Rotational characteristics of the green solar corona: 1964–1989

Fe XIV 5303 coronal emission line observations have been used for the estimation of the rotation behaviour of the green solar corona. A homogeneous data set, created from measurements carried out within the framework of the world-wide coronagraphic network, has been examined with a correlation analysis to reveal the averaged synodic rotation period as a function of latitude and time over the epoch from 1964 to 1989.The values of the synodic rotation period obtained for the epoch 1964–1989 for the whole range of latitudes and for a latitude band ±30° are 28.18±0.12 days and 27.65±0.13 days, respectively. The differential rotation of the green solar corona was confirmed, together with local maxima of the rotation period at latitudes 45° and -60° and a minimum at the equator, but no clear cyclic variation of the rotation has been found for the epoch examined.     

Properties of the solar chromosphere Hα spicules as observed spectrally

Time succession of 25 H spicules has been studied. The spectra are obtained at a height of 6 arc sec during 21 min (38 pictures) with the 53 cm Lyot coronagraph. Total intensities W, widths and radial velocities V _r are determined (about 650 H line profiles). For 14 spicules the sign of V _r varies, for the rest the sign variation is absent or it is doubtful. Characterized period of V _r variation is 3–7 min with a mean amplitude of ± 4km s^–1. W and also vary with a similar period and mean amplitudes equal to 50% and 30% respectively. dependence of W (Figure 1) points to the existence of two spicules groups: group I (70%) characterized by relatively small W and (mean values are 0.08 Å and 1.3 Å respectively); group II comprising brighter (W 0.13 Å) spicules with wider profiles ( 1.6 Å). Group II may consist of the unresolved, superimposed group I spicules. We believe, that H spicules involve formations consisting of separate elements having the temperature of 6000 K and non-thermal velocities of 25 km s^–1.     

Physical properties of the particles composing the Martian dust storm of 1971–1972

Infrared spectra obtained from the Mariner 9 spacecraft during the 1971–1972 dust storm are used to derive information on the composition and particle size distribution of the dust and to study the time evolution of the storm. The dust is not composed of pure granite, basalt, basaltic glass, obsidian, quartz, andesite, or montmorillonite. The infrared spectra suggest that the dust is a mixture of materials, dominated by igneous silicates with >62;60% SiO₂, or weathering products such as clay minerals, but the dust could possibly have a significant component of lower SiO₂ materials such as basalt. Substantial quantities of carbonates, nitrates, or carbon suboxide are excluded from the mixture. All infrared, visible, and ultraviolet data on the Martian surface composition seem consistent with a mixture of basalt and clay minerals or high SiO₂ igneous rocks, with a surface patina of oxides of iron. For all candidate compositions, the data are best matched with a size distribution that approximates a differential power law function of slope ?4. This size distribution is quite similar to terrestial size distributions in regions remote from sources of dust. The relative abundance of particles between 1- and 10-μm radius did not change during the Mariner 9 mission; thus suspended particles did not experience Stokes-Cunningham fallout but instead were supported by turbulence with an eddy diffusion coefficient, $\text{K}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>e</mtext>}}\text{? 7 × 10}{}^6\text{cm}{}^2\text{sec}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}$. The aerosol optical depth, standardized to 0.3-μm wavelength, varied from about 1.5 early in the mission to about 0.2 at Orbit 200.     

λ 5303 Fe XIV density models of the inner solar corona

The Sacramento Peak Observatory's 40 cm coronagraph was used with an emission line photometer to observe the distribution of 5303 Fe XIV brightness as a function of position angle, height above the limb, and time. These data were used to construct models of the volume emissivity as a function of solar latitude and longitude. These models in turn yield estimates of the distribution of electron density in the lower solar corona as a function of latitude and longitude for several specific periods in 1973 and 1975. Three observational results are obtained. An upper limit for the inferred electron density in coronal hole regions is set at log N _e = 7.4 for an altitude of 1.15R . Density models from late 1973 demonstrate an evolutionary trend toward a rather regular four-lobed appearance of coronal material; models from 1975 suggest that this characterization persisted for at least 27 solar rotations. A decrease in the total integrated 5303 intensity of a factor of 2.9 is inferred to have taken place between 1973 and 1975.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.     

