Instantaneous Phase and Amplitude Correlation in the Solar Cycle

摘要

In the present study we address the issue of discerning between deterministic and stochastic paradigms in order to understand the behavior of the solar cycle. To this end we show the degree of correlation between the instantaneous amplitude and frequency in the sunspot number time series by the use of the Gabor analytic signal. We compare this correlation with those arising from two theoretical models: (a) the Barnes model of widespread use in the literature and (b) a spatial truncation of the MHD equations. We show that comparisons between the correlation observed in the sunspot time series with those arising from theoretical models can be used to refute one of the models.