On the Nonlinear Thermal Evolution of Solar Corona Structures

The thermal evolution of structures is investigated for different values of the size of structure. A simplified cooling function and a constant heating mechanism are assumed. Analytical criteria for thermal instability are obtained. It is found that the response of the thermal structure not only depends on the amplitude of the disturbances, but also on whether the disturbance increases or decreases the initial steady temperature. Additionally, the evolution of the structure is examined numerically by using a time-dependent code under the assumption that the inertia terms are small. In particular, the analytical criteria obtained for thermal instability are verified.     

Non-Homogeneous Charge-Consistent Model for Acceleration of Iron in the Solar Corona

Acceleration of iron ions by a spherical shock wave moving through non-homogeneous solar corona is considered. The energy dependence of the mean charge of iron, _Fe(E), is determined by the characteristic acceleration time, T _a, trapping time, T _tr, and time for charge changes, T _q. The latter varies along with plasma number density during the propagation of the shock wave in the corona. Our calculations have demonstrated that adiabatic energy changes, Coulomb losses and shock broadening do not sufficiently influence the dependence _Fe(E). According to our estimations, the photoionizing processes can scarcely affect the ionic states of accelerated iron, except probably for the most powerful X10 class events.     

A Study of the Rotation of the Solar Corona

Synoptic photoelectric observations of the coronal Fexiv and Fex emission lines at 530.3 nm and 637.4 nm, respectively, are analyzed to study the rotational behavior of the solar corona as a function of latitude, height, time and temperature between 1976 (1983 for Fex) and 2001. An earlier similar analysis of the Fexiv data at 1.15 R over only one 11-year solar activity cycle (Sime, Fisher, and Altrock, 1989, Astrophys. J. 336, 454) found suggestions of solar-cycle variations in the differential (latitude-dependent) rotation. These results are tested over the longer epoch now available. In addition, the new Fexiv 1.15 R results are compared with those at 1.25 R and with results from the Fex line. I find that for long-term averages, both ions show a weakly-differential rotation period that may peak near 80° latitude and then decrease to the poles. However, this high-latitude peak may be due to sensing low-latitude streamers at higher latitudes. There is an indication that the Fexiv rotation period may increase with height between 40° and 70° latitude. There is also some indication that Fex may be rotating slower than Fexiv in the mid-latitude range. This could indicate that structures with lower temperatures rotate at a slower rate. As found in the earlier study, there is very good evidence for solar-cycle-related variation in the rotation of Fexiv. At latitudes up to about 60°, the rotation varies from essentially rigid (latitude-independent) near solar minimum to differential in the rising phase of the cycle at both 1.15 R and 1.25 R . At latitudes above 60°, the rotation at 1.15 R appears to be nearly rigid in the rising phase and strongly differential near solar minimum, almost exactly out of phase with the low-latitude variation.     

Mushrooms in the Solar Corona

In the solar atmosphere a new phenomenon is discovered, namely, the formation, growth, and disappearance of mushrooms as a consequence of eruptive processes. This phenomenon gives an insight into many geometric and physical properties of coronal mass ejections (CME).     

Probing the Fundamental Physics of the Solar Corona with Lunar Solar Occultation Observations

Imaging and spectroscopy of the solar corona, coupled with polarimetry, are the only tools available at present to capture signatures of physical processes responsible for coronal heating and solar wind acceleration within the first few solar radii above the solar limb. With the recent advent of improved detector technology and image processing techniques, broad-band white light and narrow-band multi-wavelength observations of coronal forbidden lines, made during total solar eclipses, have started to yield new views about the thermodynamic and magnetic properties of coronal structures. This paper outlines these unique capabilities, which until present, have been feasible primarily with observations during natural total solar eclipses. This work also draws attention to the exciting possibility of greatly increasing the frequency and duration of solar eclipse observations with Moon orbiting observatories utilizing lunar limb occultation of the solar disk for coronal measurements.     

Cyclotron Heating of the Solar Corona

A physical model of the solar transition region and corona is presented, in which plasma flows in rapidly-diverging coronal funnels and holes are described within the framework of a two-fluid model including wave-particle interactions. The ions are heated by wave dissipation and accelerated by the pressure gradient of high-frequency Alfvén waves, which are assumed to originate at the bottom of the magnetic network by small-scale reconnection. The heating is assumed to be due to cyclotron-resonant damping of the waves near the local ion gyrofrequency. The EUV emission lines observed by the SUMER spectrometer on SOHO show very strong broadenings, which seem to be ordered according to the ion charge-per-mass ratio and thus to indicate cyclotron-resonant heating by waves. Based on quasilinear theory, a closure scheme for anisotropic multi-component fluid equations is developed for the wave-particle interactions of the ions with Alfvén waves. The acceleration and heating rates are calculated. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

On Rotation of the Solar Corona

We have studied the rotation of the solar corona using the images taken at a 9.4?nm wavelength by the AIA 094 instrument on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite. Our analysis implies that the solar corona rotates differentially. It appears that ??, the angular rotation velocity of the solar corona, does not only depend on heliographic latitude but is also a function of time, while the nature of the latter dependence remains unclear. Besides measurement errors, deviations ???? from the mean rotational speed are also caused by proper motion of the observed point source (the tracer) with respect to its surroundings. The spread in ?? values at a particular heliographic latitude is a real effect, not caused by measurement errors. Most of the observations carry relative error less than 1?% in???.     

