Solar X-ray and EUV corona and their relation to the magnetic activity

We have studied the solar magnetic cycle in corona using X-ray data from YOHKOH and Extreme Ultraviolet data from SOHO/EIT. Soft X-ray data last the period from after the maximum cycle 22 to the maximum cycle 23 (1991–2001). The SOHO/EIT Extreme Ultraviolet data are used for the period from 1996 to 2003. These data provide us a unique opportunity to look at the solar corona on the solar disc and to compare with the magnetic activity, directly.Our studies reveal a close relationship between the coronal emissions and the photospheric magnetic field in the axisymmetrical case. The evolution of coronal structures in X-ray and EUV can be considered as a proxy of the coronal magnetic field and demonstrates a development of the solar magnetic cycle in corona. It is shown that the most important feature of the coronal cycle is the forming of giant loops structure visible in X-ray and, partially, in EUV (284A) on the solar disk.     

Relation between solar wind velocity and properties of its source region

Different kinds of coronal holes are sources of different kind of solar winds. A successful solar wind acceleration model should be able to explain all those solar winds. For the modeling it is important to find a universal relation between the solar wind physical parameters, such as velocity, and coronal physical parameters such as magnetic field energy. To clarify the physical parameters which control the solar wind velocity, we have studied the relation between solar wind velocity and properties of its source region such as photospheric/coronal magnetic field and the size of each coronal hole during the solar minimum. The solar wind velocity structures were derived by using interplanetary scintillation tomography obtained at Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory, Japan. Potential magnetic fields were calculated to identify the source region of the solar wind. HeI 1083 nm absorption line maps obtained at Kitt Peak National Solar Observatory were used to identify coronal holes. As a result, we found a relation during solar minimum between the solar wind velocity and the coronal magnetic condition which is applicable to different kind of solar winds from different kind of coronal holes.     

Solar atmosphere wave dynamics generated by solar global oscillating eigenmodes

The solar atmosphere exhibits a diverse range of wave phenomena, where one of the earliest discovered was the five-minute global acoustic oscillation, also referred to as the p-mode. The analysis of wave propagation in the solar atmosphere may be used as a diagnostic tool to estimate accurately the physical characteristics of the Sun’s atmospheric layers.In this paper, we investigate the dynamics and upward propagation of waves which are generated by the solar global eigenmodes. We report on a series of hydrodynamic simulations of a realistically stratified model of the solar atmosphere representing its lower region from the photosphere to low corona. With the objective of modelling atmospheric perturbations, propagating from the photosphere into the chromosphere, transition region and low corona, generated by the photospheric global oscillations the simulations use photospheric drivers mimicking the solar p-modes. The drivers are spatially structured harmonics across the computational box parallel to the solar surface. The drivers perturb the atmosphere at 0.5?Mm above the bottom boundary of the model and are placed coincident with the location of the temperature minimum. A combination of the VALIIIC and McWhirter solar atmospheres are used as the background equilibrium model.We report how synthetic photospheric oscillations may manifest in a magnetic field free model of the quiet Sun. To carry out the simulations, we employed the magnetohydrodynamics code, SMAUG (Sheffield MHD Accelerated Using GPUs).Our results show that the amount of energy propagating into the solar atmosphere is consistent with a model of solar global oscillations described by Taroyan and Erdélyi (2008) using the Klein-Gordon equation. The computed results indicate a power law which is compared to observations reported by Ireland et al. (2015) using data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly.     

Spectral analysis of 3D MHD models of coronal structures

We study extreme-ultraviolet emission line spectra derived from three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic models of structures in the corona. In order to investigate the effects of increased magnetic activity at photospheric levels in a numerical experiment, a much higher magnetic flux density is applied at the photosphere as compared to the Sun. Thus, we can expect our results to highlight the differences between the Sun and more active, but still solar-like stars. We discuss signatures seen in extreme-ultraviolet emission lines synthesized from these models and compare them to observed signatures in the spatial distribution and temporal evolution of Doppler shifts in lines formed in the transition region and corona. This is of major interest to test the quality of the underlying magnetohydrodynamic model to heat the corona, i.e. currents in the corona driven by photospheric motions (flux braiding).     

