Spectroscopic Studies of the Solar Corona – V. Physical Properties of Coronal Structures

Spectra around the 6374 Å [Fex] and 7892 Å [Fexi] emission lines were obtained simultaneously with the 25-cm coronagraph at Norikura Observatory covering an area of 200 ×500 of the solar corona. The line width, peak intensity and line-of-sight velocity for both the lines were computed using Gaussian fits to the observed line profiles at each location (4 ×4 ) of the observed coronal region. The line-width measurements show that in steady coronal structures the FWHM of the 6374 Å emission line increases with height above the limb with an average value of 1.02 mÅ arc sec^–1. The FWHM of the 7892 Å line also increases with height but at a smaller average value of 0.55 mÅ arc sec^–1. These observations agree well with our earlier results obtained from observations of the red, green, and infrared emission lines that variation of the FWHM of the coronal emission lines with height in steady coronal structures depends on plasma temperatures they represent. The FWHM gradient is negative for high-temperature emission lines, positive for relatively low-temperature lines and smaller for emission lines in the intermediate temperature range. Such a behaviour in the variation of the FWHM of coronal emission lines with height above the limb suggests that it may not always be possible to interpret an increase in the FWHM of emission line with height as an increase in the nonthermal velocity, and hence rules out the existence of waves in steady coronal structures.     

THE EFFECT OF SEEING ON SOLAR MAGNETIC FLUX MEASUREMENTS

We investigate the influence of seeing upon measurement of magnetic flux of photospheric fields. For this purpose we quantify seeing variation in one day's observation at Big Bear Solar Observatory in terms of the Fried function, a Modulation Transfer Function for the atmospheric seeing. The temporal variation of seeing quality is compared with that of magnetic flux measured in a quiet region with size 5 \times 4 near the solar disk center. A good correlation is found between the seeing change and apparent evolution of magnetic flux values, implying, as a possibility, that magnetic flux measurement might have been modulated by seeing. Based on a simple model of ensembles of Gaussian magnetic elements we argue that even the net flux as well as the total flux can change due to seeing variation if the magnetograph has a finite detection threshold and if the intrinsic fluxes in one and the other polarities are unbalanced.     

Almost stable regions for an area-preserving mapping

The area preserving mapping x = x + a(y – y ³), y = y – a(x – x³), for 0.3 a 2.0 has been studied to locate approximately the x-axis points bounding almost stable regions. For each value of a, these are fixed points with variational trace just greater than 2.0. Transition to chaos can occur rapidly as a increases (with n/k fixed).     

Luminosity and colour distribution in the interacting system NGC 7770-71

Detailed surface photometry for the SB(s)a galaxy NGC 7771 has been carried out in the blue spectral band. Isophotes, luminosity profiles, and photometric parameters are obtained from photographs collected with the 74 inch telescope of Kottamia Observatory, Egypt. The total apparent magnitudem _T =13.08 with maximum dimensions 3.6±0.5×2.7±0.5 (at threshold µ _m = 27.38 mag s^–2). The absolute magnitude isM _T =–21.70 if the distance is =90.2 Mpc. The major axis is in position angle =69°.5±1° and the mean axis ratio of the outer regionsq=b/a=0.45 corresponds to an inclinationi=66°. The equivalent effective radiusr _e ^* =0.29 and the effective surface brightness µ _e = 22.30 mag s^–2.The equivalent luminosity distribution has been decomposed into two main components, anr ^1/4 spheroid and an exponential disk. The total apparent magnitudes of the spheroidal and disk components are 14.36 and 13.48, which correspond to contributions of 31 and 69% to the total blue luminosity, respectively.     

Nature of the fine structure of the middle chromosphere

Fine dark H filaments fibrils form at the limb, apparently in most of the middle chromosphere corresponding to an altitude between 1500–2000 km and 4000 km. The space in between filaments is corona and the transition layer. The cool gas in fibrils is protected by the magnetic field against the conductive flux out of the hot corona. Therefore the fibrils stretch up to 4000 km where their temperature is about 18 000 K and the density about 5 × 10⁹ cm^–3. The gas in the fibrils is ionized by electronic collisions and by the external ultraviolet radiation. The second level of the hydrogen atoms in fibrils is populated by recombinations, electronic collisions and by Ly- quanta. The calculated optical thickness of the fibrils in H is about 1, it explains the absorption features on the spectroheliograms. The gas pressure in fibrils is lower than the coronal pressure, and the pressure equilibrium is achieved by a magnetic field of about 1.5–2 G. In the active regions the photospheric fields are stronger, therefore the fibrils in active regions are wider and show more contrast. The emission of the fibrils at the limb is explained by the scattering of the solar radiation. The temperature in arches reaching as high as 5000–6000 km, is stabilized near the top by the HeII emission. Thus the middle chromosphere is essentially a collection of magnetic arches.     