Flattening Index of the Solar Corona and the Solar Cycle

The photometrical flattening index of the solar corona a+b is defined according to Ludendorff. In this paper we have investigated how the flattening index varies with respect to the phase of solar activity and the sunspot number. We have compiled 170 values of the flattening index using the data on 60 total solar eclipses from 1851 to 2010. We have found that the flattening index takes values from 0 to 0.4, and is anticorrelated with solar activity. The value of the flattening index at the beginning of solar cycle 24 was used as a precursor to forecast the amplitude of the cycle. It was found that the amplitude of solar cycle 24 will be about 95 in terms of the smoothed monthly sunspot numbers.     

Dynamic Three-Dimensional Tomography of the Solar Corona

Empirical, three-dimensional electron-density maps of the solar corona can be tomographically reconstructed using polarized-brightness images measured from ground- and space-based observatories. Current methods for computing these reconstructions require the assumption that the structure of the corona is unchanging with time. We present the first global reconstructions that do away with this static assumption and, as a result, allow for a more accurate empirical determination of the dynamic solar corona. We compare the new dynamic reconstructions of the coronal density during February 2008 to a sequence of static reconstructions. We find that the new dynamic reconstructions are less prone to certain computational artifacts that may plague the static reconstructions. In addition, these benefits come without a significant increase in computational cost.     

Element Abundances in Solar Energetic Particles and the Solar Corona

This is a study of abundances of the elements He, C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, S, Ar, Ca, and Fe in solar energetic particles (SEPs) in the 2?–?15 MeV?amu^?1 region measured on the Wind spacecraft during 54 large SEP events occurring between November 1994 and June 2012. The origin of most of the temporal and spatial variations in abundances of the heavier elements lies in rigidity-dependent scattering during transport of the particles away from the site of acceleration at shock waves driven out from the Sun by coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Variation in the abundance of Fe is correlated with the Fe spectral index, as expected from scattering theory but not previously noted. Clustering of Fe abundances during the “reservoir” period, late in SEP events, is also newly reported. Transport-induced enhancements in one region are balanced by depletions in another, thus, averaging over these variations produces SEP abundances that are energy independent, confirms previous SEP abundances in this energy region, and provides a credible measure of element abundances in the solar corona. These SEP-determined coronal abundances differ from those in the solar photosphere by a well-known function that depends upon the first ionization potential (FIP) or ionization time of the element.     

Heating the Solar Corona by Magnetic Reconnection

Here I review briefly the theory of magnetohydrodynamic reconnection and ask what observational evidence is there that it is heating the corona. In particular, the new directions in which three-dimensional theory for reconnection is heading are outlined. Part of the coronal heating problem has been solved with the identification of reconnection driven by converging flux motions as the key for x-ray bright points. Furthermore, it has been shown that the large-scale diffuse corona is heated rather uniformly, so that turbulent reconnection by braiding or ion-cyclotron waves driven by network micro-flares are prime candidates. Finally, reconnection is the natural explanation for a wide variety of phenomena discovered by SOHO including explosive events, blinkers, the magnetic carpet and even possibly tornadoes. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

关于日冕中稳恒态磁流体力学流动的一个定理

本文报告了在日冕或其他天体物理环境中，沿磁力线流动的稳恒态磁流体力学流动的一个定理和一个重要关系。它们是利用宏观动能密度对磁能密度的比例导出的。     

Heating Events in the Quiet Solar Corona

Sensitive observations of the quiet Sun observed by EIT on the SOHO satellite in high-temperature iron-line emission originating in the corona are presented. The thermal radiation of the quiet corona is found to fluctutate significantly, even on the shortest time scale of 2 min and in the faintest pixels. The power spectrum of the emission measure time variations is approximately a power law with an exponent of 1.79±0.08 for the brightest pixels and 1.69±0.08 for the average and the faintest pixels. The more prominent enhancements are identified with previously reported X-ray network flares (Krucker et al., 1997) above the magnetic network of the quiet chromosphere. In coronal EUV iron lines they are amenable to detailed analysis suggesting that the brightenings are caused by additional plasma injected from below and heated to slightly higher temperature than the preexisting corona. Statistical investigations are consistent with the hypothesis that the weaker emission measure enhancements originate from the same parent population. The power input derived from the impulsive brightenings is linearly proportional to the radiative loss in the observed part of the corona. The absolute amount of impulsive input is model-dependent. It cannot be excluded that it can satisfy the total requirement for heating. These observations give strong evidence that a significant fraction of the heating in quiet coronal regions is impulsive.     

