The Astrophysical Journal, 773, article id. 111
The solar atmosphere may be heated by Alfven waves that propagate up from the convection zone and dissipate their energy in the chromosphere and corona. To further test this theory, we consider wave heating in an active region observed on 2012 March 7. A potential field model of the region is constructed, and 22 field lines representing observed coronal loops are traced through the model. Using a three-dimensional (3D) reduced magnetohydrodynamics code, we simulate the dynamics of Alfven waves in and near the observed loops. The results for different loops are combined into a single formula describing the average heating rate Q as a function of position within the observed active region. We suggest this expression may be approximately valid also for other active regions, and therefore may be used to construct 3D, time-dependent models of the coronal plasma. Such models are needed to understand the role of thermal non-equilibrium in the structuring and dynamics of the Sun's corona.
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 773, article id. 110
The current sheet that extends from the top of flare loops and connects to an associated flux rope is a common structure in models of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). To understand the observational properties of CME current sheets, we generated predictions from a flare/CME model to be compared with observations. We use a simulation of a large-scale CME current sheet previously reported by Reeves et al. This simulation includes ohmic and coronal heating, thermal conduction, and radiative cooling in the energy equation. Using the results of this simulation, we perform time-dependent ionization calculations of the flow in a CME current sheet and construct two-dimensional spatial distributions of ionic charge states for multiple chemical elements. We use the filter responses from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory and the predicted intensities of emission lines to compute the count rates for each of the AIA bands. The results show differences in the emission line intensities between equilibrium and non-equilibrium ionization. The current sheet plasma is underionized at low heights and overionized at large heights. At low heights in the current sheet, the intensities of the AIA 94 Ang. and 131 Ang. channels are lower for non-equilibrium ionization than for equilibrium ionization. At large heights, these intensities are higher for non-equilibrium ionization than for equilibrium ionization inside the current sheet. The assumption of ionization equilibrium would lead to a significant underestimate of the temperature low in the current sheet and overestimate at larger heights. We also calculate the intensities of ultraviolet lines and predict emission features to be compared with events from the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, including a low-intensity region around the current sheet corresponding to this model.
Physics of Plasmas, 20, p. 072114
We perform a set of two dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations to study the reconnection process occurring in current sheets that develop during solar eruptions. Reconnection commences gradually and produces small-scale structures inside the current sheet, which has one end anchored to the bottom boundary and the other end open. The main features we study include plasmoids (or plasma blobs) flowing in the sheet, and X-points between pairs of adjacent islands. The statistical properties of the fine structure and the dependence of the spectral energy on these properties are examined. The flux and size distribution functions of plasmoids roughly follow inverse square power laws at large scales. The mass distribution function is steep at large scales and shallow at small scales. The size distribution also shows that plasmoids are highly asymmetric soon after being formed, while older plasmoids tend to be more circular. The spectral profiles of magnetic and kinetic energy inside the current sheet are both consistent with a power law. The corresponding spectral indices ? are found to vary with the magnetic Reynolds number Rm of the system, but tend to approach a constant for large Rm (>105). The motion and growth of blobs change the spectral index. The growth of new islands causes the power spectrum to steepen, but it becomes shallower when old and large plasmoids leave the computational domain.
Physics of Plasmas, 20, p. 061211
Theoretical studies of the plasmoid instability generally assume that the reconnecting magnetic fields are symmetric. We relax this assumption by performing two-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the plasmoid instability during asymmetric inflow magnetic reconnection. Magnetic asymmetry modifies the onset, scaling, and dynamics of this instability. Magnetic islands develop preferentially into the weak magnetic field upstream region. Outflow jets from individual X-points impact plasmoids obliquely rather than directly as in the symmetric case. Consequently, deposition of momentum by the outflow jets into the plasmoids is less efficient, the plasmoids develop net vorticity, and shear flow slows down secondary merging between islands. Secondary merging events have asymmetry along both the inflow and outflow directions. Downstream plasma is more turbulent in cases with magnetic asymmetry because islands are able to roll around each other after exiting the current sheet. As in the symmetric case, plasmoid formation facilitates faster reconnection for at least small and moderate magnetic asymmetries. However, when the upstream magnetic field strengths differ by a factor of 4, the reconnection rate plateaus at a lower value than expected from scaling the symmetric results. We perform a parameter study to investigate the onset of the plasmoid instability as a function of magnetic asymmetry and domain size. There exist domain sizes for which symmetric simulations are stable but asymmetric simulations are unstable, suggesting that moderate magnetic asymmetry is somewhat destabilizing. We discuss the implications for plasmoid and flux rope formation in solar eruptions, laboratory reconnection experiments, and space plasmas. The differences between symmetric and asymmetric simulations provide some hints regarding the nature of the three-dimensional plasmoid instability.
