Helicity Computation Using Observations From two Different Polarimetric Instruments

We compare vector magnetograms of active region NOAA 5747 observed by two very different polarimetric instruments: the imaging vector magnetograph of Huairou Solar Observing Station (HSOS) and the Haleakala Stokes Polarimeter of Mees Solar Observatory (MSO). Unlike previous comparative studies, we concentrate our attention on differences in observations and data reduction techniques that can affect the helicity computation. Overall, we find a qualitative agreement between the HSOS and MSO vector magnetograms. The HSOS data show slightly higher field strength, but the distribution of inclination angles is similar in measurements from the two instruments. There is a systematic difference (up to 20°) in the azimuths of transverse fields, which is roughly proportional to the longitudinal field strength. We estimate that Faraday rotation in the HSOS magnetograms contributes 12° in the azimuth difference if possible sources of error are taken into account. Next, we apply two independent methods to both data sets to resolve 180° azimuth ambiguity and to compute two helicity measures – the force-free field parameter _best and the current helicity fractional imbalance _h. The methods agree reasonably well in sign and value of the helicity measures, but the HSOS magnetograms show systematically smaller values of _h and _best in agreement with an expected contribution of Faraday rotation. Finally, we discuss the role of Faraday rotation in computation of _best and _h and conclude that it does not affect the strength of the hemispheric helicity rule. The strength of the rule appears to be related to a helicity parameter: _best shows weaker hemispheric asymmetry than _h.     

Synoptic Hα Full-Disk Observations of the Sun from Big Bear Solar Observatory – I. Instrumentation,Image Processing,Data Products,and First Results

The Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) has a long tradition of synoptic full-disk observations. Synoptic observations of contrast enhanced full-disk images in the Caii K-line have been used with great success to reproduce the Hi L irradiance variability observed with the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS). Recent improvements in data calibration procedures and image- processing techniques enable us now to provide contrast enhanced H full-disk images with a spatial resolution of approximately 2 and a temporal resolution of up to 3 frames min–1.In this first paper in a series, we describe the instruments, the data calibration procedures, and the image-processing techniques used to obtain our daily H full-disk observations. We also present the final data products such as low- and high-contrast images, and Carrington rotation charts. A time series of an erupting mini- filament further illustrates the quality of our H full-disk observations and motivate one of the future research projects. This lays a solid foundation for our subsequent studies of solar activity and chromospheric fine structures. The high quality and the sunrise- to-sunset operation of the H full-disk observations presented in this paper make them an ideal choice to study statistical properties of mini-filament eruptions, chromospheric differential rotation, and meridional flows within the chromosphere, as well as the evolution of active regions, filaments, flares, and prominences.     

First phase of active regions and their relation to the chromospheric network

An analysis of 63 young active regions shows that they originate exclusively on the borders of the chromospheric cells. In most cases they do not produce pores or spots, but always arch filament systems and chromospheric faculae. The arch filament systems evolve along the cell border, they are rooted on the network and not in the interior of the chromospheric cells. The sub-photospheric magnetic flux seems to reach the photosphere in units of 10¹⁹ Mx. About 3 hr after the first arch filaments appear pores evolve on the cell border. The pores and spots are probably formed by local aggregations of the emerging flux tubes.Mitteilungen aus dem Fraunhofer-Institut Nr. 132.     

