An alternative Mechanism of the Solar Cycle

Deviating from the traditional dynamo mechanism, we model the solar cycle as a forced and damped harmonic oscillator and from all 22 cycles (1755-1996), we obtain long-term amplitudes, frequencies, phases and decay factor. For all the solar cycles, we find that amplitude and frequencies of the sinusoidal part remain constant and a very small decay factor from the transient part. These results suggest persistent MHD oscillations that might be compatible with long-period (22 yr) Alfvenic oscillations. The Maunder-minimum type of solar activity is explained as a result of coupled poloidal and toroidal MHD oscillations.