Dynamical magnetic reconnection in Parker''s coronal heating model

The excitation (flares, ejections, heating, …) of the corona can be understood in terms of the dynamics of the confectively driven magnetized plasma. In particular, anomalous ohmic heating may be a consequence of the formation and rapid dissipation of small-scale magnetic fields in the corona. We have performed numerical simulations of the loop heating model proposed by Parker (1972, 1994), and have studied its dynamics and global power balance in order to assess its viability as a coronal heating candidate, with promising results. Our results suggest the following view of the small-scale dynamics of coronal loops. First of all, photospheric granular motions quasi-statically twist the magnetic field of the corona in a random-walk fashion. In topologically closed structures, the perpendicular magnetic energy increases, causing magnetic shear to build up at the quasi-separatrices of the resulting close-packed magnetic flux tubes. At some point, the boundary driving causes this stressed configuration to cross the threshold of an ideal time-scale MHD instability (possibly magnetic coalescence or resistive tearing) or a point of nonequilibrium and the field lines pinch toward a small-scale sheared configuration. It then becomes energetically favorable for dynamic reconnection to occur, producing narrow current sheets and an Ohmic heating rate sufficient to balance the input Poynting flux.     

The creation of fine structure by magnetic fields

The solar plasma is strongly structured by the presence of magnetic field. This structuring is manifest in the photosphere in the form of flux tubes, from the readily visible sunspots to the sub-telescopic intense tubes, so that the atmosphere is divided into strong-field media or field-free media. In the corona, by contrast, the magnetic field permeates the whole of the atmosphere and structuring consists principally of density and temperature inhomogeneities. We discuss some of the causes of magnetic structuring, including kinematic concentration, convective collapse and magnetoconvection for photospheric tubes, spicules in the chromosphere, and thermal instability for coronal loops.     

一个基于观测的太阳风背景模型

建立由太阳光球磁场和日冕偏振亮度等观测约束的单流体太阳风模型,包括日冕和太阳风的等离子体密度、速度和磁场,温度还有待于以后处理.这里采用高山观测台(HAO)MKⅢ的日冕偏振亮度(pB)在1.36Rs上的观测概图,根据Guhathakurta在1996年发展的日冕电子密度反演模型确定日冕的电子密度分布.同时采用Wilcox太阳观测台(WSO)的光球磁场视向分量的观测概图作为底部边界,根据Zhao等在1994年发展的水平电流-电流片(HCCS)模型得到全球磁场.Phillips在1995年及McComas在2003年分别用Ulysses第一次和第二次跨极飞行的观测发现,归一化到1 AU的太阳风动量流密度除了在10°～30°的纬度范围内略低以外几乎不变.根据这一结论,结合已经得到的密度数据,就可以得到日冕和太阳风的速度.将上面的模型应用于1918卡林顿自转周稳态太阳风的研究,结果与太阳活动极小期的观测基本相符,但是与观测相比较低速高密度区偏大,因此密度模型还有待改进.      

Coronal heating by reconnection

The outermost atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona, is some 200 times hotter than the surface of the Sun. The main source of energy for heating the corona is believed to be the magnetic field which dominates the corona. Magnetic reconnection is probably the most important mechanism for releasing magnetic energy and may, therefore, be important for coronal heating or micro-flaring. The best observational examples of reconnection in the corona are thought to be X-ray bright points, which are small-scale brightenings seen randomly throughout the whole corona. Theoretical models can not only explain the key observations relating to bright points, but they can also explain the complex three-dimensional structures often seen in bright points. In these models magnetic neutral points play a significant role as the centres for reconnection both in two and three dimensions.     

太阳发电机理论研究

太阳活动主要是由磁场产生的, 因此, 对太阳磁场性质和起源的研究具有重要意义. 太阳发电机理论主要研究的是太阳上观测到的与太阳活动相关的磁场起源、磁场特征、各种活动现象之间的相关性及其变化规律. 其是太阳物理学中有待解决的最基本、最重要的问题. 根据太阳黑子及太阳周期的相关观测, 介绍了构成发电机的基本要素, 具体描述了各种典型发电机模型, 并对其分别进行评述, 进而探讨了目前存在的问题及发展方向.      

Modeling the (upper) solar atmosphere including the magnetic field

The atmosphere of the Sun is highly structured and dynamic in nature. From the photosphere and chromosphere into the transition region and the corona plasma-β changes from above to below one, i.e., while in the lower atmosphere the energy density of the plasma dominates, in the upper atmosphere the magnetic field plays the governing role – one might speak of a “magnetic transition”. Therefore the dynamics of the overshooting convection in the photosphere, the granulation, is shuffling the magnetic field around in the photosphere. This leads not only to a (re-)structuring of the magnetic field in the upper atmosphere, but induces also the dynamic reaction of the coronal plasma, e.g., due to reconnection events. Therefore the (complex) structure and the interaction of various magnetic patches is crucial to understand the structure, dynamics and heating of coronal plasma as well as its acceleration into the solar wind.

The present article will emphasize the need for three-dimensional modeling accounting for the complexity of the solar atmosphere to understand these processes. Some advances on 3D modeling of the upper solar atmosphere in magnetically closed as well as open regions will be presented together with diagnostic tools to compare these models to observations. This highlights the recent success of these models which in many respects closely match the observations.     

