Magnetic field configuration favoring X-class solar flares: violation of Joy's and Hale's laws
S. Liu, J. T. Su, M. Zhang, J. X. Wang
astro-ph.SR
Submitted: 2026-07-13
Comments: 13 pages, 5 figures, 1 table
Journal ref: ApJS 2026
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The gist: We investigate the statistical relationship between magnetic tilt angle and X-class flare productivity using 39 flare-productive active regions that produced 64 X-class flares.
Terminology
Abstract
We investigate the statistical relationship between magnetic tilt angle and X-class flare productivity using 39 flare-productive active regions that produced 64 X-class flares. By classifying global magnetic tilt properties into four quadrants based on compliance with Hale's and Joy's laws, we identify their distinctive flare productivity characteristics. The Green quadrant (following both laws) contains 18 active regions producing 24 X-class flares, while the Yellow quadrant (following Hale's law but violating Joy's law) shows significantly enhanced productivity with 18 active regions producing 36 X-class flares. The Black quadrant (violating both laws), though containing only 3 active regions, produces 4 X-class flares. More importantly, flares in both the Yellow and Black quadrants exhibit systematically higher flare classes compared to those in the Green quadrant. Our statistical analysis demonstrates that violation of Hale's or Joy's law at the global scale are strongly associated with increased flare occurrence and flare intensity. Furthermore, examination of globally normal (Green quadrant) regions reveals that localized tilt anomalies are universally present and also contribute to X-class flare production. These results establish that abnormal magnetic tilt configurations - whether occurring at the global or local scale - are key indicators of major flare activity.
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