Solar p-modes oscillations and heating of the corona

The properties of the resonator are considered for fast magnetoacoustic waves. It is shown that tunnel penetration of waves from the resonator leads either to heating of the medium in the Alfvén resonance vicinity (if the inclination angle of the magnetic field is smaller than the critical angle), or to excitation of Alfvén waves at the Alfvén resonance (if the inclination angle is larger than the critical angle). This suggests that non-radiative heating of the corona can be due to solar p-mode oscillations.     

Propagation of Leaky MHD Waves at Discontinuities with Tilted Magnetic Field

We investigate the characteristics of magneto-acoustic surface waves propagating at a single density interface, in the presence of an inclined magnetic field. For linear wave propagation, the dispersion relation is obtained and analytical solutions are derived for small inclination angle. The inclination of the field renders the frequency of the waves complex, where the imaginary part describes wave attenuation, due to lateral energy leakage.     

Wave absorption at the Alfvén resonance in a medium of finite conductivity

The paper considers wave transformation in the vicinity of the Alfvén resonance in a finite conductivity medium with a magnetic field, the inclination angle of which is close to the critical.     

天体物理中的重力波和磁重力波

本文简要综述重力波和磁重力波在各种天体物理场合中的应用 ,我们描述在具有开放径向磁场的恒星大气各种磁流体波之间的相互转换过程 ,强调磁重力波被束缚在恒星冕内的可能性 ,并探讨恒星内部高频的声波模 (p -模 )被低频的重力波模 (g -模 )所调制的过程 ,一旦有了足够长时间未间断高质量的日震数据 ,太阳内部的重力波模对声波模的调制效应—即每一个分立声波模的频率精细结构—则可被用来寻找深陷于太阳内部的重力波模或进一步独立地约束重力波模的振幅上限     

Dynamical properties of a centrifugally driven outflow from a disc near a black hole

The inclination of the field lines at the surface of the disc plays a crucial role on the nature of the magnetically driven flows. For the non-relativistic case, a centrifugally driven outflow of matter from the disc is possible, if the poloidal component of the magnetic field makes an angle of less than a critical 60° with the disc surface (Blandford and Payne 1982). We investigate the dynamical properties of the magnetically driven flows from the disc near a non-rotating black hole and find that the critical angle becomes larger than 60° when the flows start from the region near the black hole.     

On the energy dissipation of fast hydromagnetic shock waves in the solar chromosphere

MHD equations including dissipation terms are applied to study the most important irreversible processes occurring in fast hydromagnetic shock waves under the conditions of the outer solar atmosphere. The atmosphere is assumed to be permeated by a nearly horizontal, uniform magnetic field, the magnitude and inclination angle of which being parameters of the analysis. Numerical examples, corresponding to situations which might occur in the upper chromosphere, are computed in order to demonstrate the procedure.     

Features of the Non-Plane-Polarized Interaction ofMagnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Shock Waves

The features of the non-plane-polarized interaction of two plane MHD shock waves colliding at an arbitrary nonzero angle in the presence of an arbitrary magnetic field are considered. The problem is solved over a wide range of key parameters. When the key parameters of the problem vary continuously, there are no sudden restructurings (catastropies) of the flow pattern characteristic of the plane-polarized case. As distinct from the plane-polarized case, in the flow developed always there are two Alfvén discontinuities of different intensities with circular polarization. The presence of a magnetic field along the line of intersection of the shock fronts smoothers variation of pressure on the contact discontinuity C as a function of the angles of inclination of the magnetic field, the pressure on C being less than that in the plane-polarized case by several times. The velocity acquired by the medium as a result of the interaction depends significantly on the inclination of the magnetic field. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Turbulent spectrum of Alfvén waves excited by a kinetic instability for explaining the modulations with multi-timescales in solar flares

A low-frequency wave is treated as a local oscillation to modulate the guiding center of electrons beam, which is considered as free energy to excite Alfvén waves by a kinetic plasma instability under low-frequency approximation. The nonlinearity of the model is shown by a critical value of the amplitude of the low-frequency wave, and Alfvén waves are growing in a broad turbulent spectrum with fractional harmonics, which strongly depend on the criterion. The instability is limited in the direction nearly perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field. The growth rates are very sensitive to the beam speed that perpendicular to the magnetic field, the propagational angle, and the magnetic field strength, but not sensitive to the beam speed parallel to the magnetic field. This model is used to explain the modulations with multiple timescales in the flare light curves at radio, hard X-ray and H-alpha bands.     