2011年8月4日螺旋状日冕物质抛射爆发事件

利用多卫星多波段的综合观测数据,通过追踪光球表面等离子体速度分析计算了耀斑爆发前后磁螺度的变化,发现耀斑爆发前活动区中光球表面存在强的水平剪切运动,活动区磁螺度的注入主要由这种剪切运动所产生;使用CESE-MHD-NLFFF重建了耀斑爆发前后活动区的磁场位形,推测出耀斑过程中存在磁绳结构的抛射.基于这些分析,给出了这一螺旋状抛射结构的形成机制:爆发前暗条西侧足点的持续剪切运动驱动磁通量绳增加扭转,高度扭缠的通量绳与东侧足点附近的开放磁力线重联并与东侧足点断开,进而向外抛出并伴随解螺旋运动.另外,利用1AU处WIND卫星的观测数据在对应的行星际日冕物质抛射中找到典型磁云的观测特征.这表明除了传统上双足点均在太阳表面的磁云模型,这种单足点固定于太阳表面的磁通量绳爆发图景同样可能在行星系际空间形成磁云结构.研究结果对进一步认识磁云结构具有重要意义.      

Low-frequency electric field and density fluctuation measurements on Solar Orbiter

Solar Orbiter will orbit the Sun down to a distance of 0.22 AU allowing detailed in situ studies of important but unexplored regions of the solar wind in combination with coordinated remote sensing of the Sun. In-situ measurements require high quality measurements of particle distributions and electric and magnetic fields. We show that such important scientific topics as the identification of coronal heating remnants, solar wind turbulence, magnetic reconnection and shock formation within coronal mass ejections all require electric field and plasma density measurements in the frequency range from DC up to about 100 Hz. We discuss how such measurements can be achieved using the double-probe technique. We sketch a few possible antenna design solutions.     

Characterization of the slow wind in the outer corona

The study concerns the streamer belt observed at high spectral resolution during the minimum of solar cycle 23 with the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) onboard SOHO. On the basis of a spectroscopic analysis of the O VI doublet, the solar wind plasma parameters are inferred in the extended corona. The analysis accounts for the coronal magnetic topology, extrapolated through a 3D magneto-hydrodynamic model, in order to define the streamer boundary and to analyse the edges of coronal holes. The results of the analysis allow an accurate identification of the source regions of the slow coronal wind that are confirmed to be along the streamer boundary in the open magnetic field region.     

Solar polar magnetic field dependency of geomagnetic activity semiannual variation indicated in the Aa index

Three major hypotheses have been proposed to explain the well-known semiannual variation of geomagnetic activity, maxima at equinoxes and minima at solstices. This study examined whether the seasonal variation of equinoctial geomagnetic activity is different in periods of opposite solar magnetic polarity in order to understand the contribution of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) in the Sun-Earth connection. Solar magnetic polarity is parallel to the Earth’s polarity in solar minimum years of odd/even cycles but antiparallel in solar minimum years of even/odd cycles. The daily mean of the aa, Aa indices during each solar minimum was compared for periods when the solar magnetic polarity remained in opposite dipole conditions. The Aa index values were used for each of the three years surrounding the solar minimum years of the 14 solar cycles recorded since 1856. The Aa index reflects seasonal variation in geomagnetic activity, which is greater at the equinoxes than at the solstices. The Aa index reveals solar magnetic polarity dependency in which the geomagnetic activity is stronger in the antiparallel solar magnetic polarity condition than in the parallel one. The periodicity in semiannual variation of the Aa index is stronger in the antiparallel solar polar magnetic field period than in the parallel period. Additionally, we suggest the favorable IMF condition of the semiannual variation in geomagnetic activity. The orientation of IMF toward the Sun in spring and away from the Sun in fall mainly contributes to the semiannual variation of geomagnetic activity in both antiparallel and parallel solar minimum years.     

Coronal heating mechanisms

As a result of the large body of data available from solar and stellar coronae, our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the heating of coronal plasmas to temperatures of the order of ～ 10⁸ K has changed. The solar corona is highly structured by magnetic fields and the acoustic shocks which, according to early theories, should have acted as the coronal energy source have not been observed. Einstein Observatory data show moreover that coronae are present in most regions of the H-R diagram. The observed relationship between X-ray luminosity and rotational velocity in dwarf stars from spectral types F to M again suggests an active role for the magnetic fields.The basic picture which is emerging is that coronae in stellar types from F to M are produced because of the interaction of the magnetic field with the convective velocity fields generated in the photosphere resulting in MHD waves or currents which dissipate in the corona. X-ray emission in early type stars cannot be explained with this mechanism and the models which have been proposed for these stars are not yet completely satisfactory.     

