The active region NOAA 11158 produced the first X-class flare of Solar Cycle 24, an X2.2 flare at 01:44 UT on 2011 February 15. Here we analyze SDO/HMI magnetograms covering a 12-hour interval centered at the time of this flare. We describe the spatial distributions of the photospheric magnetic changes associated with this flare, including the abrupt changes in the field vector, vertical electric current and Lorentz force vector. We also trace these parameters' temporal evolution. The abrupt magnetic changes were concentrated near the neutral line and in two neighboring sunspots. Near the neutral line, the field vectors became stronger and more horizontal during the flare and the shear increased. This was due to an increase in strength of the horizontal field components near the neutral line, most significant in the horizontal component parallel to the neutral line but the perpendicular component also increased in strength. The vertical component did not show a significant, permanent overall change at the neutral line. The increase in total flux at the neutral line was accompanied by a compensating flux decrease in the surrounding volume. In the two sunspots near the neutral line the azimuthal flux abruptly decreased during the flare but this change was permanent in only one of the spots. There was a large, abrupt, downward vertical Lorentz force change during the flare, consistent with results of past analyses and recent theoretical work. The horizontal Lorentz force acted in opposite directions along each side of neutral line, with the two sunspots at each end subject to abrupt torsional forces. The shearing forces were consistent with field contraction and decrease of shear near the neutral line, whereas the field itself became more sheared as a result of the flux collapsing towards the neutral line from the surrounding volume.
The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager provides 45 s cadence intensity images and 720 s cadence vector magnetograms. These unprecedented high-cadence and high-resolution data give us a unique opportunity to study the change of photospheric flows and sunspot rotations associated with flares. By using the differential affine velocity estimator method and the Fourier local correlation tracking method separately, we calculate velocity and vorticity of photospheric flows in the flaring NOAA AR 11158, and investigate their temporal evolution around the X2.2 flare on 2011 February 15. It is found that …
It is well known that the long-term evolution of the photospheric magnetic field plays an important role in building up free energy to power solar eruptions. Observations, despite being controversial, have also revealed a rapid and permanent variation of the photospheric magnetic field in response to the coronal magnetic field restructuring during the eruption. The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager instrument (HMI) on board the newly launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) produces seeing-free full-disk vector magnetograms at consistently high resolution and high cadence, which finally makes …
We study photospheric and sub-photospheric properties of active and quiet regions observed during 11-17 February 2011 including the first X-class flare X2.2 of the solar cycle 24 which occurred in the active region NOAA 11158 on 15 February 2011. The p-mode parameters and sub-photospheric flows are computed from the ring-diagrams and inversions. We found larger frequency shifts in active regions than quiet regions. The active region NOAA 11158 shows stronger twisted sub-photospheric flows than dormant active regions. The kinetic helicity density of sub-photospheric flows of the active region N…
We developed a {\sl coronal non-linear force-free field (COR-NLFFF)} forward-fitting code that fits an approximate {\sl non-linear force-free field (NLFFF)} solution to the observed geometry of automatically traced coronal loops. In contrast to photospheric NLFFF codes, which calculate a magnetic field solution from the constraints of the transverse photospheric field, this new code uses coronal constraints instead, and this way provides important information on systematic errors of each magnetic field calculation method, as well as on the non-forcefreeness in the lower chromosphere. In this s…
We analyze the spatial and temporal variations of the abrupt photospheric magnetic changes associated with six major flares using 12-minute, 0.5-arcsec vector magnetograms from NASA's Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager instrument (HMI) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite. The six major flares occurred near the main magnetic neutral lines of four active regions, NOAA 11158, 11166, 11283 and 11429. During all six flares the neutral line field vectors became stronger and more horizontal, in each case almost entirely due to strengthening of the horizontal field components parallel to the neu…