Waves in a one-dimensional magnetized relativistic pair plasma

Normal modes of a one-dimensional relativistically streaming electron–positron plasma in a superstrong magnetic field are considered, taking into account possible different bulk velocities and thermal effects. This physical picture corresponds to the plasma present on the open field lines of rotating neutron stars where the observed radio emission is generated. Various cases are considered: relativistic and non-relativistic relative streaming of cold components, and relativistically hot distributions. A distinction between superluminous and subluminous waves (which can be excited by the Cherenkov effect) is clearly stated. In the low-frequency regime the Cherenkov and cyclotron two-stream instabilities occur. Polarization of the quasi-transverse modes changes from circular for the propagation along magnetic field lines to linear for angles of propagation larger than some critical angle that depends on the relative velocity of the plasma components.     

Magnetic field dragging and the vertical structure of thin accretion discs

The presence of an imposed vertical magnetic field may drastically influence the structure of thin accretion discs. If the field is sufficiently strong, the rotation law can depart from the Keplerian one. We consider the structure of a disc for a given eddy magnetic diffusivity but neglect details of the energy transport. The magnetic field is assumed to be in balance with the internal energy of the accretion flow. The thickness of the disc as well as the turbulent magnetic Prandtl number and the viscosity, α , are the key parameters of our model. The calculations show that the radial velocity can reach the sound speed for a magnetic disc if the thickness is comparable to that of a non-magnetic one. This leads to a strong amplification of the accretion rate for a given surface density. The inclination angle of the magnetic field lines can exceed the critical value 30° (required to launch cold jets) even for a relatively small magnetic Prandtl number of order unity. The toroidal magnetic fields induced at the disc surface are smaller than predicted in previous studies.     

On the diagnostic of magnetic fields in sunspots through the interpretation of stokes parameters profiles

The inversion routine proposed by Aueret al. (1977), for the determination of vector magnetic fields from Stokes profiles, has been generalized to include magneto-optical and damping effects. Synthetic profiles have then been generated from a sunspot model atmosphere accounting for the depth variation of the relevant physical parameters such as the magnetic field amplitude, inclination angle, etc...., each variation being considered one at a time. Alfvén waves and magnetic inhomogeneities over the field of view have also been considered. These synthetic profiles have been presented to the inversion routine. The results of the fits show that the magnetic field amplitude and direction are always recovered with good accuracy when these quantities are constant in the model atmosphere, and, in those cases where te magnetic field vector is supposed to vary monotonically with optical depth, the values recovered are always intermediate between the values corresponding to the top and bottom of the atmosphere. Moreover, we found that the differences between synthetic and best-fit profiles are able to characterize, in many cases, the particular physical situation considered.     

环加速间隙下的脉冲星星风制动模型

为了解释间歇脉冲星PSR B1931+24在射电噪比射电宁静状态下更大的自转减慢率和模拟蟹状星云脉冲星的自转演化,建立同时考虑了具有不同加速电势的核区和环区的环加速间隙下的星风制动模型.其中对于PSR B1931+24通过计算得到它的磁场强度和磁倾角,并且预言了其理论制动指数.对于蟹状星云脉冲星,通过计算得到它的磁场强度和磁倾角,还计算得到其制动指数随周期的演化和它在周期-周期导数图上的自转演化.相比于真空加速间隙、外加速间隙等,环加速间隙也同样能够适用于星风制动模型.     

