Chemical abundances in solar-type stars are a much debated topic. Planet-hosting stars are known to be metal-rich, but whether or not this peculiarity applies also to the chemical composition of the outer stellar atmospheres is still to be clarified. More in general, coronal and photospheric abundances in late-type stars appear to be different in many cases, but understanding how chemical stratification effects work in stellar atmospheres requires an observational base larger than currently available. We obtained XMM-Newton high-resolution X-ray spectra of Tau Bootis, a well known nearby star with a Jovian-mass close-in planet. We analyzed these data with the aim to perform a detailed line-based emission measure analysis and derive the abundances of individual elements in the corona with two different methods applied independently. We compared the coronal abundances of Tau Bootis with published photospheric abundances based on high-resolution optical spectra and with those of other late-type stars with different magnetic activity levels, including the Sun. We find that the two methods provide consistent results within the statistical uncertainties for both the emission measure distribution of the hot plasma and for the coronal abundances, with discrepancies at the 2-sigma level limited to the amount of plasma at temperatures of 3-4 MK and to the O and Ni abundances. In both cases, the elements for which both coronal and photospheric measurements are available (C, N, O, Si, Fe, and Ni) result systematically less abundant in the corona by a factor 3 or more, with the exception of the coronal Ni abundance, which is similar to the photospheric value. Comparison with other late-type stars of similar activity level shows that these coronal/photospheric abundance ratios are peculiar to Tau Bootis and possibly related to the characteristic over-metallicity of this planet-hosting star.
Coronal Non-Thermal and Doppler Plasma Flows Driven by Photospheric Flux in 28 Active Regions
University College London, Mullard Space Science Laboratory（伦敦大学学院，穆拉德空间科学实验室）；University of Vienna, Institute of Astrophysics（维也纳大学，天体物理研究所）；Computational Physics, Inc.（计算物理公司）；Space Science Division, Naval Research Laboratory（海军研究实验室空间科学部）；NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Solar Physics Laboratory, Heliophysics Science Division（美国国家航空航天局戈达德太空飞行中心，太阳物理学实验室，日球物理科学部）；Department of Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering, Northumbria University（诺森比亚大学数学、物理与电气工程系）；INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma（意大利国家天体物理研究所罗马天文台）
The Magnetic Field of Active Region 11158 During the 2011 February 12-17 Flares : Differences between Photospheric Extrapolation and Coronal Forward-Fitting Methods
Magnetic flux ropes are bundles of twisted magnetic field enveloping a central axis. They harbor free magnetic energy and can be progenitors of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), but identifying flux ropes on the Sun can be challenging. One of the key coronal observables that has been shown to indicate the presence of a flux rope is a peculiar bright coronal structure called a sigmoid. In this work, we show Hinode EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) observations of sigmoidal active region 10977. We analyze the coronal plasma composition in the active region and its evolution as the sigmoid (flux rope) …
We investigate the dynamics of a closed corona cartesian reduced magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model where photospheric vortices twist the coronal magnetic field lines. We consider two corotating or counter-rotating vortices localized at the center of the photospheric plate, and additionally more corotating vortices that fill the plate entirely. Our investigation is specifically devoted to study the fully nonlinear stage, after the linear stage during which the vortices create laminar and smoothly twisting flux tubes. Our main goal is to understand the dynamics of photospheric vortices twisting th…
It is well known that magnetic fields dominate the dynamics in the solar corona, and new generation of numerical modelling of the evolution of coronal magnetic fields, as featured with boundary conditions driven directly by observation data, are being developed. This paper describes a new approach of data-driven magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of solar active region (AR) magnetic field evolution, which is for the first time that a data-driven full-MHD model utilizes directly the photospheric velocity field from DAVE4VM. We constructed a well-established MHD equilibrium based on a single v…