Reconnection in multiple current sheet configurations in the solar corona

We investigate magnetic reconnection in a multiple current sheet configuration by means of three-dimensional resistive MHD simulations. This configuration might be of interest in the solar corona context, e.g. for coronal helmet streamers. We present results of our simulations of the linear and nonlinear development of the tearing mode instability. In particular, we highlight the changes in magnetic topology and the resulting plasma dynamics. Our results indicate that reconnection in complex coronal neighboring magnetic flux systems efficiently converts magnetic field energy into thermal energy and leads to small-scale tongue outflows rather than large-scale coronal mass ejections.     

A MHD-turbulence model for solar corona

The disposition of energy in the solar corona has always been a problem of great interest. It remains an open question how the low temperature photosphere supports the occurence of solar extreme phenomena. In this work, a turbulent heating mechanism for the solar corona through the framework of reduced magnetohydrodynamics (RMHD) is proposed. Two-dimensional incompressible long time simulations of the average energy disposition have been carried out with the aim to reveal the characteristics of the long time statistical behavior of a two-dimensional cross-section of a coronal loop and the importance of the photospheric time scales in the understanding of the underlying mechanisms. It was found that for a slow, shear type photospheric driving the magnetic field in the loop self-organizes at large scales via an inverse MHD cascade. The system undergoes three distinct evolutionary phases. The initial forcing conditions are quickly “forgotten” giving way to an inverse cascade accompanied with and ending up to electric current dissipation. Scaling laws are being proposed in order to quantify the nonlinearity of the system response which seems to become more impulsive for decreasing resistivity. It is also shown that few, if any, qualitative changes in the above results occur by increasing spatial resolution.     

Large scale MHD properties of interplanetary magnetic clouds

Magnetic Clouds (MCs) are the interplanetary manifestation of Coronal Mass Ejections. These huge astrophysical objects travel from the Sun toward the external heliosphere and can reach the Earth environment. Depending on their magnetic field orientation, they can trigger intense geomagnetic storms. The details of the magnetic configuration of clouds and the typical values of their magnetohydrodynamic magnitudes are not yet well known. One of the most important magnetohydrodynamic quantities in MCs is the magnetic helicity. The helicity quantifies several aspects of a given magnetic structure, such as the twist, kink, number of knots between magnetic field lines, linking between magnetic flux tubes, etc. The helicity is approximately conserved in the solar atmosphere and the heliosphere, and it is very useful to link solar phenomena with their interplanetary counterpart. Since a magnetic cloud carries an important amount of helicity when it is ejected from the solar corona, estimations of the helicity content in clouds can help us to understand its evolution and its coronal origin. In situ observations of magnetic clouds at one astronomical unit are in agreement with a local helical magnetic structure. However, since spacecrafts only register data along a unique direction, several aspects of the global configuration of clouds cannot be observed. In this paper, we review the general properties of magnetic clouds and different models for their magnetic structure at one astronomical unit. We describe the corresponding techniques to analyze in situ measurements. We also quantify their magnetic helicity and compare it with the release of helicity in their solar source for some of the analyzed cases.     

Turbulence,complexity, and solar flares

The issue of predicting solar flares is one of the most fundamental in physics, addressing issues of plasma physics, high-energy physics, and modelling of complex systems. It also poses societal consequences, with our ever-increasing need for accurate space weather forecasts. Solar flares arise naturally as a competition between an input (flux emergence and rearrangement) in the photosphere and an output (electrical current build up and resistive dissipation) in the corona. Although initially localised, this redistribution affects neighbouring regions and an avalanche occurs resulting in large scale eruptions of plasma, particles, and magnetic field. As flares are powered from the stressed field rooted in the photosphere, a study of the photospheric magnetic complexity can be used to both predict activity and understand the physics of the magnetic field. The magnetic energy spectrum and multifractal spectrum are highlighted as two possible approaches to this.     

Numerical MHD modeling of the solar driver for the destabilization of a coronal helmet streamer

We investigate the forms of the solar driver which cause the destabilization of helmet streamers. Two forms of solar drivers are considered; (i) emergence of a flux-rope from sub-photospheric levels and (ii) application of a photospheric shear motion to a streamer-flux rope system. Numerical results showed that both cases exhibit the characteristics of commonly observed coronal mass ejections (CMEs), but the propagation speed of the CME is higher than the background solar wind speed when the solar driver is the emerging magnetic flux and is the same as the solar wind speed when the photospheric shear is used as the solar driver. The energy constraint allowing the magnetic field transition from a closed to an open configuration is also addressed.