The Evolution of Sunspot Magnetic Fields Associated with a Solar Flare

Solar flares occur due to the sudden release of energy stored in active-region magnetic fields. To date, the precursors to flaring are still not fully understood, although there is evidence that flaring is related to changes in the topology or complexity of an active-region’s magnetic field. Here, the evolution of the magnetic field in active region NOAA 10953 was examined using Hinode/SOT-SP data over a period of 12 hours leading up to and after a GOES B1.0 flare. A number of magnetic-field properties and low-order aspects of magnetic-field topology were extracted from two flux regions that exhibited increased Ca ii H emission during the flare. Pre-flare increases in vertical field strength, vertical current density, and inclination angle of ≈ 8° toward the vertical were observed in flux elements surrounding the primary sunspot. The vertical field strength and current density subsequently decreased in the post-flare state, with the inclination becoming more horizontal by ≈ 7°. This behavior of the field vector may provide a physical basis for future flare-forecasting efforts.     

Resonant Absorption of Fast Magnetoacoustic Waves due to Coupling into the Slow and Alfvén Continua in the Solar Atmosphere

Resonant absorption of fast magnetoacoustic (FMA) waves in an inhomogeneous, weakly dissipative, one-dimensional planar, strongly anisotropic and dispersive plasma is investigated. The magnetic configuration consists of an inhomogeneous magnetic slab sandwiched between two regions of semi-infinite homogeneous magnetic plasmas. Laterally driven FMA waves penetrate the inhomogeneous slab interacting with the localised slow or Alfvén waves present in the inhomogeneous layer and are partly reflected, dissipated and transmitted by this region. The presented research aims to find the coefficient of wave energy absorption under solar chromospheric and coronal conditions. Numerical results are analysed to find the coefficient of wave energy absorption at both the slow and Alfvén resonance positions. The mathematical derivations are based on the two simplifying assumptions that i) nonlinearity is weak, and ii) the thickness of the inhomogeneous layer is small in comparison to the wavelength of the wave, i.e. we employ the so-called long wavelength approximation. Slow resonance is found to be described by the nonlinear theory, while the dynamics at the Alvén resonance can be described within the linear framework. We introduce a new concept of coupled resonances, which occurs when two different resonances are in close proximity to each other, causing the incoming wave to act as though it has been influenced by the two resonances simultaneously. Our results show that the wave energy absorption is heavily dependent on the angle of the incident wave in combination with the inclination angle of the equilibrium magnetic field. In addition, it is found that FMA waves are very efficiently absorbed at the Alvén resonance under coronal conditions. Under chromospheric conditions the FMA waves are far less efficiently absorbed, despite an increase in efficiency due to the coupled resonances.     

Magnetoacoustic surface waves at a single interface

The occurrence of magnetoacoustic surface waves at a single magnetic interface one side of which is field-free is explored for the case of non-parallel propagation. Phase-speeds and penetration depths of the waves are investigated for various Alfvén speeds, sound speeds and angles of propagation to the applied field. Both slow and fast magnetoacoustic surface waves can exist depending on the values of sound speeds and propagation angle. The fast waves penetrate more than the slow waves.The parallel propagation of fast and slow magnetoacoustic surface waves on a magnetic-magnetic interface is investigated. The slow surface wave is unable to propagate below a critical sound speed. In a low -plasma, only the fast mode exists (0 0).     

Physical Properties of Wave Motion in Inclined Magnetic Fields within Sunspot Penumbrae

At the surface of the Sun, acoustic waves appear to be affected by the presence of strong magnetic fields in active regions. We explore the possibility that the inclined magnetic field in sunspot penumbrae may convert primarily vertically-propagating acoustic waves into elliptical motion. We use helioseismic holography to measure the modulus and phase of the correlation between incoming acoustic waves and the local surface motion within two sunspots. These correlations are modeled by assuming the surface motion to be elliptical, and we explore the properties of the elliptical motion on the magnetic-field inclination. We also demonstrate that the phase shift of the outward-propagating waves is opposite to the phase shift of the inward-propagating waves in stronger, more vertical fields, but similar to the inward phase shifts in weaker, more-inclined fields.     