Coronal changes associated with a disappearing filament

This paper describes Skylab/ATM observations of the events associated with a disappearing filament near the center of the solar disk on January 18, 1974. As the filament disappeared, the nearby coronal plasma was heated to a temperature in excess of 6 × 10⁶K. A change in the pattern of coronal emission occurred during the 11/3 hr period that the soft X-ray flux was increasing. This change seemed to consist of the formation and apparent expansion of a loop-like coronal structure which remained visible until its passage around the west limb several days later. The time history of the X-ray and microwave radio flux displayed the well-known gradual-rise-and-fall (GRF) signature, suggesting that this January 18 event may have properties characteristic of a wide class of X-ray and radio events.In pursuit of this idea, we examined other spatially-resolved Skylab/ATM observations of long-duration X-ray events to see what characteristics they may have in common. Nineteen similar long-lived SOLRAD X-ray events having either the GRF or post-burst radio classification occurred during the nine-month Skylab mission. Sixteen of these occurred during HAO/ATM coronagraph observations, and 7 of these 16 events occurred during observations with both the NRL/ATM slitless spectrograph and the MSFC-A/ATM X-ray telescope. The tabulation of these events suggests that all long-lived SOLRAD X-ray bursts involve transients in the outer corona and that at least two-thirds of the bursts involve either the eruption or major activation of a prominence. Also, these observations indicate that long-lived SOLARD events are characterized by the appearance of new loops of emission in the lower corona during the declining phase of the X-ray emission. However, sometimes these loops disappear after the X-ray event (like the post-flare loops associated with a sporadic coronal condensation), and sometimes the loops remain indefinitely (like the emission from a permanent coronal condensation).Visiting Scientist, Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson, Ariz. 85726, U.S.A. operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.Presently located at NASA/MSFC, Space Sciences Laboratory, Marshall Space Flight Center, Ala. 35812, U. S.A.     

Околозвездные оБлака по данным 2800 Mgii

2800 Mgii (. 1). (N ⁺/N ₁1000) , , (N ⁺/N ₁10). , . —, , . — . : ; 0.002 1 , 0.1 ; () 100 ^–3; ; ; , 10 ; 10^–4 1 . 2800 Mgii .     

Структура и эволюция Сверхмассивных вращающихся магнитных политроп

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The structure of rotating magnetic polytropes is considered in Roche approximation. Investigation of the influence of poloidal as well as toroidal magnetic fields on the conditions of the beginning of matter outflow due to rotational instability is carried out. The influence of the turbulent convection and twisting of magnetic force-lines on the time of smoothing of differential rotation is considered. The estimate of the magneto-turbulence energy generated by differential rotation is presented. Both maximum possible energy output and duration of the quasi-statical evolution phase up to the appearance of hydrodynamic instability due to the effects of general relativity are calculated for supermassive magnetic polytropes of index three with uniform or differential rotation. The radius-mass relation is obtained for supermassive differentially-rotating magnetic polytropes referring to the longest part of the quasi-statistical evolution stage; some consequences are pointed out, including the period-luminosity relation.The evolution of the considered models of supermassive rotating magnetic polytropes with different character of rotation and different geometry of a magnetic field is discussed.The results obtained are summarized in the last section.

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English translation will appear in the next issue ofAstrophys. Space Sci.

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Receipt delayed by postal strike in Great Britain     

Исследование устойгивости периодигеских движений в окрестности коллинеарных точек либрации

1937 - (, 1938). , , , , . , . . (, 1938), , . - (, 1938; Szebehely, 1967)., , . . - (, 1938), . — — . , , . , . . , . , , . . (, 1944). , .

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In 1937, the Celestial Mechanics and Cosmogony section of the Sternberg State Astronomical Institute undertook the task of evaluating the Gylden-Moulton hypothesis on the origin of the Gegenshein from the standpoint of celestial mechanics. That investigation, which the authors themselves considered preliminary, contains nonetheless a series of important results. For example, G. N. Duboshin showed that in the planar, circular, restricted three-body problem, periodic motion of finite amplitude in the neighborhood of a collinear libration point is unstable according to Lyapunov's criterion both in the proper and in the orbital sense. The latter result is incompatible with the above named hypothesis, and thus appears as one of the serious objections among the many known negative conclusions relative to the existence of the Gylden-Moulton cluster.Unfortunately, most of the specific problems which arose in the above named research have not been considered since. One of these, the problem of the stability of three-dimensional periodic orbits in the neighborhood of a collinear libration point is solved in the present paper, within the limits of the three-dimensional, circular, restricted, three-body problem. Major attention is given to the investigation of stability in the orbital sense, since in the proper sense all orbits are unstable according to Lyapunov theory. It is shown that in order to resolve the question of stability, it is sufficient to consider the equations in their variational form. Analysis of the roots of the corresponding characteristic equations determines the orbital stability of planar and three-dimensional solutions, which later can be confirmed by calculation of the characteristic exponents appearing in the periodic solutions of the N. A. Artemiev method. Finally, the possibility of conditional stability in the linear approximation is proved.