On the role of transition region on the Alfvén wave phase mixing in solar spicules

Alfvénic waves are thought to play an important role in coronal heating and solar wind acceleration. Here we investigate the dissipation of standing Alfvén waves due to phase mixing at the presence of steady flow and sheared magnetic field in the stratified atmosphere of solar spicules. The transition region between chromosphere and corona has also been considered. The initial flow is assumed to be directed along spicule axis, and the equilibrium magnetic field is taken 2-dimensional and divergence-free. It is determined that in contrast to propagating Alfvén waves, standing Alfvén waves dissipate in time rather than in space. Density gradients and sheared magnetic fields can enhance damping due to phase mixing. Damping times deduced from our numerical calculations are in good agreement with spicule lifetimes. Since spicules are short living and transient structures, such a fast dissipation mechanism is needed to transport their energy to the corona.     

On the dissipation rates for Alfvén waves in the solar transition region

The present paper concerns Alfvén waves, in a resistive and viscous atmosphere, under a steep temperature gradient (Section 1). The dissipative Alfvén wave equation is deduced assuming uniform vertical background magnetic field, and allowing for arbitrary profiles of Alfvén speed, and viscous and resistive diffusivities as functions of altitude (Section 2). A three-parameter family of temperature profiles, allowing for independent choice of initial and asymptotic temperature, and of initial temperature gradient, is used to re-write the wave equation, with the temperature as the independent variable, instead of altitude (Section 3). It is shown that, for the conditions prevailing in the solar transition region between the chromosphere and corona, two approximations of the dissipative wave equations may be considered, the simplest leading to solution in terms of Gaussian hypergeometric functions (Section 4). The exact analytical solution allows calculation of the (i) velocity and (ii) magnetic field perturbations, (iii) kinetic, (iv) magnetic and (v) total energy density, (vi) energy flux, (vii) rate-of-strain and (viii) electric current, and (ix) viscous, (x) resistive and (xi) total rate of dissipation (Section 5). These are plotted versus temperature, across the transition region from the chromosphere to the corona, for the quiet and active Sun (Section 6). The feasibility of heating of the transition region by dissipation of Alfvén waves is discussed (Section 7), by comparing empirical heating rates, with theoretical values for a range of physical conditions, including initial velocity perturbations 5 to 15 km s ^–1, background magnetic field 12 to 120 G, wave periods 60 to 300 s, thickness of the transition region 100 to 300 km, resistive and anomalous diffusivities to 100 and viscous and turbulent diffusivities to 100 . The conclusion is that dissipation of Alfvén waves is not an effective heating mechanism for the transition region and corona, although it may be for the chromosphere (see Campos and Mendes, 1995, and references therein).     

Turbulence properties in the solar convection envelope： properties of the overshooting regions

We apply the turbulent convection model (TCM) to investigate properties of tur-bulence in the solar convective envelope, especially in overshooting regions. The results show TCM gives negative turbulent heat flux uγ′T′in overshooting regions, which is sim-ilar to other nonlocal turbulent convection theories. The turbulent temperature fluctuation T′T′shows peaks in overshooting regions. Most important, we find that the downward overshooting region below the base of the solar convection zone is a thin cellular layer filled with roll-shaped convective cells. The overshooting length for the temperature gradi-ent is much shorter than that for element mixing because turbulent heat flux of downward and upward moving convective cells counteract each other in this cellular overshooting region. Comparing the models' sound speed with observations, we find that raking the convective overshooting into account helps to improve the sound speed profile of our nonlocal solar models. Comparing the p-mode oscillation frequencies with observations,we validated that increasing the diffusion parameters and decreasing the dissipation pa-rameters of TCM make the p-mode oscillation frequencies of the solar model be in betteragreement with observations.     

