Transient brightenings of interconnecting loops

We present two alternative interpretations of the sudden X-ray brightenings observed in loops that interconnect active regions. A fast tearing mode may be excited in those newly formed interconnecting loops within which sufficient magnetic free energy is stored to drive the mode. Alternatively anomalous Joule heating driven by an inductive electric field parallel to the magnetic field varying on a time scale of order of a minute may cause the brightenings. We argue that it is plausible that the fast tearing mode may be the cause of brightenings in the young newly formed interconnecting loops, whereas the anomalous Joule heating might occur in old loop connections when an external disturbance propagates through them.     

Dynamical Features and Evolutional Characteristics of Brightening Coronal Loops

We present a detailed study of coronal loop brightenings observed in an active region on the solar limb. These brightening loops show expanding and shrinking motions in EUV coronal line images and also show downflow along the loops in Lα and Hα images. By means of time-slice analysis of the images, we found that both the expanding and shrinking motions of the loops are not real motions of plasma but apparent motions like post-flare loops, where the loops at the different height are successively heated and cooled. From a temperature analysis, the time delay between the brightenings of hot 195 Å and cool Lα loops is found to be nearly equal to the time-scale of the conduction cooling. We conclude that these loop brightenings are sources of so called Hα coronal rains.     

Saturn's auroral/polar H3 infrared emission: II. A comparison with plasma flow models

We present a detailed analysis of the H⁺₃ intensity and velocity profiles crossing Saturn's auroral/polar region, as described by Stallard et al. [Stallard, T., Miller, S., Melin, H., Lystrup, M., Dougherty, M., Achilleos, N., 2007. Icarus 189, 1-13], with a view to understanding the magnetospheric processes with which they are connected. The data are not consistent with the theory that Saturn's main auroral oval is associated with corotation enforcement currents in the middle magnetosphere. This implies that the main auroral oval can be associated with the open-closed field line boundary [Cowley, S.W.H., Bunce, E.J., O'Rourke, J.M., 2004. J. Geophys. Res. 109. A05212]; a third model, by Sittler et al. [Sittler, E.C., Blanc, M.F., Richardson, J.D., 2006. J. Geophys. Res. 111. A06208] associates the main oval with centrifugal instabilities in the outer magnetosphere, but does not make predictions about ionospheric plasma flows with which we can compare our data. We do, however, tentatively identify emission at latitudes lower than the main auroral oval which may be associated with the corotation enforcement currents in the middle magnetosphere. We also find that at latitudes higher than the main auroral oval there is often a region of the ionosphere that is in rigid corotation with the planet. We suggest that this region corresponds to field lines embedded in the centre of the magnetotail which are shielded from the solar wind such that their rotation is controlled only by the neutral atmosphere.     

The M8.1 flare of 23 June, 1988

H observations of two-ribbon flares often show secondary brightenings which are not directly spatially connected with the main center of activity but which are correlated in time with the primary impulsive flare. We present here a mechanism which explains these secondary brightenings via the reconnection of magnetic loops which are tied to only one of the two ribbons, in contrast with the loops responsible for the main flare which are tied to both ribbons. The distant footpoint is then interpreted as the site of the secondary brightening. We apply our model to the two-ribbon flare of 17:52 UT, 23 June, 1988, which started during the rocket flight of the Normal Incidence X-ray Telescope.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation. Partial support for the National Solar Observatory is provided by the USAF under a Memorandum of Understanding with the NSF.     

Small-Scale Brightenings in the UV Continuum of an M9.1 Solar Flare

We analyze an M9.1 two-ribbon solar flare which occurred on 2004 July 22 us- ing the TRACE white-light and 1700A~。images,the RHESSI,and the SOHO/MDI data.We find many small-scale fast-varying brightenings that appeared in the white-light and 1700A~。images along the flare ribbons.Some of them underwent rapid motions in weak magnetic field regions.We identify these short-lived brightenings as UV continuum enhancement.Our preliminary result shows that the brightenings are closely related to the HXR emission.They have a lifetime of 30-60 s and a typical size of about 1″-2″.The intensity enhancement is about 150-200 times the mean value of the quiet-Sun.According to previous works,we infer that the 1700A~。enhancement may be dominated by the increased emission of 1680 A con- tinuum coming from the temperature minimum region.The impulsive feature in the 1700 A~。light curves of the small-scale brightenings may be due to the irradiation of the impulsive CIV line intensity caused by the bombardment of non-thermal electron beams.     