Context: Many previous studies have shown that the magnetic precursor of a coronal mass ejection (CME) takes the form of a magnetic flux rope, and a subset of them have become known as `hot flux ropes' due to their emission signatures in $\sim$10 MK plasma. Aims: We seek to identify the processes by which these hot flux ropes form, with a view of developing our understanding of CMEs and thereby improving space weather forecasts. Methods: Extreme-ultraviolet observations were used to identify five pre-eruptive hot flux ropes in the solar corona and study how they evolved. Confined flares were o…
We investigate the relation between characteristics of coronal mass ejections and parameterizations of the eruptive capability of solar active regions widely used in solar flare prediction schemes. These parameters, some of which are explored for the first time, are properties related to topological features, namely, magnetic polarity inversion lines (MPILs) that indicate large amounts of stored non-potential (i.e. free) magnetic energy. We utilize the Space Weather Database of Notifications, Knowledge, Information (DONKI) and the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronograph (LASCO) databases to …
A new model has been proposed for magnetic field determination at different distances from the Sun during different solar cycle phases. The model depends on the observed large-scale non-polar photospheric magnetic fields and that measured at polar regions from 55N to 90N and from 55S to 90S,which are the visible manifestations of cyclic changes in the toroidal and poloidal components of the global magnetic field of the Sun. The modeled magnetic field is determined as the superposition of the non-polar and the polar photospheric magnetic field cycle variations. The agreement between the model p…
Quantifying coronal magnetic field remains a central problem in solar physics. Nowadays the coronal magnetic field is often modelled using nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) reconstructions, whose accuracy has not yet been comprehensively assessed. Here we perform a detailed casting of the NLFFF reconstruction tools, such as pi-disambiguation, photospheric field preprocessing, and volume reconstruction methods using a 3D snapshot of the publicly available full-fledged radiative MHD model. Specifically, from the MHD model we know the magnetic field vector in the entire 3D domain, which enables …
Preferential Appearance of H$α$ Moreton Waves along Photospheric Magnetic Network Boundaries
School of Astronomy and Space Science, Nanjing University（南京大学天文与空间科学学院）；Key Laboratory for Modern Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nanjing University（南京大学现代天文与天体物理重点实验室）；State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Macau University of Science and Technology（澳门科技大学月球与行星科学国家重点实验室）
Elemental abundances in the solar corona are known to be different from those observed in the solar photosphere. The ratio of coronal to photospheric abundance shows a dependence on the first ionisation potential (FIP) of the element. We estimate FIP bias from direct measurements of elemental abundances from soft X-ray spectra using data from multiple space missions covering a range of solar activity levels. This comprehensive analysis shows clear evidence for a decrease in FIP bias around maximum intensity of the X-ray flare with coronal abundances briefly tending to photospheric values and a…
First Flare-related Rapid Change of Photospheric Magnetic Field Observed by Solar Dynamics Observatory
光球磁场不仅在积累自由能和触发太阳爆发方面起着重要作用，而且被观测到会随着日冕瞬变引起的日冕磁场重构而发生快速而持久的变化。新发射的太阳动力学天文台（SDO）上的日震和磁成像仪（HMI）以一贯的高分辨率和高节奏产生无视全磁盘矢量磁图，这最终使得对这一重要的反反应过程进行明确和全面的研究成为可能。在这项研究中，我们提出了一个近盘中心，GOES级X2.2耀斑发生在NOAA AR 11158在2011年2月15日使用的磁场测量HMI。我们获得了第一个坚实的证据，增强横向磁场在耀斑磁极性反转线（PIL）的幅度为70%。这种快速和不可逆的场演化与耀斑的发生有明确的联系，增强区位于两个色球耀斑带之间。SDO观测到的另外两次主要耀斑事件也有类似的发现。这些结果强有力地证实了我们先前的建议，光球磁场附近的PIL必须变得更加水平后爆发。随后将进行深入研究，进一步将光球磁场变化与日冕物质抛射的动态联系起来，届时将进行全斯托克斯反演，以生成准确的磁场矢量。
Rapid Changes of Photospheric Magnetic Field after Tether-Cutting Reconnection and Magnetic Implosion
光球磁场的快速、不可逆变化被认为是太阳耀斑过程的一个重要因素。这封信报告了2011年2月13日NOAA AR 11158 M6.6耀斑期间磁场的快速变化，我们从日震和磁成像仪的矢量磁图中发现了12分钟的节奏。在非线性无力场（NLFFF）假设下，利用太阳耀斑极大值前后~-5.5，-1.5，1.5和4小时的高分辨率磁象图重建三维日冕磁场。紫外和硬X射线图像也被用来阐明磁场的演变和能量释放。快速变化主要由HMI在位于磁S形中心的紧凑区域中检测到，其中平均水平场强表现出28%的显著增加。该区域位于色球层中的初始强UV和硬X射线源之间，根据NLFFF模型，它们与S形的中央脚是同空间的。NLFFF模型进一步表明，强日冕电流集中在该地区的正上方，更有趣的是，日冕电流系统在S型爆发后经历了明显的向下崩溃。这些结果进行了讨论，有利于系绳切割重联产生的耀斑和随后的内爆的日冕领域所造成的能量释放。
Photospheric horizontal magnetic field decrease preceding a major solar eruption