Dynamics of Hα spicules according to spectral observations at various heights of the solar chromosphere

Almost simultaneous height sequences of 69 spicules in the Hα line have been studied. The spectra are obtained at six heights during 6 s on the east side of the solar disk with the 53-cm Lyot coronagraph of Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory. Radial velocities V _r, total intensities or equivalent widths W, full widths at half maximum of intensity (FWHM) at all heights are determined (about 300 profiles of the Hα line). It is found that:

1. Absolute values of radial velocities increase linearly with the height (see Equation (1));
2. variation of the sign of the radial velocity along single spicules was never observed.

These results combined with the findings on the spicules radial velocities and shifts obtained earlier (Kulidzanishvili and Nikolsky, 1978; Nikolsky and Platova, 1970) led us to the conclusion that the 5-min tangential oscillations of spicules involve the entire spicule at once. The intensity height scales for single spicules and for the chromosphere ‘in toto’ are determined; they turned out to be 2.5 × 10³ km and 1.9 × 10³ km respectively (see Equations (2) and (3)). The dependence curve of the Hα line half-widths Δλ on the height h is drawn. The Hα line half-width for those spicule groups which are traced at all heights (10 spicules) decreases with the height (Figure 4); for the majority (～60 spicules) it remains essentially constant. Non-thermal ‘turbulent’ velocities V _t, in Hα spicules are defined. A mean value of the ‘turbulent’ velocity V _t at T = 6000° appeared to be 20–30km s^?1. The hydrogen concentration in the spicules at 5000 km is 6 × 10¹¹ cm^?3.     

Structure of the region of solar wind—Interstellar medium interaction and its influence on H atoms penetrating the solar wind

The structure of the region of interaction between the solar wind and the interstellar medium in the two-shocks model (TSM), first suggested by Baranovet al. (1970), is numerically calculated.For this problem our model is true only for charged particles of the interstellar medium interacting with the solar wind, since the free paths of neutral particles are very long and any hydrodynamical approximation would be incorrect.The shapes of the outer and inner shocks, the shape of the contact surface and the distribution of the parameters inside the interaction region are calculated, and are universal and correct for other astrophysical applications such as interstellar bubbles (Weaveret al., 1977), the stellar wind flow around a globule (Dyson, 1975), the interaction of stellar winds in binaries (Prilutzky and Usov, 1976), and so on.The problem of the effect of the charge exchange of H atoms with interstellar gas protons decelerated by an outer shock on H atoms penetrating the solar system is considered using the calculated results (Wallis, 1975). This effect is shown to influence essentially the estimate of H-atom concentration in the interstellar medium based on theL -scattering data.     

Statistical study of the north–south asymmetry of the solar differential rotation based on various solar structures during 1966–1985

The time variation and latitude dependence of the solar rotation are found using observational data on Hα filaments and compact magnetic features with different polarities during solar activity cycles 20 and 21 (1966–1985). Statistical analysis of the observational data shows that there is a north–south asymmetry in the rotation, both for the Hα filaments and for compact magnetic features (structures) with negative and positive polarities. The N-S asymmetry in the differential rotation of the Hα filaments and the compact magnetic features with both polarities shows up quite distinctly in solar activity cycles 20 and 21, but the asymmetry for the compact magnetic features with positive polarity is comparatively lower in cycle 21. The confidence level is lower the compact magnetic features with positive polarity than for the compact magnetic features with negative polarity.     

The shock waves and the magnetic field in the corona above the active region on February 17–28, 1969

In this paper the situation above the large active region which passed across the solar disc between February 17 and 28, 1969 is considered. Five dynamical spectra of type II radio bursts registered by CSIRO and by Weissenau Observatory were used. After the elaboration of dynamical spectra, the parameters of shock waves and the values of magnetic field in corona were determined. The magnetic field was obtained using two methods. In the first method the connection between the velocity of shock front and the velocity of the Alfvén waves was used. In the second method the dependence of the frequency split upon the value of the magnetic field was applied.     