The X2.2-class solar flare of February 15, 2011, produced a powerful sunquake event, representing a helioseismic response to the flare impact in the solar photosphere, which was observed with the HMI instrument on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The impulsively excited acoustic waves formed a compact wavepacket traveling through the solar interior and appearing on the surface as expanding wave ripples. The initial flare impacts were observed in the form of compact and rapid variations of the Doppler velocity, line-of-sight magnetic field and continuum intensity. These variations formed a…
We use high-resolution images of the sun obtained by the SDO/AIA instrument to study the evolution of the coronal loops in a flaring solar active region. During 15 February 2011 a X-2.2 class flare occurred in NOAA 11158, a $βγδ$ sunspot complex. We identify three distinct phases of the coronal loop dynamics during this event: (i) {\it Slow rise phase}: slow rising motion of the loop-tops prior to the flare in response to slow rise of the underlying flux rope, (ii) {\it Collapse phase}: sudden contraction of the loop-tops with lower loops collapsing earlier than the higher loops, and (iii) {\i…
We have used Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) 1600 Åimages and Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) magnetograms to compare ultraviolet (UV) emissions from the chromosphere to longitudinal magnetic field changes in the photosphere during four X-class solar flares. An abrupt, significant, and persistent change in the magnetic field occurred across more than ten pixels in the GONG magnetograms for each flare. These magnetic changes lagged the GOES flare start times in all cases, showing that they were consequences and not causes of the flares. Ultraviolet emissions were spatiall…
Sunquakes are created by the hydrodynamic response of the lower atmosphere to a sudden deposition of energy and momentum. In this study we investigate a sunquake that occurred in NOAA active region 11675 on 17 February 2013. Observations of the corona, chromosphere and photosphere are brought together for the first time with a non-linear force-free model of the active region's magnetic field in order to probe the magnetic environment in which the sunquake was initiated. We find that the sunquake was associated with the destabilization of a flux rope and an associated M-class GOES flare. Active…
Photospheric magnetic field not only plays important roles in building up free energy and triggering solar eruptions, but also has been observed to change rapidly and permanently responding to the coronal magnetic field restructuring due to coronal transients. The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager instrument (HMI) on board the newly launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) produces seeing-free full-disk vector magnetograms at consistently high resolution and high cadence, which finally makes possible an unambiguous and comprehensive study of this important back-reaction process. In this study,…
The energy released during solar flares is believed to be stored in non-potential magnetic fields associated with electric currents flowing in the corona. While no measurements of coronal electric currents are presently available, maps of photospheric electric currents can now be derived from SDO/HMI observations. Photospheric electric currents have been shown to be the tracers of the coronal electric currents. Particle acceleration can result from electric fields associated with coronal electric currents. We revisit here some aspects of the relationship between particle acceleration in solar …
The first near-side X-class flare of the Solar Cycle 24 occurred in February 2011 and produced a very strong seismic response in the photosphere. One sunquake was reported by Kosovichev (2011) followed by the discovery of a second sunquake by Zharkov et al (2011). The flare had a two-ribbon structure and was associated with a flux rope eruption and a halo coronal mass ejection (CME) as reported in the CACTus catalogue. Following the discovery of the second sunquake and the spatial association of both sources with the locations of the feet of the erupting flux rope (Zharkov et al 2011) we prese…
We characterize the changes in the longitudinal photospheric magnetic field during 38 X-class and 39 M-class flares within $65^{\circ}$ of disk-center using 1-minute GONG magnetograms. In all 77 cases we identify at least one site in the flaring active region where clear, permanent, stepwise field changes occurred. The median duration of the field changes was about 15 minutes and was approximately equal for X-class and for M-class flares. The absolute values of the field changes ranged from the detection limit of $\sim\!\!10$~G to as high as $\sim\!\!450$~G in two exceptional cases. The median…
