  Recent studies of NOAA active region 10953, by Okamoto {\it et al.} ({\it
Astrophys. J. Lett.} {\bf 673}, 215, 2008; {\it Astrophys. J.} {\bf 697}, 913,
2009), have interpreted photospheric observations of changing widths of the
polarities and reversal of the horizontal magnetic field component as
signatures of the emergence of a twisted flux tube within the active region and
along its internal polarity inversion line (PIL). A filament is observed along
the PIL and the active region is assumed to have an arcade structure. To
investigate this scenario, MacTaggart and Hood ({\it Astrophys. J. Lett.} {\bf
716}, 219, 2010) constructed a dynamic flux emergence model of a twisted
cylinder emerging into an overlying arcade. The photospheric signatures
observed by Okamoto {\it et al.} (2008, 2009) are present in the model although
their underlying physical mechanisms differ. The model also produces two
additional signatures that can be verified by the observations. The first is an
increase in the unsigned magnetic flux in the photosphere at either side of the
PIL. The second is the behaviour of characteristic photospheric flow profiles
associated with twisted flux tube emergence. We look for these two signatures
in AR 10953 and find negative results for the emergence of a twisted flux tube
along the PIL. Instead, we interpret the photospheric behaviour along the PIL
to be indicative of photospheric magnetic cancellation driven by flows from the
dominant sunspot. Although we argue against flux emergence within this
particular region, the work demonstrates the important relationship between
theory and observations for the successful discovery and interpretation of
signatures of flux emergence.