Coronal heating events in high-cadence TRACE data

On March 23rd 1999 a set of TRACE (Transition Region and Coronal Explorer) observations were taken in support of Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) / TRACE Joint Observing Program 83. The program is designed to look for coronal heating mechanisms operating at high cadence and to observe their dynamical effects on coronal loop density, temperature and magnetic structure. We present here a study of 27 small, dynamic brightening events seen in this data. These events are seen in the quiet-Sun areas surrounding the active region. The data itself consists of 157 171 Å 512×512 arc sec images at 1 arc sec resolution and 9 second cadence, a previously unavailable combination of cadence, resolution and image size. Three classes of events are introduced: complex, intermediate and simple. All three classes share the property of being dynamic on small time and length scales but differ in the complexity of their behavior. We find that the brightenings across all classes exhibit variations as part of a distribution of time scales (90–400 s) peaked around 228 s. The brightenings are no more than 5 arc sec in diameter. Motions between brightenings occur on time scales from 9 to 90 s and on length scales no greater than 10 arc sec. These motions have velocities estimated to be in the range 89–174 km s^?1. The position of these events in the spectrum of previously observed coronal heating events is discussed.

     

Transient brightenings of interconnecting loops

We study sudden brightenings of coronal loops that interconnect active regions. Such brightenings often occur within one or two days after the birth of a new interconnecting loop, as well as in some old interconnections. The brightenings of young loops are obviously associated with the emergence of new magnetic flux near their footpoints, whereas some enhancements of old loops may be triggered by slowly moving disturbances propagating from other centers of activity. A few loop brightenings are associated with flares, but the loop does not brighten in consequence of energy supply from the flare. Both the flare and the loop brightening are independent consequences of one common agent, presumably newly emerging flux.Temperatures in brightened loops are between 3 and 4 × 10⁶ K and densities are < 2 × 10⁹ cm^–3, probably < 5 × 10⁸ cm^–3 in some old loops. The top part of a loop is the site of the most intense brightening in the initial phase of a loop enhancement. The most frequent lifetime of these brightenings is 6 to 7 hr.Hale Observatories are operated jointly by the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the California Institute of Technology.     

A Relationship Between Transition Region Brightenings,Abundances, and Magnetic Topology

We present multi-instrument observations of active region (AR) 8048, made between 3 June and 5 June 1997, as part of the SOHO Joint Observing Program 33. This AR has a sigmoid-like global shape and undergoes transient brightenings in both soft X-rays and transition region (TR) lines. We compute a magneto-hydrostatic model of the AR magnetic field, using as boundary condition the photospheric observations of SOHO/MDI. The computed large-scale magnetic field lines show that the large-scale sigmoid is formed by two sets of coronal loops. Shorter loops, associated with the core of the SXT emission, coincide with the loops observed in the hotter CDS lines. These loops reveal a gradient of temperature, from 2 MK at the top to 1 MK at the ends. The field lines most closely matching these hot loops extend along the quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs) of the computed coronal field. The TR brightenings observed with SOHO/CDS can also be associated with the magnetic field topology, both QSL intersections with the photosphere, and places where separatrices issuing from bald patches (sites where field lines coming from the corona are tangent to the photosphere) intersect the photosphere. There are, furthermore, suggestions that the element abundances measured in the TR may depend on the type of topological structure present. Typically, the TR brightenings associated with QSLs have coronal abundances, while those associated with BP separatrices have abundances closer to photospheric values. We suggest that this difference is due to the location and manner in which magnetic reconnection occurs in two different topological structures. Supplementary material to this paper is available in electronic form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1013302317042     

The UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey ZY JHK photometric system: passbands and synthetic colours

We present a statistical study of a very large sample of H  ii galaxies taken from the literature. We focus on the differences in several properties between galaxies that show the auroral line [O  iii ]λ4363 and those that do not present this feature in their spectra. It turns out that objects without this auroral line are more luminous, are more metal-rich and present a lower ionization degree. The underlying population is found to be much more important for objects without the [O  iii ]λ4363 line, and the effective temperature of the ionizing star clusters of galaxies not showing the auroral line is probably lower. We also study the subsample of H  ii galaxies whose properties most closely resemble the properties of the intermediate-redshift population of luminous compact blue galaxies (LCBGs). The objects from this subsample are more similar to the objects not showing the [O  iii ]λ4363 line. It might therefore be expected that the intermediate- redshift population of LCBGs is powered by very massive, yet somewhat aged, star clusters. The oxygen abundance of LCBGs would be greater than the average oxygen abundance of local H  ii galaxies.     