Small-scale inhomogeneities in the solar corona: Evidence from meter-λ radio bursts

A number of inconsistencies between simple theory and observations of solar radio bursts indicate that mode-mode coupling in the solar corona is much stronger than predicted. The inconsistencies include the absence of predicted reversal of the sense of polarization in a type 1 storm at CMP, and the anomalously weak polarization of type II and type III emission. The strong mode coupling could be explained in terms of small scale inhomogeneities (L _N? 100 km) throughout the relevant regions of the corona. The relevant regions are those with open magnetic field lines overlying active regions. It is suggested that the coronal plasma is confined to magnetically self-pinched sheets, and it is pointed out that another inconsistency, namely the anomalously small amount of Faraday variation in type III bursts, could be explained if the value of n _e B in the inter-sheet region were two orders of magnitude less than in the sheets.     

1–4 GHz type II-like radio bursts and pinch processes near the transition region

Analyzing 205 radio bursts observed by the Ondejov radiospectrograph in the 1–4 GHz frequency range during 1992 and 1993, we found 6 examples of type II-like radio bursts coinciding with impulsive phases of solar flares. These bursts were interpreted as radio manifestations of MHD (shock) waves generated during impulsive phases of flares in the vicinity of the transition region. Assuming a magnetic-field perturbation origin of these waves, we studied pinch processes in the current sheet near the transition region. In the 2-D MHD numerical model of this current sheet we demonstrated that 2-D pinch processes induced by radiative losses can trigger the impulsive phase of some flares and so generate the observed high-frequency type II-like radio bursts.     

The Fe xii 195.1 Å/1242 Å emission line ratio in the solar corona

Recent R-matrix calculations of electron impact excitation rates in Fe xii are used to derive the theoretical emission line ratio R ₁ = I(195.1 Å)/I(1242 Å), which is potentially a useful electron density diagnostic for the solar inner corona (r 1.05 61-01). These results are found to be significantly different from the earlier estimates of Withbroe and Raymond (1984), but are in good agreement with the observed values of R ₁, for the quiet Sun and an active region. Adoption of the R-matrix atomic data for the 1242 Å line in the coronal iron abundance determination removes an existing discrepancy between results derived from the EUV transition and other iron lines in the solar XUV spectrum. The R-matrix calculations confirm the prediction of Withbroe and Raymond that the earlier discrepancies in R ₁ and the iron abundance were due to the 1242 Å line excitation rates being underestimated by a factor of ~2. Withbroe and Raymond's paper is, therefore, an excellent example of how astronomical observations can be used to accurately predict atomic physics data.     

Numerical simulations of the K-corona and of the λ 5303 emission line corona

More and more observations tend to prove that the lower corona is very heterogeneous and that the active regions are quite exclusively arch-structured. So, we have attempted to see what would be the result of simulations of a corona structured only with arches. In a previous work we had made the computations for both the K-corona and the 5303 emission line corona, for which we have much observational data. The complexity of computations has led us to make the comparisons with observations for the vertical intensity gradients only. A priori, it seemed impossible to obtain a simulation close to reality with a corona structured only with arches, at least as we have defined them in this paper, the important fact being a conspicuous lack of matter beyond a certain height. We have made new simulations with a different electron density distribution and for a different region. These latter calculations show us that the material can be confined in the feet of very high arches or in open structures as has already been suggested.     