Planetary Environmental and Astrobiological Research Laboratory (PEARL), School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University（中山大学大气科学学院行星环境与天体生物学研究实验室）；CAS center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology（中国科学院比较行星学卓越中心）；Key Laboratory of Tropical Atmosphere-Ocean System, Sun Yat-sen University, Ministry of Education（中山大学热带海洋-大气系统教育部重点实验室）
In this study, we investigate in detail the photospheric magnetic structure of 98 coronal holes using line-of-sight magnetograms of SDO/HMI, and for a subset of 42 coronal holes using HINODE/SOT G-band filtergrams. We divided the magnetic field maps into magnetic elements and quiet coronal hole regions by applying a threshold at $\pm 25$ G. We find that the number of magnetic bright points in magnetic elements is well correlated with the area of the magnetic elements (cc=$0.83\pm 0.01$). Further, the magnetic flux of the individual magnetic elements inside coronal holes is related to their are…
For a better understanding of magnetic field in the solar corona and dynamic activities such as flares and coronal mass ejections, it is crucial to measure the time-evolving coronal field and accurately estimate the magnetic energy. Recently, a new modeling technique called the data-driven coronal field model, in which the time evolution of magnetic field is driven by a sequence of photospheric magnetic and velocity field maps, has been developed and revealed the dynamics of flare-productive active regions. Here we report on the first qualitative and quantitative assessment of different data-d…
A recent study using {\it Hinode} (SOT/FG) data of a sunspot revealed some unusually large penumbral jets that often repeatedly occurred at the same locations in the penumbra, namely at the tail of a penumbral filament or where the tails of multiple penumbral filaments converged. These locations had obvious photospheric mixed-polarity magnetic flux in \NaI\ 5896 Stokes-V images obtained with SOT/FG. Several other recent investigations have found that extreme ultraviolet (EUV)/X-ray coronal jets in quiet Sun regions (QRs), coronal holes (CHs) and near active regions (ARs) have obvious mixed-pol…
Coronal magnetic flux ropes are closely related to large-scale solar activities. Using a 2.5-dimensional time-dependent ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model in Cartesian coordinates, we carry out numerical simulations to investigate the evolution of a magnetic system consisting of a flux rope embedded in a fully-closed quadrupolar magnetic field with different photospheric flux distributions. It is found that, when the photospheric flux is not concentrated too much towards the polarity inversion line (PIL) and the constraint exerted by the background field is not too weak, the equilibrium sta…
We propose a novel one-dimensional model that includes both shock and turbulence heating and qualify how these processes contribute to heating the corona and driving the solar wind. Compressible MHD simulations allow us to automatically consider shock formation and dissipation, while turbulent dissipation is modeled via a one-point closure based on Alfvén wave turbulence. Numerical simulations were conducted with different photospheric perpendicular correlation lengths $λ_0$, which is a critical parameter of Alfvén wave turbulence, and different root-mean-square photospheric transverse-wave am…
Nanoflare models for heating the solar corona usually assume magnetic braiding and reconnection as the source of the energy. However, recent observations at record spatial resolution from the {\sc Sunrise} balloon mission suggest that photospheric magnetic flux cancellation is much more common than previously realised. We therefore examine the possibility of three-dimensional reconnection driven by flux cancellation as a cause of chromospheric and coronal heating. In particular, we estimate how the heights and amount of energy release produced by flux cancellation depend on flux size, flux can…
3D picture of the coronal magnetic field remains an outstanding problem in solar physics, particularly, in active regions. Nonlinear force-free field reconstructions that employ routinely available full-disk photospheric vector magnetograms represent state-of-the-art coronal magnetic field modeling. Such reconstructions, however, suffer from an inconsistency between a force-free coronal magnetic field and non-force-free photospheric boundary condition, from which the coronal reconstruction is performed. In this study we focus on integrating the additional chromospheric and / or coronal magneti…
Generation and annihilation of three dimensional magnetic nulls in extrapolated solar coronal magnetic field: Data-based Implicit Large Eddy Simulation
