancellation proceeds. Moreover, brightenings tend to appear as pairs of bright points of similar size and similar brightness overlying magnetic bipoles. To further study the brightening and dynamics of chromospherie features associated with CMFs, we have analyzed Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph (FISS) data. From this data the Doppler motion of chromospheric features above a CMF changed from redshift to blueshift. The duration of such dynamics is very short being less than 2 minutes. These results are unexpected one and can not be explained by any pre-existing pictures of CMFs.