Coronal holes and solar magnetic fields

Since 1972, nearly continuous observations of coronal holes and their associated photospheric magnetic fields have been made using a variety of satellite and ground-based equipment. The results of comparisons of these observations are reviewed and it is demonstrated that the structure and evolution of coronal holes is basically governed by the large-scale distribution of photospheric magnetic flux. Non-polar holes form in the decaying remnants of bipolar magnetic regions in areas with a large-scale flux imbalance. There is strong indirect evidence that the magnetic field in coronal holes is always open to interplanetary space but not all open-field regions have associated coronal holes. The well-observed declining phase of the last solar cycle was characterized by stable magnetic field and coronal hole patterns which were associated with recurrent, high-speed wind streams and interplanetary magnetic field patterns at the Earth. The ascending phase of the current cycle has been characterized by transient magnetic field and coronal hole patterns which tend to occur at high solar latitudes. This shift in magnetic field and coronal hole patterns has resulted in a less obvious and more complicated association with high-speed wind streams at the Earth.Proceedings of the Symposium on Solar Terrestrial Physics held in Innsbruck, May–June 1978.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.Visiting Scientist, Kitt Peak National Observatory.     

Coronal Holes and Open Magnetic Flux

Coronal holes are low-density regions of the corona which appear dark in X-rays and which contain “open” magnetic flux, along which plasma escapes into the heliosphere. Like the rest of the Sun’s large-scale field, the open flux originates in active regions but is subsequently redistributed over the solar surface by transport processes, eventually forming the polar coronal holes. The total open flux and radial interplanetary field component vary roughly as the Sun’s total dipole strength, which tends to peak a few years after sunspot maximum. An inverse correlation exists between the rate of flux-tube expansion in coronal holes and the solar wind speed at 1 AU. In the rapidly diverging fields present at the polar hole boundaries and near active regions, the bulk of the heating occurs at low heights, leading to an increase in the mass flux density at the Sun and a decrease in the asymptotic wind speed. The quasi-rigid rotation of coronal holes is maintained by continual footpoint exchanges between open and closed field lines, with the reconnection taking place at the streamer cusps. At much lower heights within the hole interiors, “interchange reconnection” between small bipoles and the overlying open flux also gives rise to coronal jets and polar plumes.     

Source Region of High and Low Speed Wind during the Spartan 201-05 Flight

The large-scale coronal magnetic fields of the Sun are believed to play an important role in organizing the coronal plasma and channeling the high and low speed solar wind along the open magnetic field lines of the polar coronal holes and the rapidly diverging field lines close to the current sheet regions, as has been observed by the instruments aboard the Ulysses spacecraft from March 1992 to March 1997. We have performed a study of this phenomena within the framework of a semi-empirical model of the coronal expansion and solar wind using Spartan, SOHO, and Ulysses observations during the quiescent phase of the solar cycle. Key to this understanding is the demonstration that the white light coronagraph data can be used to trace out the topology of the coronal magnetic field and then using the Ulysses data to fix the strength of the surface magnetic field of the Sun. As a consequence, it is possible to utilize this semi-empirical model with remote sensing observation of the shape and density of the solar corona and in situ data of magnetic field and mass flux to predict values of the solar wind at all latitudes through out the solar system. We have applied this technique to the observations of Spartan 201-05 on 1–2 November, 1998, SOHO and Ulysses during the rising phase of this solar cycle and speculate on what solar wind velocities Ulysses will observe during its polar passes over the south and the north poles during September of 2000 and 2001. In order to do this the model has been generalized to include multiple streamer belts and co-located current sheets. The model shows some interesting new results. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Observations of the solar wind from coronal holes

The solar wind emanating from coronal holes (CH) constitutes a quasi-stationary flow whose properties change only slowly with the evolution of the hole itself. Some of the properties of the wind from coronal holes depend on whether the source is a large polar coronal hole or a small near-equatorial hole. The speed of polar CH flows is usually between 700 and 800 km/s, whereas the speed from the small equatorial CH flows is generally lower and can be <400 km/s. At 1 AU, the average particle and energy fluxes from polar CH are 2.5×10⁸ cm^–2 sec^–1 and 2.0 erg cm^–2 s^–1. This particle flux is significantly less than the 4×10⁸ cm^–2 sec^–1 observed in the slow, interstream wind, but the energy fluxes are approximately the same. Both the particle and energy fluxes from small equatorial holes are somewhat smaller than the fluxes from the large polar coronal holes.Many of the properties of the wind from coronal holes can be explained, at least qualitatively, as being the result of the effect of the large flux of outward-propagating Alfvén waves observed in CH flows. The different ion species have roughly equal thermal speeds which are also close to the Alfvén speed. The velocity of heavy ions exceeds the proton velocity by the Alfvén speed, as if the heavy ions were surfing on the waves carried by the proton fluid.The elemental composition of the CH wind is less fractionated, having a smaller enhancement of elements with low first-ionization potentials than the interstream wind, the wind from coronal mass ejections, or solar energetic particles. There is also evidence of fine-structure in the ratio of the gas and magnetic pressures which maps back to a scale size of roughly 1° at the Sun, similar to some of the fine structures in coronal holes such as plumes, macrospicules, and the supergranulation.     

