Solar Small-Scale Magnetoconvection

Magnetoconvection simulations on mesogranule and granule scales near the solar surface are used to study the effect of convective motions on magnetic fields: the sweeping of magnetic flux into downflow lanes, the twisting of magnetic field lines, and the emergence and disappearance of magnetic flux tubes. From weak seed fields, convective motions produce highly intermittent magnetic fields in the intergranular lanes that collect over the boundaries of the underlying mesogranular scale cells. Instances of both emerging magnetic flux loops and magnetic flux disappearing from the surface occur in the simulations. We show an example of a flux tube collapsing to kilogauss field strength and a case of flux disappearance due to submergence of the flux. We note that observed Stokes profiles of small magnetic structures are severely distorted by telescope diffraction and seeing, so caution is needed in interpreting low-resolution vector magnetograms of small-scale magnetic structures.