Spectro-Polarimetry of Polar Faculae

This contribution deals with the properties of small-scale magnetic elements at the polar caps of the Sun. Spectro-polarimetric observations, obtained with high spatial resolution with the Gregory Coudé Telescope at the Observatorio del Teide on Tenerife, were analysed. We find, though with limited data sets, that polar faculae differ in two aspects from faculae of the network in non-active regions near the equator (equatorial faculae): (1) Polar faculae appear to have the same magnetic polarity as the general polar magnetic field. Presumably, the latter is rooted in the small-scale faculae. The equatorial faculae show both magnetic polarities. (2) Polar faculae, with a size of 3.5 ± 1.3, are larger than equatorial faculae with 2.1 ± 0.4. Yet as for equatorial faculae, polar faculae possess kilogauss magnetic fields.     

Analytical solutions of cylindrical shock waves in magnetogasdynamics,I

The C.C.W. method has been used to investigate the propagation of converging and diverging cylindrical shock waves in a non-uniform medium under the influence of a magnetic field of constant strength. A comparison has also been made between the two types of cylindrical shock waves, simultaneously for both weak and strong cases of the magnetic field. Density distribution is assumed to be _o = r ^–, where is the density at the axis of symmetry and a constant. The analytical expressions for shock velocity and shock strength as well as the pressure, the density, and the particle velocity just behind the shock front have been derived for both the cases.     

Ubiquitous chromospheric structures observed in the quiet Sun at millimeter and centimeter wavelengths

Unique long-term visibility variations are detected when the quiet Sun is observed with interferometers operating at 8 mm and 11 cm wavelength with angular resolutions of 0.5. Quasiperiodic fluctuations in fringe amplitude are observed with periods between 20 and 30 min, and with amplitude nulls which are correlated with 180° phase changes. These variations are interpreted in terms of a changing projected baseline while viewing a few sources with angular sizes of 0.5 which are distributed within the main interferometer beam with typical angular separations of 7. The observed variations cannot be due to expanding or contracting sources of the type envisaged by Bocchia and Poumeyrol (1976) when explaining similar variations observed at 8 mm wavelength. A comparison of the flux observed at 8 mm and 11 cm indicates that the individual sources are optically thick thermal radiators with a flux which decreases with increasing wavelength, but with a temperature which increases with increasing wavelength where higher, hotter levels of the chromosphere are observed. For a source whose angular size is 0.5, the observed flux values correspond to respective temperatures of 5000 K and 19 000 K at 8 mm and 11cm - suggesting that elements of the chromospheric network are being observed. A thermal origin for the individual sources is consistent with the lack of any detectable circular or linear polarization (< 10%) in the interferometer signal.     

Effects of viscous dissipation and free convection currents on the flow of an electrically conducting fluid past an accelerated vertical porous plate

In the present paper, the effects of free convection currents and the viscous dissipation on the unsteady flow of an electrically conducting and viscous incompressible fluid around an uniformly accelerated vertical porous plate subjected to a suction or injection velocity inversely proportional to the square root of time, in presence of a transverse magnetic field, have been investigated. Analytical solutions for the velocity and the temperature distributions, the skin-friction and the rate of heat transfer are obtained for small magnetic parameterM. During the course of discussion the effects of the Grashof number Gr, the Eckert number Ec, the suction/injection parametera have been considered for unit value of the Prandtl number Pr.Nomenclature a suction/injection parameter - C _p specific heat at constant pressure - B ₀ magnetic induction - g acceleration due to gravity - Gr Grashof number (g(T _w –T )/U ₀ ³ ) - K thermal conductivity - M magnetic field parameter (B ₀ ² /U ₀ ² ) - Pr Prandtl number (C _p/K) - T temperature of the fluid near the plate - T _w temperature of the plate - T temperature of the fluid at infinity - t time - t dimensionless time (tU ₀ ² /) - u velocity of the fluid - u non-dimensional velocity (u/U ₀) - U velocity of the plate - U dimensionless velocity of the plate (U/U ₀) - U ₀ reference velocity - v ₀ suction velocity - v ₀ non-dimensional suction velocity (v ₀/U ₀)=at ^–1/2 - Ec Eckert number ((U ₀)^2/3/C _p(T _w –T )) - T dimensionless temperature of the fluid near the plate ((T–T )/(T _w ^–T )) - x, y coordinates along and normal to the plate - x, y dimensionless coordinates (y=yU ₀/) - kinematic viscosity - coefficient of volume expansion - electric conductivity of the fluid - y/2t ^1/2 - density of the fluid - skin-friction - dimensionless skin-friction - q rate of heat transfer - q non-dimensional rate of heat transfer - coefficient of viscosity - _e magnetic permeability On leave of absence from Department of Mathematics, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh     