     

The Filament Disappearance of 7 May 1992 (the Ebi)

The 7 May 1992 filament disappearance in the low corona is analyzed. The cool and hot components of this event are studied, using H, soft X-ray and radio data. We first show the general effect of the disparition brusque (DB) on the life of the filament, which was a quiescent filament in the vicinity of an active region, and then give the history of the development of the 7 May event. The main stages of the event are: (i) the formation of hot arches spanning the cool filament; (ii) rise of the filament, with plasma ejection into the corona, in which we note some spreading of loops from the main body, with two distinct rising velocity phases of the H filament; (iii) formation of X-ray arches below the filament, the foot points of the arcades being two-ribbon H flare patches. The dynamics of H and X-rays features are given.     

Helical magnetic fields in filaments

For both even and odd-numbered solar cycles, right-hand heliform filaments predominate at middle and high latitudes in the northern hemisphere while left-handed ones predominate in the south. This recent discovery has prompted a re-examination of past measurements of magnetic fields in prominences. This re-examination indicates that Rust (1967), in his interpretation of solar cycle 20 measurements in terms of the Kippenhahn-Schlüter model, and Leroy, Bommier, and Sahal-Bréchot (1984), in their interpretation of solar cycle 21 measurements in terms of the Kuperus-Raadu model were both misled by the global pattern of helicity. While the original magnetic field measurements are consistent with the new results about heliform magnetic fields in filaments, neither of the well-known classes of two-dimensional models can produce both the proper axial field direction and the observed pattern of helicity. A global, subsurface velocity pattern that would twist the fields before emergence as filaments seems to be required. In this paper a twisted-flux-rope model consistent with the new understanding of filament fields is presented. The model is based on a constant- solution of the magnetostatic equations, where electric current densityj(r) = B(r). The model filament has dimensions in general agreement with observations. It is shown to be stable if the length is less than 140 000 km to 1,400 000 km, depending on the value of. The model also provides a new explanation of eruptive prominences and for the origin of the entrained material.     

Penumbral filaments: A dissipation form of the magnetic field

In this paper we suggest that penumbral filaments are a phenomenon of magnetohydrodynamic instability, developed in a stable and uniform magnetic field of sunspots during a dissipation process. We have solved local magnetohydrodynamic disturbance equations and have obtained the necessary condition for filament instability mode, that the ratio of filament length to width must be larger than the ratio of Alfvén speed to sound speed. We have also obtained correlations between two fluctuations from their phase difference. Although there are two correlations between the fluctuation of temperature (or filament intensity) and (1) the fluctuation of magnetic field, and (2) the fluctuation of the flow during the phases of developing and dissipating of the filament, we cannot distinguish whether the correlation is associated with the light filament or dark filament and we cannot decide whether the phase difference is 0° or 180° from tg() = 0. However, we can make a judgment: if the correlation is associated with a light filament during its development phase, it will be associated with a dark filament during its dissipation phase, andvice versa. In addition, there are no correlations between the fluctuations mentioned above for a stable filament, because the phase difference of the filament is changing with time.The phase differences of filaments are related to the existence of a gravitational field.     