Study of Dynamical Properties of Coronal Structures in the Polar Regions

We present the results from a study of the dynamical properties of polar jets in the Sun's polar regions using LASCO C2 coronagraph and EIT observations. In the simplest impulsive acceleration scenarios for jets, gravity is expected to be the dominant force on the jet following the initial acceleration, especially in the Sun's polar regions where the open magnetic fields should not significantly impede the jet's motion. Our analysis shows that although at low heights the kinematics of the jets could be consistent with a gravitational deceleration of the ejected plasma, at higher heights their motions may simply follow the ambient solar wind outflow. If so, the polar jets can be used as tracers of the solar wind in coronal holes. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Global Non-Potential Magnetic Models of the Solar Corona During the March 2015 Eclipse

Seven different models are applied to the same problem of simulating the Sun’s coronal magnetic field during the solar eclipse on 2015 March 20. All of the models are non-potential, allowing for free magnetic energy, but the associated electric currents are developed in significantly different ways. This is not a direct comparison of the coronal modelling techniques, in that the different models also use different photospheric boundary conditions, reflecting the range of approaches currently used in the community. Despite the significant differences, the results show broad agreement in the overall magnetic topology. Among those models with significant volume currents in much of the corona, there is general agreement that the ratio of total to potential magnetic energy should be approximately 1.4. However, there are significant differences in the electric current distributions; while static extrapolations are best able to reproduce active regions, they are unable to recover sheared magnetic fields in filament channels using currently available vector magnetogram data. By contrast, time-evolving simulations can recover the filament channel fields at the expense of not matching the observed vector magnetic fields within active regions. We suggest that, at present, the best approach may be a hybrid model using static extrapolations but with additional energization informed by simplified evolution models. This is demonstrated by one of the models.     

Langmuir Wave Activity: Comparing the Ulysses Solar Minimum and Solar Maximum Orbits

We examine the occurrence and intensity of Langmuir wave activity (electrostatic waves at the electron plasma frequency) during the solar minimum and solar maximum orbits of Ulysses. At high latitudes during the solar minimum orbit, occurrences of Langmuir waves in magnetic holes were frequent; in the second orbit, they were less common. This difference, in comparison with observations from the first Ulysses fast heliolatitude scan, suggests that Langmuir wave activity in magnetic holes is enhanced in solar wind from polar coronal holes. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

UVCS Observations of Temperature and Velocity Profiles in Coronal Holes

The spectroscopic observations of the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS), on board the SOHO observatory, allow the study and the full characterization of the expansion of the solar atmosphere by means of measurements of the outflow speeds and the physical properties of the wind, directly in the region where the solar plasma is heated and accelerated: the extended corona. During solar minimum, when the magnetic configuration of the corona is rather simple, the open magnetic fields emerging from the wide polar coronal holes channel toward the heliosphere both the fast and the slow wind. The fast wind flows along flux tubes with lower areal divergence than the slow wind which is guided by flux tubes characterized by non-monotonic areal expansion functions. Differences in the physical properties, such as kinetic temperature, electron density, composition and density fluctuations, of the fast and slow wind in the corona are discussed.     