Stability of Current Sheets in the Solar Corona

This work aims at investigating unstable modes of oscillation of quasi-vertical two-dimensional current sheets with sheared magnetic fields under physical conditions typical for the solar corona. We use linear magnetohydrodynamic equations to obtain sets of unstable modes related to the longitudinal inhomogeneity of the current sheet. It is shown that these modes of current sheet oscillations can modulate the current sheet thickness along the polarity inversion line. Based on the obtained results, we propose a scenario which can naturally explain both the quasi-periodic pulsations of hard X-ray emission and the parallel movement of their double footpoint-like sources along the polarity inversion line observed in some eruptive two-ribbon solar flares.     

A Simple Model for the Solar Cycle

A simple nonlinear model which describes the 11-year solar cycle can be derived from the usual – dynamo theory in the form of a Van der Pol equation. Solar activity displays also small-scale inter-cycle persistent stochastic oscillations with a Hurst exponent of the order of H0.76±0.01. The results obtained from the Van der Pol oscillator superimposed on a fractional Brownian motion which describes the stochastic fluctuations are presented.     

Measurements of Faraday Rotation Through the Solar Corona During the 2009 Solar Minimum with the MESSENGER Spacecraft

Measurements of Faraday rotation through the solar corona were collected using the radio beacon aboard the MESSENGER spacecraft during the longest solar minimum in a century. As MESSENGER entered superior conjunction, the plane of polarization of its radio signal was observed to rotate as it traversed the circularly birefringent plasma of the Sun’s atmosphere. On time scales of less than three hours, these uncalibrated plane of polarization observations of Faraday rotation can be used to investigate the dynamic processes in the solar plasma, such as magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Here we describe the MESSENGER Faraday rotation experiment, the data processing conducted to obtain the plane of polarization, and the estimation of error.     

Electromagnetic Ion Beam Instability in the Solar Corona

Remote-sensing measurements indicate that heavy ions in the corona undergo an anisotropic and mass-charge dependent energization.A popular explanation to this phenomenon is the damping of the Alfven/ion cyclotron waves.In this paper,we propose that the ion beam instability can be an important source of the Alfven/ion cyclotron waves, and we study the excitation of the ion beam instability in the corona at the heliocentric distance～3R_⊙ and the corresponding energy transfer process ther...     

Total Solar Irradiance and the Fe XIV Corona

Analyzing daily values of the total solar irradiance (TSI), the coronal index of solar activity (CI), and the Mg II 280-nm core-to-wing ratio (Mg II index), we have found that the temporal variations of these indices are very similar to each other during the period from 1978 to 2005. The correlation between CI and TSI, with the PSI correction lying within the interval under study, has been found to be 0.699, which is very close to the value of 0.703 of the correlation between Mg II and TSI for 27-day averages (the CI – Mg correlation is 0.824). The regression equation between CI and TSI is almost linear, except for TSI depletions when a large number of sunspots are present on the visible disk. By employing CI, an extrapolation of TSI back to 1947 is presented.     

北斗三号卫星精密定轨中的光压模型研究

对于在轨运行的BDS (BeiDou Navigation Satellite System)卫星, 太阳光压是作用在卫星上主要的非引力摄动. 受多种因素的影响, 太阳光压摄动力难以精确建模, 是BDS卫星精密定轨和轨道预报过程中重要的误差来源. 由于ECOMC (Empirical CODE Orbit Model 1 and 2 Combined)模型兼顾了ECOM1 (Empirical CODE Orbit Model 1)和ECOM2 (Empirical CODE Orbit Model 2)模型的特点, 在模型中引入了较多的待估参数, 使得参数之间存在强相关性. 针对ECOMC模型的这一缺陷, 文中收集了2019年1月至2022年4月武汉大学分析中心提供的BDS-3卫星精密星历, 采用动力学轨道拟合方法得到了ECOMC模型的13个光压参数. 通过对该模型的光压参数进行时间序列分析, 分别给出了BDS-3 IGSO (Inclined Geosynchronous Orbit)和MEO (Medium Earth Orbit)卫星光压模型的参数选择策略. 并利用轨道拟合和轨道预报试验, 验证了光压模型参数选择策略的合理性. 结果表明, 采用改进型ECOMC模型进行BDS-3 IGSO和MEO卫星轨道拟合的效果最佳, 同时, 也能够提升BDS-3 IGSO和MEO卫星中长期轨道预报的精度.