A Flare-Triggered Heating of a Quiescent Filament

Using data obtained with the 20-cm H full-disk telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory and Fexii 195 Å EIT on SOHO, we analyze a sudden disappearance event of a quiescent filament in detail. The filament was located along the common boundary of the active regions NOAA 9672 (S19 E13) and NOAA 9673 (N03 E18). The filament disappeared during a time interval between 17:59 UT and 19:47 UT on 22 October 2001 immediately after the onset of a major flare, which occurred in the active region NOAA 9672. At about 23:23 UT of the same day, the filament began to reappear in H and, after about 15 hours, the filament recovered to its steady state with its size being slightly smaller than that before its disappearance. This filament disappearance event belongs to the thermal type of sudden filament disappearances, which is caused by an input of additional heat. The heating mechanism that leads to sudden thermal disappearances of quiescent filaments is still not well understood. This simple event, due to the explicit cause and effect relationship between the flare and the disappearance of the filament, shows us that the flare triggered some kind of heating mechanism which continued several hours. The heat may come from the flare via heat conduction from its ribbon or from the excitation of dissipating Alfvén waves. However, from the data analysis, we conclude that the flare triggered an in-situ heating, which is likely caused by magnetic reconnection.     

A filament eruption and accompanying coronal field changes on November 5, 1992

An H filament eruption on November 5, 1992 was fully observed in H with the Hida Flare Monitoring Telescope, while Yohkoh's Soft X-ray Telescope observed the pre- and post-eruption evolution of the coronal magnetic fields. From the H data, including the red and blue wings, we have reconstructed the rise of the filament, including trajectory, velocity, and acceleration. In combination with the Yohkoh data this reconstruction suggests that the filament had several interactions with other coronal magnetic fields during the eruption. The Yohkoh data also shows pre-eruption changes in the coronal fields and several post-eruption bright coronal structures. The pre-eruption changes are interpreted as a partial opening of the corona, indicating that it is not necessary to have a complete opening of the corona in order for a filament to erupt and we discuss the several possible contributions from emerging flux. The post-event bright coronal structures are compared with theory and with a cleaner filament eruption event on July 31, 1992. These comparisons suggest that, although there are many similarities, it is hard to completely reconcile the observations with the existing theory.     

Containment of an adiabatic plasma on magnetic lines of force by a self-generated electrostatic field

One component of a three-fluid adiabatic plasma is under certain conditions contained in a restricted region of space by a large-scale electrostatic field generated within the plasma. The containment is discussed here for plasma consisting of ions and two populations of electrons characterized by different pitch angle distribution functions.The bouncing motion of electrons along open fieldlines between a magnetic mirror and an electrostatic mirror produces a velocity distribution function similar to that generated by bouncing particles on closed fieldlines.     

Measurements of magnetic fluxes and field strengths in the photospheric network

We present digital pictures of an active region network cell in five quantities, measured simultaneously: continuum intensity, line-center intensity, equivalent width, magnetogram signal, and magnetic field strength. These maps are derived from computer analysis of circularly polarized line profiles of FeI 5250.2; spectral and spatial resolution are 1/40 Å and 1.5, respectively. Measured Zeeman splittings show the existence of strong magnetic fields (1000–1800 G) at nearly all points with a magnetogram signal exceeding 125 G. The mean and rms deviation of the field strengths change by less than 20% over a factor-of-four range of fluxes. From the significant disparity between measured fluxes and field strengths, we conclude that large flux patches (up to 4 across) consist of closely-packed unresolved filaments. The smallest filaments must be less than 0.7 in diameter. We also observe the dark component of the photospheric network, which appears to contain sizable transverse fields.     

Comments on filament-disintegration and its relation to other aspects of solar activity

Studies of disparitions brusques in solar cycles 19 and 20 (to 1969) indicate that such events occur frequently. Approximately 30% of all large filaments in these cycles disintegrated in the course of their transit across the solar disk. Major flares occurred with above average frequency on the last day on which 141 large disappearing filaments were observed (1958–60; 1966–69). Relationships between a disintegrating filament on July 10–11, 1959, a prior major flare, a newly formed spot, and concomitant growth of H plage are presented. Observation of prior descending prominence material apparently directed towards the location of the flare of 1959 July 15^d19^h23^m is reported. The development of the filament-associated flare of February 13, 1967 is described.Visiting Astronomer, McMath-Hulbert Observatory.     