Considerations that the source of auroral energetic particles is not a parallel electrostatic field

It is shown that electrostatic fields parallel (E₁₁) to the geomagnetic field cannot be the major mechanism that accelerates charged particles to auroral energies. Principal arguments are that electron and proton precipitation occur simultaneously, and also that precipitated electrons with energies less than 100 eV are found to accompany the electrons with energies of 1–10 keV that excite auroral luminosity. It is further shown that essentially all the ambient plasma in an entire tube of flux is required to sustain this intense low-energy precipitation, and this places a severe constraint on any replenishment process. It is found that generally the upper limit to (E₁₁) throughout the auroral regions of the ionosphere and magnetosphere is of order 10 μV/m and it may be appreciably less. Relevant measurements are reviewed briefly. It is concluded that while there may occasionally be significant E₁₁ fields, they play only a minor role-if any-in auroral phenomena.     

On the mechanisms producing the backscattered and the trapped electrons along auroral field lines

The production mechanisms of backscattered electrons and trapped electrons along auroral field lines are examined. The backscattered electrons are produced not only by electron-neutral collisions, but also by electrostatic turbulence predominantly in the ion-cyclotron and ion-acoustic modes. The trapped electrons can only be produced by electron wave turbulence, most likely in the whistler and upper hybrid modes known as the auroral hiss.     

Sudden disappearance of a large quiescent prominence on the solar disk,April 28, 1967

Observations are described of the sudden disappearance of a long quiescent filament whose development could be traced through four rotations from its first appearance on the disk between two well-separated active centers. Following the disappearance, plage-like chromospheric brightenings were observed on either side of the filament axis, with the separation distance increasing with time.The results are discussed in relationship to models in which the prominence is supported by photospheric magnetic fields and the brightenings result from the gravitational fall of material following the prominence eruption.     

Flares and plasma flow caused by interacting coronal loops

Active region NOAA 7360 was observed in 1992 December with various instruments including the Yohkoh satellite. In this region, a small loop emerged near one of the footpoints of a pre-existing large coronal loop. These loops show evidence that interactions between coronal loops cause flares, microflares, and plasma flow. All of the four flares observed in this region show that brightenings in the small loop occurred first, and then the large loop flared up. The brightenings in the large loop can not occur by themselves, but must be triggered by the brightenings in the small loop. There must be interactions between the loops to cause these flares. As well as the flares, many microflares occurred in the small loop. More than half of them are accompanied by plasma ejection phenomena from the small loop into the large loop. The large loop is filled with ejected plasma with velocities of about 1000 km s^–1. These ejection phenomena are considered as X-ray jets. The associated occurrences of the microflares and the jets suggest that they are also caused by interactions between the loops. The recurrent occurrences of the homologous flares and microflares mean that the magnetic field structure in this region inevitably causes the activity due to loop-loop interactions; the flares and jets occur under a common magnetic field structure.     

The Big Bear Solar Observatory Ca II K‐line index for solar cycle 23

We present an analysis of 2634 Ca II K‐line full‐disk filtergrams obtained with the 15‐cm aperture photometric full‐disk telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory during the period from 1996 January 1 to 2005 October 24. Using limb darkening corrected and contrast enhanced filtergrams, solar activity indices were derived, which are sensitive to the 11‐year solar activity cycle and 27‐day rotational period of plages around active regions and the bright chromospheric network. The present work extends an earlier study (solar cycle 22), which was based on video data. The current digital data are of much improved quality with higher spatial resolution and a narrower passband ameliorating photometric accuracy. The time series of chromospheric activity indices cover most of solar cycle 23. One of the most conspicuous features of the Ca II K indices is the secondary maximum in late 2001/early 2002 after an initial decline of chromospheric activity during the first half of 2001. We conclude that a secular trend exists in the Ca II K indices, which has its origin in the bright chromospheric network and brightenings related to decaying active regions. Superposed on this secular trend are the signatures of recurring, long‐lived active regions, which are clusters of persistent and continuously emerging magnetic flux. Such features are less visible, when the activity belts on both side of the equator are devoid of the brightenings related to decaying active regions as was the case in October/November 2003 at a time when a superactivity complex including several naked‐eye sunspots emerged (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Statistical study of EUV and X-ray transient brightenings

Using the visual inspection and base difference method and data from the X-ray Telescope(XRT)onboard Hinode and TRACE with improved spatial and temporal resolution,we selected 48 X-ray transient brightenings(XTBs)and 237 EUV transient brightenings(ETBs)to study the connection between these two types of transient brightenings(TBs).These ETBs and XTBs have smaller areas(8.42 Mm2 and 36.3 Mm2,respectively,on average)and shorter durations(9.0 rain and 6.9 min,respectively,on average)than previous studies.These XTBs show three types of morphological structure: point-like,single-loop and multiple-loop.We find only 20% of the ETBs have corresponding XTBs while the other 80% have no X-ray signatures at all.This is presumably due to the small amount of released energy,which is not enough to heat the plasma to coronal temperatures which produce X-ray emission rather than being due to the limitation of spatial resolution and temperature sensitivity of the X-ray instrument.These small ETBs may significantly contribute to the coronal heating.     

