Simulated and observed large-scale magnetic fields of the Sun. Top panel: Variations in the optimized simulated polar flux (solid curves) alongside the observed polar flux obtained from the MWO polar faculae database (dashed curves) for solar cycles 15–23. The red and blue curves represent the northern and southern hemispheres, respectively. Additionally, the black and gray curves in the same panel depict the total yearly and monthly averaged unsigned sunspot flux, derived from the RGO/USAF/NOAA database. Bottom panel: Time-latitudinal distribution of the radial magnetic field (B_r) based on the optimized simulation. Here, yellow and blue shades respectively indicate magnetic fields of positive and negative polarity.