The Expansion of Coronal Plumes in the Fast Solar Wind

Coronal plumes are believed to be essentially magnetic features: they are rooted in magnetic flux concentrations at the photosphere and are observed to extend nearly radially above coronal holes out to at least 15 solar radii, probably tracing the open field lines. The formation of plumes itself seems to be due to the presence of reconnecting magnetic field lines and this is probably the cause of the observed extremely low values of the Ne/Mg abundance ratio. In the inner corona, where the magnetic force is dominant, steady MHD models of coronal plumes deal essentially with quasi-potential magnetic fields but further out, where the gas pressure starts to be important, total pressure balance across the boundary of these dense structures must be considered. In this paper, the expansion of plumes into the fast polar wind is studied by using a thin flux tube model with two interacting components, plume and interplume. Preliminary results are compared with both remote sensing and solar wind in situ observations and the possible connection between coronal plumes with pressure-balance structures (PBS) and microstreams is discussed. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Propagating MHD Waves in Coronal Holes

Coronal holes are the coolest and darkest regions of the upper solar atmosphere, as observed both on the solar disk and above the solar limb. Coronal holes are associated with rapidly expanding open magnetic fields and the acceleration of the high-speed solar wind. During the years of the solar minima, coronal holes are generally confined to the Sun??s polar regions, while at solar maxima they can also be found at lower latitudes. Waves, observed via remote sensing and detected in-situ in the wind streams, are most likely responsible for the wind and several theoretical models describe the role of MHD waves in the acceleration of the fast solar wind. This paper reviews the observational evidences of detection of propagating waves in these regions. The characteristics of the waves, like periodicities, amplitude, speed provide input parameters and also act as constraints on theoretical models of coronal heating and solar wind acceleration.     

The Heliospheric Magnetic Field at Solar Maximum: Ulysses Observations

At solar maximum, the large-scale structure of the heliospheric magnetic field (HMF) reflects the complexity of the Sun's coronal magnetic fields. The corona is characterised by mostly closed magnetic structures and short-lived, small coronal holes. The axis of the Sun's dipole field is close to the solar equator; there are also important contributions from the higher order terms. This complex and variable coronal magnetic configuration leads to a much increased variability in the HMF on all time scales, at all latitudes. The transition from solar minimum to solar maximum conditions, as reflected in the HMF, is described, as observed by Ulysses during its passage to high southern heliolatitudes. The magnetic signatures associated with the interaction regions generated by short-lived fast solar wind streams are presented, together with the highly disordered period in mid-1999 when there was a considerable reorganisation in coronal structures. The magnetic sector structure at high heliolatitudes shows, from mid-1999, a recognisable two-sector structure, corresponding to a highly inclined Heliospheric Current Sheet. A preliminary investigation of the radial component of the magnetic field indicates that it remains, on average, constant as a function of heliolatitude. Intervals of highly Alfvénic fluctuations in the rarefaction regions trailing the interaction regions have been, even if intermittently, identified even close to solar maximum. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Semiempirical Models of the Slow and Fast Solar Wind

Coronal holes can produce several types of solar wind with a variety of compositional properties, depending on the location and strength of the heating along their open magnetic field lines. High-speed wind is associated with (relatively) slowly diverging flux tubes rooted in the interiors of large holes with weak, uniform footpoint fields; heating is spread over a large radial distance, so that most of the energy is conducted outward and goes into accelerating the wind rather than increasing the mass flux. In the rapidly diverging open fields present at coronal hole boundaries and around active regions, the heating is concentrated at low heights and the temperature maximum is located near the coronal base, resulting in high oxygen freezing-in temperatures and low asymptotic wind speeds. Polar plumes have a strong additional source of heating at their bases, which generates a large downward conductive flux, raising the densities and enhancing the radiative losses. The relative constancy of the solar wind mass flux at Earth reflects the tendency for the heating rate in coronal holes to increase monotonically with the footpoint field strength, with very high mass fluxes at the Sun offsetting the enormous flux-tube expansion in active region holes. Although coronal holes are its main source, slow wind is also released continually from helmet streamer loops by reconnection processes, giving rise to plasma blobs (small flux ropes) and the heliospheric plasma sheet.     

Modeling the coronal magnetic field in a polar hole

The coronal magnetic field in the northern polar coronal hole in 1986 is predicted on the basis of the photospheric magnetic field observations and the horizontal current-current sheet coronal model (Zhao and Hoeksema, 1993). The predicted magnetic field intensity is stronger near the center of the hole than near the edge. The calculated expansion factor for the entire hole does not match the expansion factor of any flux tube in the hole, suggesting that it would not be appropriate to use the expansion factor for entire hole to represent the divergence of the flux tube in analyzing the acceleration and heating of the plasma in coronal holes.     

