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F. Cattaneo (UofC)
Magnetic activity on the Sun presents us with an interesting dichotomy. On large spatial and temporal scales the solar magnetic field displays a remarkable degree of organization. The 11 years cadence of the solar cycle, Hales' polarity law, and the systematic drift of the regions of emergence of active regions towards the equator throughout the solar cycle are all indicative of a powerful organizing process. On small spatial and temporal scales, the Solar magnetic field appears random and chaotic. It is interesting that recent advances in dynamo theory provide us with a unified approach to solar magnetic activity whereby both large and small scales emerge naturally as dynamo processes associated with rotationally constrained and unconstrained scales of motions in the convection zone (or directly below it). According to this view all coherent scales of motions produce magnetic structures of comparable coherence length. Those that are further endowed with lack of reflectional symmetry by virtue of being rotationally constrained are further associated with inverse cascades that can generate magnetic structures on larger scales still. The picture that emerges is one in which dynamo action proceeds on different time scales all over the convection zone. But only in very special regions, like for instance the solar tachocline, is the magnetic field organized on large scales. This idea provides a natural explanation for the origin of active regions, ephemeral regions, and intra--network fields.