Frequency-energy distributions of flares and active region transient brightenings

In 1988, Uchida and Shibata proposed a model for compact loop flares as due to the collision of two large amplitude torsional Alfvén wave packets coming up along a coronal magnetic loop, leaking out from the subphotospheric convective layers of the solar atmosphere. We investigate the possibility that active region transient brightenings occur when a single torsional Alfvén wave packet transits a coronal loop. Assuming this related origin for flares and transient brightenings, the statistics of the two phenomena must also be closely related. It is shown that the observed power-law frequency-energy distributions of flares and transient brightenings may be accounted for in a natural way if the energy distribution of the underlying torsional Alfvén wave packets is itself a power law.     

Spatial relations between preflares and flares

We have conducted an initial search for discrete preflare brightenings as observed in soft X-radiation by Yohkoh. The Yohkoh images allow us to identify, to within a few arc seconds, the location of a preflare event relative to the succeeding flare. Our initial motivation in this study was to search for early coronal brightenings leading to flare effects, as had been suggested by earlier studies; thus we concentrated on Yohkoh limb events. We find no evidence for such early coronal brightenings. Between 15% and 41% of the 131 suitable events matched our criteria for preflare brightening: the same active region; brightening within one hour of the flare peak; preflare brightness less than 30% of the flare peak. In the great majority of the preflare cases, we found that physically separate nearby structures brightened initially. Often these structures appeared to share a common footpoint location with the flare brightening itself. In a few cases the preflare could have occurred in exactly the same structure as the flare.     

An Automated Algorithm to Distinguish and Characterize Solar Flares and Associated Sequential Chromospheric Brightenings

We present a new automated algorithm to identify, track, and characterize small-scale brightening associated with solar eruptive phenomena observed in Hα. The temporal, spatially localized changes in chromospheric intensities can be separated into two categories: flare ribbons and sequential chromospheric brightenings (SCBs). Within each category of brightening we determine the smallest resolvable locus of pixels, a kernel, and track the temporal evolution of the position and intensity of each kernel. This tracking is accomplished by isolating the eruptive features, identifying kernels, and linking detections between frames into trajectories of kernels. We fully characterize the evolving intensity and morphology of the flare ribbons by observing the tracked flare kernels in aggregate. With the location of SCB and flare kernels identified, they can easily be overlaid on complementary data sets to extract Doppler velocities and magnetic-field intensities underlying the kernels. This algorithm is adaptable to any dataset to identify and track solar features.     

A global view at the polar region on 18 December 1971

The ISIS-2 scanning auroral photometer surveyed the polar region during three successive passes on 18 December 1971, at times when Kp values were still high due to an intense magnetic storm which began on 16 December. Two very bright (IBC III) auroral substorm patterns were seen to correspond to rather weak magnetic substorms (about 300 γ in magnitude). A large spiral auroral pattern, with intensity of the order of 100 kR and a size of about 1300 km, was present in the polar cap; it gradually decreased in size and intensity during the interval 0200–0600 UT. A region of enhanced 3914 emission was present in the noon sector of the auroral oval between 0200 and 0400. The presence of the diffuse auroral belt is also evident at all local times during this period, extending down to about 61° corrected geomagnetic latitude in the midnight sector.     

The onset of flares at the meter wavelengths

The onset of most flares at the meter wavelengths consists of type III bursts and their variants. These bursts usually occur during the explosive phase of flare events and in close association with similar impulsive bursts at other wavelengths. Pre-burst brightenings, corresponding to the preexplosive-phase heating observed at microwave and shorter wavelengths, have so far not been reported from observations with the Culgoora meterwave heliograph. At the same time, if substantial pre-heating occurred in the coronal source regions of meterwave radiation, then, on theoretical grounds, significant, but not spectacular, pre-burst brightenings would be expected at short meter wavelengths. A search for such pre-burst brightenings will become possible when the Culgoora heliograph begins to operate in a new mode which will allow all incoming data (rather than selected segments, as at present) to be kept for further analysis.On leave from the CSIRO-Division of Radiophysics, Sydney, Australia.Visiting Scientist, High Altitude Observatory, national Center for Atmospheric Research. The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.