Effects of mass transfer on the unsteady free convection flow past an accelerated vertical porous plate with variable suction

An exact analysis of the effects of mass transfer on the flow of a viscous incompressible fluid past an uniformly accelerated vertical porous and non-porous plate has been presented on taking into account the free convection currents. The results are discussed with the effects of the Grashof number Gr, the modified Grashof number Sc, the Schmidt number Sc, and the suction parametera for Pr (the Prandtl number)=0.71 representating air at 20°C.Nomenclature a suction parameter - C species concentration - C species concentration at the free stream - g acceleration due gravity - Gc modified Grashof number (vg^*(C –C )/U ₀ ³ ) - Pr Prandtl number (C _p/K) - T temperature of the fluid near the plate - T dimensionless temperature near the plate ((T-T )/(T -T )) - U(t) dimensionless velocity of the plate (U/U ₀) - v normal velocity component - v ₀ suction/injection velocity - x, y coordinate along and normal to the plate - v kinematic viscosity (/gr) - C _p specific heat at constant pressure - C _w species concentration at the plate - C non-dimensional species concentration ((C-C )/(C _w -C )) - Gr Grashof number (g(T _w -T )/U ₀ ³ ) - D chemical molecular diffusivity - K thermal conductivity - Sc Schmidt number (/D) - T _w temperature of the plate - T free stream temperature - t time variable - t dimensionless time (tU ₀ ² /) - U ₀ reference velocity - u velocity of the fluid near the plate - u non-dimensional velocity (u/U ₀) - v dimensionless velocity (v/U ₀) - v ₀ non-dimensionalv ₀ (v ₀ /U₀)=–at^–1/2 - y dimensionless ordinate (yU ₀/) - density of the fluid - coefficient of viscosity     

Correlated type III burst emission from distant sources on the Sun

We report the observation and interpretation of a correlated type III burst emitted from distant sources on the Sun. The angular separation between the distant sources is as large as 26 or 10⁶ km. There was an active region 30° behind the limb, and it is believed that the type III burst emission originated from activity in this region. The implications of the locations of the correlated sources with regard to the geometry of the magnetic structures involved in the flare process are discussed.On leave from Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Kodaikanal, India.     

Effect of perturbations on the stability of triangular points. In the restricted problem of three bodies with variable mass

The effect of small perturbations and in the coriolis and the centrifugal forces respectively on the stability of the triangular points in the restricted problem of three bodies with variable mass has been studied. It is found that the range of stability of triangular points increases or decreases depending upon whether the perturbation point (, ) lies in one or the other of the two parts in which the (, ) plane is divided by the line J₈–J₉=0 where J₈ and J₉ depend upon , the constant due to the variation in mass governed by Jeans' law.     

Unsteady free-convective flow and mass transfer in a rotating porous medium with Hall current,I

The Hall effect on the unsteady hydromagnetic free-convection resulting from the combined effects of thermal and mass diffusion of an electrical-conducting liquid through a porous medium past an infinite vertical porous plate in a rotating system have been analysed. The expressions for the mean velocity, mean skin friction, and mean rate of heat transfer on the plate are derived. The effects of magnetic parameterM, Hall parameterm, Ekman numberE, and permeability parameterK ^* on the flow field are discussed with the help of graphs and tables.Nomenclature C _p specific heat at constant pressure - C the species concentration inside the boundary layer - C _w the species concentration at porous plate - C the species concentration of the fluid at infinite - C dimensionless species concentration - D chemical molecular diffusivity - E Ekman number - Ec Eckert number - g acceleration due to gravity - Gr Grashof number - Gm modified Grashof number - H ₀ applied magnetic field - (J _x, J_y, J_z) components of current density - M magnetic parameter - m Hall parameter - P Prandtl number - q _m mean rate of heat transfer - Sc Schmidt number - t time - t dimensionless time - T temperature of fluid - T _w temperature of the plate - T temperature of fluid at infinite - T dimensionless temperature - (u, v, w) components of the velocityq - w ₀ suction velocity - (x, y, z) Cartesian coordinates - z dimensionless coordinate normal to the plate Greek symbols coefficient of volume expansion - * coefficient of thermal expansion with concentration - frequency - dimensionless frequency - k thermal conductivity - K ^* permeability parameter - dinematic viscosity - density of the fluid in the boundary layer - coefficient of viscosity - _e magnetic permeability - angular velocity - electrical conductivity of the fluid - _m mean skin friction - _mn mean skin friction in the direction ofx - _mv mean skin friction in the direction ofy     