The processes that shape the extended atmospheres of red supergiants (RSGs), heat their chromospheres, create molecular reservoirs, drive mass loss, and create dust remain poorly understood. Betelgeuse's V-band "Great Dimming" event of 2019 September /2020 February and its subsequent rapid brightening provides a rare opportunity to study these phenomena. Two different explanations have emerged to explain the dimming; new dust appeared in our line of sight attenuating the photospheric light, or a large portion of the photosphere had cooled. Here we present five years of Wing three-filter (A, B,…
How much electromagnetic energy crosses the photosphere in evolving solar active regions? With the advent of high-cadence vector magnetic field observations, addressing this fundamental question has become tractable. In this paper, we apply the "PTD-Doppler-FLCT-Ideal" (PDFI) electric field inversion technique of Kazachenko et al. (2014) to a 6-day HMI/SDO vector magnetogram and Doppler velocity sequence, to find the electric field and Poynting flux evolution in active region NOAA 11158, which produced an X2.2 flare early on 2011 February 15. We find photospheric electric fields ranging up to …
Multi--wavelength studies of energetic solar flares with seismic emissions have revealed interesting common features between them. We studied the first GOES X--class flare of the 24th solar cycle, as detected by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). For context, seismic activity from this flare (SOL2011-02-15T01:55-X2.2, in NOAA AR 11158) has been reported in the literature (Kosovichev, 2011; Zharkov et al., 2011). Based on Dopplergram data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI), we applied standard methods of local helioseismology in order to identify the seismic sources in this even…
The rapid, irreversible change of the photospheric magnetic field has been recognized as an important element of the solar flare process. This Letter reports such a rapid change of magnetic fields during the 2011 February 13 M6.6 flare in NOAA AR 11158 that we found from the vector magnetograms of the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager with 12-min cadence. High-resolution magnetograms of Hinode that are available at ~-5.5, -1.5, 1.5, and 4 hrs relative to the flare maximum are used to reconstruct three-dimensional coronal magnetic field under the nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) assumption. UV…
Solar flares abruptly release the free energy stored as a non-potential magnetic field in the corona and may be accompanied by eruptions of the coronal plasma. Formation of a non-potential magnetic field and the mechanisms for triggering the onset of flares are still poorly understood. In particular, photospheric dynamics observed near those polarity inversion lines that are sites of major flare production have not been well observed with high spatial resolution spectro-polarimetry. This paper reports on a remarkable high-speed material flow observed along the polarity inversion line located b…
We study the correlation between abrupt permanent changes of magnetic field during X-class flares observed by the GONG and HMI instruments, and the hard X-ray (HXR) emission observed by RHESSI, to relate the photospheric field changes to the coronal restructuring and investigate the origin of the field changes. We find that spatially the early RHESSI emission corresponds well to locations of the strong field changes. The field changes occur predominantly in the regions of strong magnetic field near the polarity inversion line (PIL). The later RHESSI emission does not correspond to significant …
Abrupt and permanent changes of photospheric magnetic fields have been observed during solar flares. The changes seem to be linked to the reconfiguration of magnetic fields, but their origin is still unclear. We carried out a statistical analysis of permanent line-of-sight magnetic field ($B_{\rm LOS}$) changes during 18 X-, 37 M-, 19 C- and 1 B-class flares using data from Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager. We investigated the properties of permanent changes, such as frequency, areas, and locations. We detected changes of $B_{\rm LOS}$ in 59/75 flares. We find that s…
Only eleven O-type stars have been confirmed to possess large-scale organized magnetic fields. The presence of a -600G longitudinal magnetic field in the O9.7V star HD54879 with a lower limit of the dipole strength of ~2kG, was discovered a few years ago in the framework of the ESO large program "B-fields in OB stars". Our FORS2 spectropolarimetric observations from 2017 October 4 to 2018 February 21 reveal the presence of short and long-term spectral variability and a gradual magnetic field decrease from about -300G down to about -90G. Surprisingly, we discover on the night of 2018 February 1…