Numerical MHD Simulations of Solar Magnetoconvection and Oscillations in Inclined Magnetic Field Regions

The sunspot penumbra is a transition zone between the strong vertical magnetic field area (sunspot umbra) and the quiet Sun. The penumbra has a fine filamentary structure that is characterized by magnetic field lines inclined toward the surface. Numerical simulations of solar convection in inclined magnetic field regions have provided an explanation of the filamentary structure and the Evershed outflow in the penumbra. In this article, we use radiative MHD simulations to investigate the influence of the magnetic field inclination on the power spectrum of vertical velocity oscillations. The results reveal a strong shift of the resonance mode peaks to higher frequencies in the case of a highly inclined magnetic field. The frequency shift for the inclined field is significantly greater than that in vertical-field regions of similar strength. This is consistent with the behavior of fast MHD waves.     

Measuring Magnetic Oscillations in the Solar Photosphere: Coordinated Observations with MDI,ASP and MWO

A comprehensive observing effort was undertaken to simultaneously obtain full Stokes profiles as well as longitudinal magnetogram maps of a positive plage region on 8 December, 1998 with the Michelson Doppler Imager, the Advanced Stokes Polarimeter and Mt. Wilson Observatory magnetograph. We compare 1.2 spatially-averaged signals of velocities as well as filter magnetograph longitudinal flux signals with Stokes determined fluctuations in filling factor, field inclination, magnetic flux and field strength. The velocity signals are in excellent agreement. Michelson Doppler Imager magnetic flux correlates best with fluctuations in the Advanced Stokes Polarimeter filling factor, not inclination angle or field strength. A correlated flux and filling factor change in the absence of a field strength fluctuation can be understood in terms of internally unperturbed flux tubes being buffeted by external pressure fluctuations. The 12.5 square aperture spatially averaged Mt. Wilson magnetograph signals are compared with Michelson Doppler Imager signals from the corresponding observing area. Velocity signals are in superb agreement. Magnetic signals exhibit similar oscillatory behavior. Lack of Advanced Stokes Polarimeter data for this time excludes interpretation of magnetic fluctuations as due to filling factor or field inclination angle. Mt. Wilson Observatory simultaneous sampling of the nickel and sodium spectral line profiles with several wing pairs allowed inter-comparison of signals from different heights of formation. Slight phase shifts and large propagation speeds for the velocity signals are indicative of modified standing waves. Phase speeds associated with magnetic signals are characteristic of photospheric Alfvén speeds for plage fields. The phase speed increase with height agrees with the altitude dependence of the Alfvén speed. The observed fluctuations and phases are interpreted as a superposition of signatures from the horizontal component of the driving mechanism sweeping the field lines in/out of the resolution area and the magnetic response of the flux tube to this buffeting.     

Hydromagnetic planetary waves in vertically sheared zonal flow and transverse magnetic field

Hydromagnetic planetary waves propagating through a zonal flow and a transverse magnetic field both of which are sheared in the vertical direction are studied. It is found that the effect of the transverse magnetic field is to make planetary waves, which characteristically propagate westwards, propagate eastwards in both westerly and easterly zonal flows. It is also shown that at a critical level the rays are guided by the zonal flow only and that the waves are either attenuated or escalated by an exponential factor as they cross a critical level.     

Magnetic field inclination angle at geosynchronous orbit

Simultaneous magnetic field data from the geostationary satellites GOES 2 and GOES 3 have shown significant differences between the inclination angles measured at these two satellites. The relationship between the two inclination angles is examined for three magnetic activity groups and eight local time sectors by using data from GOES 2 and GOES 3 for the 12-month period from March 1979 to February 1980. During this time GOES 2 was 1.09 R_E off the geomagnetic equator in the northern geomagnetic hemisphere, while GOES 3 was separated from GOES 2 by 2 h L.T. and 0.47 R_E off the geomagnetic equator, also in the northern geomagnetic hemisphere. The average inclination angle is found to differ substantially from the predictions based on the previously published magnetic field models. The relationship between the two inclination angles is fitted by a simple model of magnetic field perturbation that varies as a power of distance from the Equator. During magnetic disturbances, the spatial variation of magnetic field perturbation on the nightside suggests that the ring current density increases with distance from the geomagnetic equator.