Fine structure in a metric type IV burst: Multi-site spectrographic,polarimetric, and heliographic observations

The spectral fine structure of solar radio continua is thought to reveal wave-particle and wave-wave interactions in magnetic traps in the solar corona. We present observations of spectra, polarization, and spatial characteristics of combined emission/extinction features (zebra patterns) during a decimetric/metric type IV event on 5 June, 1990. Very high modulation depths are observed. The size and location of the sources during emission and extinction are determined for the first time. Two remarkable features are found: (1) The sources of emission stripes have finite size, up to nearly 2; during extinction stripes the brightness is reduced across the whole extent of the unperturbed continuum, which is slightly larger than 2. (2) During emission stripes the sources drift over distances up to several × 10⁴ km, with apparent velocities up to 10⁵ km s^–1. The observed features are briefly discussed with respect to interpretations based on wave-particle interactions and on the scattering of electromagnetic waves.     

Stray-Light Effect on Magnetograph Observations

To examine the stray-light effect in magnetograph observations, we have determined the point spread functions of the vector magnetograph mounted on the Japanese Solar Flare Telescope based on two indirect methods, one analyzing the solar limb intensity profile, and the other using the Fourier power spectra of photospheric intensity distributions. Point spread functions consist of two parts: a blurring part which describes seeing and small-spread-angle stray light, and a scattering part which describes large-spread-angle stray light. The FWHM spatial resolution is typically 3.0, and the amount of scattered light is about 15% on clear days. We find that the blurring part is well described by a Moffat function whose Fourier transform is given by an exponential function. Our results indicate that polarization measurements of low-intensity magnetic elements like sunspots may be significantly underestimated due to the large-spread-angle stray light, and polarization measurements of magnetic elements which are smaller than 5–7 appear to be disturbed by small-spread-angle stray light.     

Emerging flux in active regions

We have compared the rates at which flux emerges in active and quiet solar regions within the sunspot belts. The emerging flux regions (EFRs) were identified by the appearance of arch filament structures in H. All EFRs in high-resolution films of active regions made at Big Bear in 1978 were counted. The comparable rate of flux emergence in quiet regions was obtained from SGD data and independently from EFRs detected outside the active region perimeter on the same films. The rate of flux emergence is 10 times higher in active regions than in quiet regions. A sample of all active regions in 31 days of 1983 gave a ratio of 7.5. We discuss possible mechanisms which might funnel new magnetic flux to regions of strong magnetic field.     

Solution of canonical equations which result from elimination of short-periodic terms in second-order planetary theory

We solve the first order non-linear differential equation and we calculate the two quadratures to which are reduced the canonical differential equations resulting from the elimination of the short period terms in a second order planetary theory carried out through Hori's method and slow Delaunay canonical variables when powers of eccentricities and the sines of semi-inclinations which are >3 are neglected and the eccentricity of the disturbing planet is identically equal to zero. The procedure can be extended to the case when the eccentricity of the disturbing planet is not identically equal to zero. In this latter general case, we calculatedthe two quadratures expressing angular slow Delaunay canonical variable ₁ of the disturbed planet and angular slow Delaunay canonical variable ₂ of the disturbing planet in terms of timet.     

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.     

Fine structure of the Solar Chromosphere: Arch-Shaped Mottles

We analyze a time series of high resolution observations near the solar limb, obtained in H and the Mg b1 line. We identified arch-shaped dark mottles, which are thin, faint H structures observable under very good seeing conditions, best seen in H +0.75 Å. Their mean length is about 15, their mean height about 6 and indicative lifetimes is of the order of 5 min. They show negative (away from the observer) line-of-sight velocities. A possible interpretation is that material flows from the apex towards the feet of the arches.     

Imaging Fabry-Pérot observations of [OI] 6300 Å emission in the coma of Halley's comet 1982i

The observation of [OI] 6300 » emission in the coma of Halley's comet 1982i, using the imaging Fabry-Pérot spectrometer, was carried out from Gurushikhar (2439N, 7243E, 1700m altitude), Mt. Abu, India on March 15, 1986 (R = 0.90 AU, = 0.96 AU). The analysis of the interferogram show the absence of the differential velocity of neutral oxygen above 5 km s^–1.