The so-called great dimming event of alpha Ori in late 2019 and early 2020 sparked our interest in the behaviour of chromospheric activity during this period. To study the timeline of chromospheric activity, we derive a S_MWO time series of TIGRE and Mount Wilson values, and we compare this long time series with photometric data from the AAVSO database. In addition, we determine the absolute and normalised excess flux of the Ca II H&K lines. To do so, we estimate the changing effective temperature from TIGRE spectra and find a clear drop of about 80 K between November 2019 and February 2020, w…
Photospheric Lorentz force changes in eruptive and confined solar flares
Indian Institute of Astrophysics（印度天体物理研究所）；Joint Astronomy Programme and Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science（印度科学学院天文联合项目与物理系）；University of Helsinki（赫尔辛基大学）；Udaipur Solar Observatory, Physical Research Laboratory（乌代布尔太阳观测站，物理研究实验室）
The bright supergiant, Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis, HD 39801) experienced a visual dimming during 2019 December and the first quarter of 2020 reaching an historic minimum 2020 February 7$-$13. During 2019 September-November, prior to the optical dimming event, the photosphere was expanding. At the same time, spatially resolved ultraviolet spectra using the Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph revealed a substantial increase in the ultraviolet spectrum and Mg II line emission from the chromosphere over the southern hemisphere of the star. Moreover, the temperature and elect…
The abrupt and permanent changes of photospheric magnetic field in the localized regions of active regions during solar flares called magnetic imprints (MIs), have been observed for the past nearly three decades. The well known "coronal implosion" model is assumed to explain such flare associated changes but the complete physical understanding is still missing and debatable. In this study, we made a systematic analysis of flare-related changes of photospheric magnetic field during 21 flares (14 eruptive and 7 non-eruptive) using the high-cadence (\texttt{135s}) vector-magnetogram data obtained…
Generation and annihilation of three dimensional magnetic nulls in extrapolated solar coronal magnetic field: Data-based Implicit Large Eddy Simulation
We present for the first time the evolution of the photospheric electric currents during an eruptive X-class flare, accurately predicted by the standard 3D flare model. We analyze this evolution for the February 15, 2011 flare using HMI/SDO magnetic observations and find that localized currents in \J-shaped ribbons increase to double their pre-flare intensity. Our 3D flare model, developed with the OHM code, suggests that these current ribbons, which develop at the location of EUV brightenings seen with AIA imagery, are driven by the collapse of the flare's coronal current layer. These finding…
It is well known that photospheric flux emergence is an important process for stressing coronal fields and storing magnetic free energy, which may then be released during a flare. The \emph{Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager} (HMI) onboard the \emph{Solar Dynamics Observatory} (SDO) captured the entire emergence of NOAA AR 11158. This region emerged as two distinct bipoles, possibly connected underneath the photosphere, yet characterized by different photospheric field evolutions and fluxes. The combined active region complex produced 15 GOES C--class, 2 M--class, and the X2.2 Valentine's Day Fl…
Information on the rotation rate of the corona, and its variation over latitude and solar cycle, is valuable for making global connections between the corona and the Sun, for global estimates of reconnection rates, and as a basic parameter for solar wind modelling. Here, we use a time series of tomographical maps gained from coronagraph observations between 2007 - 2020 to directly measure the longitudinal drift of high-density streamers over time. The method reveals abrupt changes in rotation rates, revealing a complex relationship between the coronal rotation and the underlying photosphere. T…
Using the 135-second cadence of the photospheric vector data provided by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager telescope on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory, we examined the time-evolution of magnetic helicity fluxes across the photosphere during 16 flares with the energy class lower than M5.0. During the flare in 4 out of 16 events, we found impulsive changes in the helicity fluxes. This indicates that even the flare with less energy could be associated with anomalistic transportation of the magnetic helicity across the photosphere. Accompanying the impulsive helicity fluxes, the poynting f…
We present observations of the formation process of a small-scale filament on the quiet Sun during 5-6 February 2016 and investigate its formation cause. Initially, a small dipole emerged and its associated arch filament system was found to reconnect with overlying coronal fields accompanied by numerous EUV bright points. When bright points faded out, many elongated dark threads formed bridging the positive magnetic element of dipole and external negative network fields. Interestingly, an anti-clockwise photospheric rotational motion (PRM) set in within the positive endpoint region of newborn …
