On the periodicity of energy release in solar active regions

We investigate the periodic regimes of energy release on the Sun, namely, the recurrence of solar flares in active regions using the Solar Geophysical Data Journal on Hα flares from 1979 until 1981, which corresponds to the maximum of solar cycle 21. We obtained the following series of periods in the manifestation of flare activity bymeans of a correlation periodogram analysis, a self-similarity function, and a wavelet analysis: ∼1, 2, 3 h as well as ∼0.4, 1, 2, 5 days. We suggest a diffusive model for the quasi-periodic transfer of toroidal magnetic fields from under the photosphere to interpret the retrieved sequence of periods in the enhancement of flare activity. We estimated the typical spatial scales of the magnetic field variations in the solar convection zone: ∼17 000 km.