Material ejecta in a disturbed solar filament

H observations, using the Multichannel Subtractive Double Pass (MSDP) spectrograph operating on the Meudon Solar Tower, have been made of an active region filament which undergoes a disparition brusque. The period of observation was from 10 45 to 13 30 UT on 22 June, 1981. Velocity and intensity fluctuations in H were measured. The proper motions of ejecta were followed allowing their trajectories and vector velocities to be determined. To model the dynamics of ejecta several models using thermal or magnetic driving forces are compared. The most promising model explains the motion as the consequence of magnetic stresses acting on an isolated magnetized plasmoïd in a diverging flux tube.     

Analysis Of The Disappearing Filament And Flare Of 7 May 1992

By using Yohkoh soft X-ray data, H filtergrams, and radio data, the activation of the disappearing filament and the flare eruption on 7 May 1992 have been studied. Main conclusions are as follows: (1) the emergence of new magnetic flux tends to affect the pre-existing X-ray loops, which usually appear in arcades spanning H filament, changing the magnetic environment of the filament, and then enhance the current in the filament. Therefore newly emerging flux plays a fundamental role in the destabilization of this filament. (2) According to the H data and the rising motion of the filament, the corresponding current variation in the filament has been calculated. It seems that the current interruption may be a possible trigger mechanism for this filament disappearance. (3) The magnetic field strength and the energy flux of energetic electrons in the source region of microwave bursts have been estimated by using the microwave spectrum. During the main phase, the mean magnetic strength and the energy flux of energetic electrons are about 300–400 G and 1×1011 erg cm–2 s –1, respectively. (4) The energy provided by reconnection of the current sheet and the total energy of the current filament are estimated and we show that there is enough energy stored in the filament to feed the 7 May, 1992 flare.     

The eruption of active region filaments and its relation to the triggering of a solar flare

The formation and eruption of active region filaments is supposed to be caused by the increase of a concentrated current embedded in the active region background magnetic field of an active region according to the theory of Van Tend and Kuperus (1978).The onset of a filament eruption is due to either changes in the background magnetic field or the increase of the filament current intensity. Both processes can be caused by the emergence of new magnetic flux as well as by the motion of the photospheric footpoints of the magnetic field lines. It is shown that if the background field evolves from a potential field to a nearly force-free field the vertical equilibrium of the current filament is not affected, but large forces are generated along the filament axis. This is identified as the cause of filament activation and the increase in filament turbulence during the flare build-up phase. Depending on the evolution of the background field and the current filament, two different scenarios for flare build-up and filament eruption are distinguished.This work was done while one of the authors (M.K.) was participating in the CECAM workshop on Physics of Solar Flares held at Orsay, France, in June 1979.     

Search for low energyν e,μ,τ andv e,μ,τ in coincidence with BATSE gamma ray bursts

A search for low energy neutrinos of all flavours in correlation with 553 ray bursts detected by BATSE aboard the Compton Observatory has been performed by the LSD (Liquid Scintillator Detector) neutrino telescope. No excess ofe,, orv _e,, candidate has been detected by LSD during the time interval in which BATSE detected the 90% of the photon flux for any of the GRBs analyzed. Upper limits on the neutrino fluxes are given in the paper.     

Hamiltonian perturbation theory on a manifold

This paper deals with Hamiltonian perturbation theory for systems which, like Euler-Poinsot (the rigid body with a fixed point and no torques), are degenerate and do not possess a global system of action-angle coordinates. It turns out that the usual methods of perturbation theory, which are essentially local being based on the construction of normal forms within the domain of a local coordinate system, are not immediately usable to study perturbations of these systems, since degeneracy makes impossible to control that the system does not fall into a singularity of the coordinates. To overcome this difficulty, we develop a global formulation of Hamiltonian perturbation theory, in which the normal forms are globally defined on the phase space manifold. The key for this study lies in the geometry of the fibration by the invariant tori of an integrable degenerate Hamiltonian system, which is described by some generalizations of the Liouville-Arnol'd theorem and is reviewed in the paper. As an application, we provide a global formulation of Nekhoroshev's theorem on the stability for exponentially long times.