We compute for the first time magnetic helicity and energy spectra of the solar active region NOAA 11158 during 11-15 February 2011 at 20^o southern heliographic latitude using observational photospheric vector magnetograms. We adopt the isotropic representation of the Fourier-transformed two-point correlation tensor of the magnetic field. The sign of magnetic helicity turns out to be predominantly positive at all wavenumbers. This sign is consistent with what is theoretically expected for the southern hemisphere. The magnetic helicity normalized to its theoretical maximum value, here referred…
We estimated the accuracy of coronal magnetic fields derived from radio observations by comparing them to potential field calculations and the DEM measurements using EUV observations. We derived line of sight component of the coronal magnetic field from polarization observations of the thermal bremsstrahlung in the NOAA active region 11150, observed around 3:00 UT on February 3, 2011 using the Nobeyama Radioheliograph at 17 GHz. Because the thermal bremsstrahlung intensity at 17 GHz includes both chromospheric and coronal components, we extracted only the coronal component by measuring the cor…
The solar active region NOAA 11158 produced a series of flares during its passage through the solar disk. The first major flare (of class X2.2) of the current solar cycle occurred in this active region on 2011 February 15 around 01:50 UT. We have analyzed the Dopplergrams and magnetograms obtained by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instrument onboard Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to examine the photospheric velocity and magnetic field changes associated with this flare. The HMI instrument provides high-quality Doppler and magnetic maps of the solar disk at 0.5 arcsec spatial scal…
Some types of solar flares are observed in X-shaped quadrupolar field configuration. To understand the magnetic energy storage in such a region, we studied non-potential field formation in an X-shaped quadrupolar field region formed in the active region NOAA 11967, which produced three X-shaped M-class flares on February 2, 2014. Nonlinear force-free field modeling was applied to a time series of vector magnetic field maps from the Solar Optical Telescope on board Hinode and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board Solar Dynamics Observatory. Our analysis of the temporal three-dimensional mag…
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was launched 11 February 2010 with 3 instruments on board, including the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI). Since beginning normal operations on 1 May 2010, HMI has observed the Sun's entire visible disk almost continuously. HMI collects sequences of polarized filtergrams taken at a fixed cadence with two 4096 x 4096 cameras from which are computed arcsecond-resolution maps of photospheric observables: the line-of-sight (LoS) velocity and magnetic field, continuum intensity, line width, line depth, and the Stokes polarization parameters, I Q U V, at…
We report a detailed event analysis on the M6.6-class flare in the active region (AR) NOAA 11158 on 2011 February 13. AR 11158, which consisted of two major emerging bipoles, showed prominent activities including one X- and several M-class flares. In order to investigate the magnetic structures related to the M6.6 event, particularly the formation process of a flare-triggering magnetic region, we analyzed multiple spacecraft observations and numerical results of a flare simulation. We observed that, in the center of this quadrupolar AR, a highly sheared polarity inversion line (PIL) was formed…
The energy release and build-up processes in the solar corona have significant implications in particular for the case of large recurrent flares, which pose challenging questions about the conditions that lead to the episodic energy release processes. It is not yet clear whether these events occur due to the continuous supply of free magnetic energy to the solar corona or because not all of the available free magnetic energy is released during a single major flaring event. In order to address this question, we report on the evolution of photospheric magnetic field and the associated net Lorent…
We present observations of a confined M4.0 flare from NOAA 11302 on 2011 September 26. Observations at high temporal, spatial, and spectral resolution from Solar Dynamics Observatory, Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager, and Nobeyama Radioheliograph enabled us to explore the possible triggering and energy release processes of this flare despite its very impulsive behavior and compact morphology. The flare light curves exhibit an abrupt rise of non-thermal emission with co-temporal hard X-ray (HXR) and microwave (MW) bursts that peaked instantly without any precursor emission. …