Neutron star mergers in the context of the hadron–quark phase transition

The long awaited event of the detection of a gravitational wave from a binary neutron star merger and its electromagnetic counterparts marked the beginning of a new era in observational astrophysics. The brand-new field of gravitational wave astronomy combined with multi-messenger observations will uncover violent, highly energetic astrophysical events that could not be explored before by humankind. This article focuses on the presumable appearance of a hadron–quark phase transition and the formation of regions of deconfined quark matter in the interior of a neutron star merger product. The evolution of density and temperature profiles inside the inner region of the produced hypermassive/supramassive neutron star advises an incorporation of a hadron–quark phase transition in the equation of state of neutron star matter. The highly densed and hot neutron star matter of the remnant populate regions in the QCD phase diagram where a non neglectable amount of deconfined quark matter is expected to be present. If a strong hadron–quark phase transition would happen during the post-merger phase, it will be imprinted in the spectral properties of the emitted gravitational wave signal and might give an additional contribution to the dynamically emitted outflow of mass.     

Long-term predictive assessments of solar and geomagnetic activities made on the basis of the close similarity between the solar inertial motions in the intervals 1840–1905 and 1980–2045

The solar inertial motions (orbits) (SIMs) in the years 1840–1905 and 1980–2045 are of a disordered type and they are nearly identical. This fact was used for assessing predictive capabilities for the sizes of three future sunspot cycles and for the time variation of the geomagnetic aa-index up to 2045. The author found that the variations in sunspot numbers in the interval 1840–1867 and in the interval 1980–2007 are similar, especially after 1850 (1990). The differences may be ascribed to the lower quality of the sunspot data before 1850. A similarity between the variations in geomagnetic aa-index in the intervals 1844–1867 and 1984–2007 is also found. Moreover, the aa-index in these intervals have the same best fit lines (the polynomials of the fourth order) with close positions of the extrema. The extrema of the best fit line for the aa-index in the interval 1906–1928 which corresponds to the first half of the ordered, trefoil interval of the SIM have the opposite positions to them. The correlation coefficient between the aa-indices in the interval 1844–1866 and in the interval 1984–2006 is 0.61. In contrast, the correlation coefficient between the aa-indices in the interval 1844–1866 and in the interval 1906–1928 is ?0.43. Cautious predictions have been made: the author believes that the cycles 24–26 will be a repeat of cycles 11–13, i.e. they could have heights around 140 (100), 65 and 85, they will have lengths of 11.7, 10.7 and 12.1 years. The maxima of the cycles should occur in 2010, 2023 and 2033, the minima in 2007, 2018, 2029 and 2041. Up to 2045, the aa-index could repeat its values for the interval 1868–1905. The results indicate that solar and geomagnetic activities are non random processes. If these predictions may come true, then further evidence of the primary role of the SIM in solar variability is established.     

Prediction verification of solar cycles 18–24 and a preliminary prediction of the maximum amplitude of solar cycle 25 based on the Precursor Method

Predictions of the strength of solar cycles are important and are necessary for planning long-term missions.A new solar cycle 25 is coming soon,and the amplitude is needed for space weather operators.Some predictions have been made using different methods and the values are drastically different.However,since 2015 July 1,the original sunspot number data have been entirely replaced by the Version 2.0 data series,and the sunspot number values have changed greatly.In this paper,using Version 2 smoothed sunspot numbers and aa indices,we verify the predictions for cycles 18–24 based on Ohl’s Precursor Method.Then a similar-cycles method is used to evaluate the aa minimum of 9.7(±1.1)near the start of cycle 25 and based on the linear regression relationship between sunspot maxima and aa minima,our predicted Version 2maximum sunspot number for cycle 25 is 121.5(±32.9).     

Faint Hα emission in the solar corona: Morphological,situational and hydromagnetic analysis

Very faint H emission in the solar corona registered on over-exposed photographs made by a coronagraph and an H filter is studied. The over-exposed filtergrams have been processed by a Joyce Loebl automated microdensitometer and the two-dimensional scans have been analysed by the residual image method. A classification of the faint H emission objects, revealed on the isodensity maps, is proposed and the latitudinal distribution, the morphology, and the location with respect to the other active phenomena are analysed. Taking into account some possible plasma effects that could be caused by coronal magnetic field changes, a hydromagnetic interpretation of the faint H emission is proposed.