Coronal Holes and the High-Speed Solar Wind

Coronal holes are the lowest density plasma components of the Sun's outer atmosphere, and are associated with rapidly expanding magnetic fields and the acceleration of the high-speed solar wind. Spectroscopic and polarimetric observations of the extended corona, coupled with interplanetary particle and radio sounding measurements going back several decades, have put strong constraints on possible explanations for how the plasma in coronal holes receives its extreme kinetic properties. The Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft has revealed surprisingly large temperatures, outflow speeds, and velocity distribution anisotropies for positive ions in coronal holes. We review recent observations, modeling techniques, and proposed heating and acceleration processes for protons, electrons, and heavy ions. We emphasize that an understanding of the acceleration region of the wind (in the nearly collisionless extended corona) is indispensable for building a complete picture of the physics of coronal holes.     

Large-scale Coronal Heating, Clustering of Coronal Bright Points, and Concentration of Magnetic Flux

By combining quiet-region Fe XII coronal images from SOHO/EIT with magnetograms from NSO/Kitt Peak and from SOHO/MDI, we show that the population of network coronal bright points and the magnetic flux content of the network are both markedly greater under the bright half of the large-scale quiet corona than under the dim half. These results (1) support the view that the heating of the entire corona in quiet regions and coronal holes is driven by fine-scale magnetic activity (microflares, explosive events, spicules) seated low in the magnetic network, and (2) suggest that this large-scale modulation of the magnetic flux and coronal heating is a signature of giant convection cells. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Constraints on the FIP Mechanisms from Solar Wind Abundance Data

In the slow solar wind, elements with (first) ionisation potential (FIP) between ∼10 eV and 22 eV are depleted by a factor of about 4 relative to their abundances in the Outer Convective Zone (OCZ), and helium (FIP = 24.5 eV) is further depleted by a factor of ∼1.8. This depletion, called the FIP effect, is much less pronounced in the high speed streams coming out of coronal holes. The systematics of element depletion suggests that the FIP effect is produced at a temperature ∼104 K and that it is controlled by the time of ionisation at the solar surface. At the boundary of the polar coronal holes, the transition from a strong to a weak FIP effect is relatively sharp and coincides with the change in coronal electron temperature, indicating a profound change in coronal as well as chromospheric properties at this boundary. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Coronal Heating by Magnetic Explosions

From magnetic fields and coronal heating observed in flares, active regions, quiet regions, and coronal holes, we propose that exploding sheared core magnetic fields are the drivers of most of the dynamics and heating of the solar atmosphere, ranging from the largest and most powerful coronal mass ejections and flares, to the vigorous microflaring and coronal heating in active regions, to a multitude of fine-scale explosive events in the magnetic network, driving microflares, spicules, global coronal heating, and, consequently, the solar wind. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A Model of the Magnetic Field Long-Term Evolution at the Coronal Base and Polar Heliospheric Regions

The long-term evolution of the polar magnetic field at the coronal base induced by the first Rossby mode demonstrates the reversal of the line-of-sight magnetic field component in polar caps and what is more the same line-of-sight magnetic polarities in both caps (“the line-of-sight solar magnetic monopole”) at the moment of reversal. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Element and Isotopic Fractionation in Closed Magnetic Structures

Recent papers have suggested that the slow solar wind is a super-position of material which is released by reconnection from large coronal loops. This reconnection process is driven by large-scale motions of solar magnetic flux driven by the non-radial expansion of the solar wind from the differentially rotating photosphere into more rigidly rotating coronal holes. The elemental composition of the slow solar wind material is observed to be fractionated and more variable than the fast solar wind from coronal holes. Recently, it has also been reported that fractionation also occurs in 3He/4He. This may be interpreted in the frame-work of an existing model for fractionation on large coronal loops in which wave-particle interactions preferentially heat ions thereby modifying their scale-heights. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Wind in the Solar Corona: Dynamics and Composition

The dynamics of the solar corona as observed during solar minimum with the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer, UVCS, on SOHO is discussed. The large quiescent coronal streamers existing during this phase of the solar cycle are very likely composed by sub-streamers, formed by closed loops and separated by open field lines that are channelling a slow plasma that flows close to the heliospheric current sheet. The polar coronal holes, with magnetic topology significantly varying from their core to their edges, emit fast wind in their central region and slow wind close to the streamer boundary. The transition from fast to slow wind then appears to be gradual in the corona, in contrast with the sharp transition between the two wind regimes observed in the heliosphere. It is suggested that speed, abundance and kinetic energy of the wind are modulated by the topology of the coronal magnetic field. Energy deposition occurs both in the slow and fast wind but its effect on the kinetic temperature and expansion rate is different for the slow and fast wind.