Heliospheric
Current Sheet Tilt Synchronization
Series II Test 2B
Introduction
This test (Test 2B) expands the solar-cycle phase analysis by incorporating the tilt of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS), commonly referred to as the “ballerina skirt”. The objective is to determine whether the large-scale geometry of the heliospheric current sheet participates in the same solar-cycle phase structure observed in the Test 2A.
If the Möbius Solar Constitution framework is correct, the oscillation of the heliospheric current sheet should exhibit a systematic relationship with other solar-cycle signals such as sunspot amplitude progression, butterfly migration and magnetic polarity reversal.
Datasets
The following observational sources are considered in this test:
Heliospheric Current Sheet Tilt Index
Measurements of the tilt of the heliospheric current sheet are routinely produced by solar observatories using models of the Sun’s global magnetic field. The Wilcox Solar Observatory tilt index is commonly used for this purpose.
Sunspot Number Record
The SILSO monthly mean sunspot number provides a continuous measure of solar activity and defines the phase of the solar cycle.
Butterfly Diagram Migration
Sunspot latitude data provide a measure of the equatorward drift of solar magnetic activity bands.
Method
1. The solar cycle is normalized to a phase scale from 0 (cycle minimum) to 1 (cycle maximum).
2. Sunspot amplitude progression is plotted along this phase axis.
3. Butterfly diagram migration is placed on the same axis.
4. Heliospheric current sheet tilt is added to determine whether tilt extrema align with the same phase region.
Expected Behavior
The heliospheric current sheet is known to exhibit minimal tilt during solar minimum and significant oscillation near solar maximum. In visual terms, the ballerina skirt becomes more pronounced as solar activity increases.
Within the Möbius Solar Constitution framework, this increasing oscillation is interpreted as a geometric expression of the same recursion phase that drives the solar magnetic cycle.
The skirt tilt therefore provides an independent heliospheric indicator of the phase region in which the solar magnetic field approaches inversion.
Interpretation
If the tilt extrema of the heliospheric current sheet occur in the same phase region as the signals identified in Test 2A, this would suggest that the heliospheric geometry participates in the same recursive cycle governing solar magnetic behavior.
Such a result would extend the Constitution from solar-surface phenomena into the heliosphere itself, linking the butterfly diagram and Hale magnetic cycle to the large-scale magnetic structure of the solar wind environment.
Next Step
The next test (Test 2C) will examine whether the phase relationships identified in the first two tests persist across multiple solar cycles. Repeating the analysis across additional cycles will determine whether the observed phase alignment is a persistent feature of solar behavior or a coincidence
within a single cycle.
Produced by The Lilborn Equation Team:
Michael Lilborn-Williams
Daniel Thomas Rouse
Thomas Jackson Barnard
Audrey Williams