The Astrophysical Journal, 768, article id. 161
We present an analysis of extreme-ultraviolet and soft X-ray emission detected toward Comet Lovejoy (C/2011 W3) during its post-perihelion traverse of the solar corona on 2011 December 16. Observations were recorded by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory and the X-Ray Telescope (XRT) aboard Hinode. A single set of contemporaneous images is explored in detail, along with prefatory consideration for time evolution using only the 171 Ang. data. For each of the eight passbands, we characterize the emission and derive outgassing rates where applicable. As material sublimates from the nucleus and is immersed in coronal plasma, it rapidly ionizes through charge states seldom seen in this environment. The AIA data show four stages of oxygen ionization (O III-O VI) along with C IV, while XRT likely captured emission from O VII, a line typical of the corona. With a nucleus of at least several hundred meters upon approach to a perihelion that brought the comet to within 0.2 Ro of the photosphere, Lovejoy was the most significant sungrazer in recent history. Correspondingly high outgassing rates on the order of 10^32.5 oxygen atoms per second are estimated. Assuming that the neutral oxygen comes from water, this translates to a mass-loss rate of ~9.5 x 10^9 g s^-1, and based only on the 171 Ang. observations, we find a total mass loss of ~10^13 g over the AIA egress. Additional and supporting analyses include a differential emission measure to characterize the coronal environment, consideration for the opening angle, and a comparison of the emission's leading edge with the expected position of the nucleus
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 767, id. 125
The solar wind is connected to the Sun's atmosphere by flux tubes that are rooted in an ever-changing pattern of positive and negative magnetic polarities on the surface. Observations indicate that the magnetic field is filamentary and intermittent across a wide range of spatial scales. However, we do not know to what extent the complex flux-tube topology seen near the Sun survives as the wind expands into interplanetary space. In order to study the possible long-distance connections between the corona and the heliosphere, we developed new models of turbulence-driven solar wind acceleration along empirically constrained field lines. We used a potential field model of the quiet Sun to trace field lines into the ecliptic plane with unprecedented spatial resolution at their footpoints. For each flux tube, a one-dimensional model was created with an existing wave/turbulence code that solves equations of mass, momentum, and energy conservation from the photosphere to 4 AU. To take account of stream-stream interactions between flux tubes, we used those models as inner boundary conditions for a time-steady magnetohydrodynamic description of radial and longitudinal structure in the ecliptic. Corotating stream interactions smear out much of the smallest-scale variability, making it difficult to see how individual flux tubes on granular or supergranular scales can survive out to 1 AU. However, our models help clarify the level of "background" variability with which waves and turbulent eddies should be expected to interact. Also, the modeled fluctuations in magnetic field magnitude were seen to match measured power spectra quite well.
Journal of Geophysical Research, 118, 967
Ultraviolet spectra of the extended solar corona have been routinely obtained by SOHO/UltraViolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) since 1996. Sudden variations of spectral parameters are mainly due to the detection of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) crossing the instrumental slit. We present a catalog of CME ultraviolet spectra based upon a systematic search of events in the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) CME catalog, and we discuss their statistical properties. Our catalog includes 1059 events through the end of 2005, covering nearly a full solar cycle. It is available online at the URL http://solarweb.oato.inaf.it/UVCS_CME and embedded in the online LASCO CME catalog (http://cdaw.gsfc.nasa.gov/CME_list). The emission lines observed provide diagnostics of CME plasma parameters, such as the light-of-sight velocity, density, and temperature and allow to link the CME onset data to the extended corona white-light images. The catalog indicates whether there are clear signatures of features such as shock waves, current sheets, O VI flares, helical motions, and which part of the CME structures (front, cavity, or prominence material) are detected. The most common detected structure is the cool prominence material (in about 70% of the events). For each event, the catalog also contains movies, images, plots, and information relevant to address detailed scientific investigations. The number of events detected in UV is about one tenth of the LASCO CMEs and about one fourth of the halo events. We find that UVCS tends to detect faster, more massive, and energetic CME than LASCO, and for about 40% of the events, it has been possible to determine the plasma light-of-sight velocity.
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 766, article id. 65
Current sheets (CSs) are important signatures of magnetic reconnection in the eruption of confined solar magnetic structures. Models of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) involve formation of a CS connecting the ejected flux rope with the post-eruption magnetic loops. CSs have been identified in white light (WL) images of CMEs as narrow rays trailing the outward moving CME core, and in ultraviolet spectra as narrow bright features emitting the [Fe XVIII] line. In this work, samples of rays detected in WL images or in ultraviolet spectra have been analyzed. Temperatures, widths, and line intensities of the rays have been measured, and their correlation to the CME properties has been studied. The samples show a wide range of temperatures with hot, coronal, and cool rays. In some cases, the UV spectra support the identification of rays as CSs, but they show that some WL rays are cool material from the CME core. In many cases, both hot and cool material are present, but offset from each other along the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer slit. We find that about 18% of the WL rays show very hot gas consistent with the CS interpretation, while about 23% show cold gas that we attribute to cool prominence material draining back from the CME core. The remaining events have ordinary coronal temperatures, perhaps because they have relaxed back to a quiescent state.
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 762, article id. 18
Quiescent streamers are characterized by a peculiar UV signature as pointed out by the results from the observations of the Ultraviolet and Coronograph Spectrometer (UVCS) on board SOHO: the intensity of heavy-ion emission lines (such as O VI) shows dimmer core relative to the edges. Previous models show that the structure of the heavy-ion streamer emission relates to the acceleration regions of the slow solar wind at streamer legs and to gravitational settling processes in the streamer core. Observations of Mg^9+ ion EUV emission in coronal streamers at solar minimum were first reported by the UVCS instrument. The Mg X 625 Ang. emission is an order of magnitude smaller than the O VI 1032 Ang. emission, requiring longer exposures to obtain statistically significant results. Here, Mg X coronal observations are analyzed and compared, for the first time, with the solar minimum streamer structure in hydrogen and O VI emissions. We employ the 2.5D three-fluid model, developed previously to study the properties of O5 + ions in streamers, and calculate for the first time the density, temperature, and outflow structure of Mg^9+ ions in the solar minimum streamer. The Mg^9+ ions are heated by an empirical radial heating function constrained by observations of the kinetic ion temperature obtained from Mg X emission line profiles. The detailed structure of Mg^9+ density, temperature, and outflow speed is determined by the Coulomb momentum and energy exchange as well as electromagnetic interactions with electrons and protons in the three-fluid model of the streamer. The results of the model are in good qualitative agreement with observations, and provide insights on the possible link between the magnetic structure of the streamer, slow solar wind sources, and relative abundances of heavy ions.