分类： 地球科学 >> 空间物理学 提交时间： 2016-05-12
摘要： Mass is one of the most fundamental parameters characterizing the dynamics of a coronal mass ejection (CME). It has been found that CME apparent mass measured from the brightness enhancement in coronagraphs increases during its evolution in the corona. However, the physics behind it is not clear. Does the apparent mass gain come from the outflow from the dimming regions in the low corona, or from the pileup of the solar wind plasma around the CME? Here we analyze the mass evolution of six CME events. Based on the coronagraph observations from the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, we find that their masses increased by a factor of 1.3-1.7 from 7 to 15 R-S, where the occulting effect is negligible. We then adopt the "snow-plow" model to calculate the mass contribution of the piled-up solar wind. The result gives evidence that the solar wind pileup probably makes a non-negligible contribution to the mass increase. In the height range from about 7 to 15 R-S, the ratio of the modeled to the measured mass increase is roughly larger than 0.55 though the ratios are believed to be overestimated. It is not clear yet whether the solar wind pileup is a major contributor to the final mass derived from coronagraph observations, but it does play an increasingly important role in the mass increase as a CME moves further away from the Sun.
分类： 地球科学 >> 空间物理学 提交时间： 2016-05-12
摘要： Using a 2.5-dimensional MHD simulation, we investigate the role played by the inner coronal null point in the formation and evolution of solar quiescent prominences. The flux rope is characterized by its magnetic fluxes, the toroidal magnetic flux Phi(p) and the poloidal flux Phi(phi.) It is found that for a given Phi(p), the catastrophe does not occur in the flux rope system until Phi(phi) increases to a critical point. Moreover, the magnetic flux of the null point is the maximum value of the magnetic flux in the quadrupole background magnetic field, and represented by psi(N). The results show that the bigger psi(N) usually corresponds to the smaller catastrophic point, the lower magnetic energy of the flux rope system, and the lesser magnetic energy inside the flux rope. Our results confirm that catastrophic disruption of the prominence occurs more easily when there is a bigger psi(N). However, psi(N) has little influence on the maximum speed of the coronal mass ejections (CMEs) with an erupted prominence. Thus we argue that a topological configuration with the inner coronal null point is a necessary structure for the formation and evolution of solar quiescent prominences. In conclusion, it is easier for the prominences to form and to erupt as a core part of the CMEs in the magnetic structure with a greater psi(N.)
分类： 地球科学 >> 空间物理学 提交时间： 2016-05-12
摘要： Standing sausage modes in flare loops are important for interpreting quasi-periodic pulsations(QPPs) in solar flare light curves. We propose an inversion scheme that consistently uses their periods P and damping times tau to diagnose flare loop parameters. We derive a generic dispersion relation governing linear sausage waves in pressure-less straight tubes, for which the transverse density inhomogeneity takes place in a layer of arbitrary width l and is of arbitrary form. We find that P and tau depend on the combination of [R/nu(Ai), L/R, l/R, rho(i)/rho(e)], where R is the loop radius, L is the looplength, nu(Ai) is the internal Alfven speed, and rho(i)/rho(e) is the density contrast. For all the density profiles examined, P and tau experience saturation when L/R >> 1, yielding an inversion curve in the [R/nu(Ai), l/R, rho(i)/rho(e)] space with a specific density profile when L/R is sufficiently large. When applied to a spatially unresolved QPP event, the scheme yields that R/nu(Ai) is the best constrained, whereas l/R corresponds to the other extreme. For spatially resolved QPPs, while L/R >> 1 cannot be assumed beforehand, an inversion curve remains possible due to additional geometrical constraints. When a spatially resolved QPP event involves another mode, as is the case for a recent event, the full set of [nu(Ai), l, rho(i)/rho(e)] can be inferred. We conclude that the proposed scheme provides a useful tool for magneto-seismologically exploiting QPPs.
分类： 地球科学 >> 空间物理学 提交时间： 2016-05-12
Yang, Liping
Zhang, Lei
He, Jiansen
Peter, Hardi
Tu, Chuanyi
Wang, Linghua
Zhang, Shaohua
Feng, Xueshang
摘要： The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly instrument on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory has directly imaged the fast-propagating magnetosonic waves (FMWs) successively propagating outward along coronal magnetic funnels. In this study we perform a numerical investigation of the excitation of FMWs in the interchange reconnection scenario, with footpoint shearing flow being used to energize the system and drive the reconnection. The modeling results show that as a result of magnetic reconnection, the plasma in the current sheet is heated up by Joule dissipation to similar to 10 MK and is ejected rapidly, developing the hot outflows. Meanwhile, the current sheet is torn into plasmoids, which are shot quickly both upward and downward. When the plasmoids reach the outflow regions, they impact and collide with the ambient magnetic field there, which consecutively launches FMWs. The FMWs propagate outward divergently away from the impact regions, with a phase speed of the Alfven speed of similar to 1000 km s(-1). In the k-omega. diagram of the Fourier wave power, the FMWs display a broad frequency distribution with a straight ridge that represents the dispersion relation. With the WKB approximation, at the distance of 15Mm from the wave source region, we estimate the energy flux of FMWs to be E similar to 7.0 x 10(6) erg cm(-2) s(-1), which is similar to 50 times smaller than the energy flux related to the tube-channeled reconnection outflow. These simulation results indicate that energetically and dynamically the outflow is far more important than the waves.
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