Recent analysis of high-cadence white-light images taken by the Solar-Terrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) near solar maximum has revealed that outflowing density structures are released in an ubiquitous manner in the solar wind. The present study investigates whether these density fluctuations could originate from the transient heating of the low corona observed during Coronal Bright Points (CBPs). We assume that part of the intense heating measured during CBPs occurs at the coronal base of open magnetic fields that channel the forming solar wind. We employ the solar wind model MULTI-VP to quantify the plasma compression induced by transient heating and investigate how the induced perturbation propagates to the upper corona. We show that for heating rates with statistics comparable to those observed during CBPs the compressive wave initially increases the local plasma density by a factor of up to 50$\%$ at 5 R$_\odot$. The wave expands rapidly beyond 30 solar radii and the local enhancement in density decreases beyond. Based on the occurrence rates of CBPs measured in previous studies, we impose transient heating events at the base of thousands of open magnetic field lines to study the response of the entire 3-D corona. The simulated density cubes are then converted into synthetic white-light imagery. We show that the resulting brightness variations occupy all position angles in the images on timescales of hours. We conclude that a significant part of the ubiquitous brightness variability of the solar corona could originate in the strong transient heating of flux tubes induced by CBPs.
We propose that coronal heating in EUV coronal plumes is weaker, not stronger, than in adjacent non-plume coronal magnetic funnels. This expectation stems from (i) the observation that an EUV plume is born as the magnetic flux at the foot of the plume's magnetic funnel becomes tightly packed together, and (ii) the observation that coronal heating in quiet regions increases in proportion to the coast-line length of the underlying magnetic network. We do not rule out the possibility that coronal heating in EUV plumes might be stronger, not weaker, but we point out how the opposite is plausible. …
The dynamics of regions of the solar corona are investigated using Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 171Å and 193Å data. The coronal emission from the quiet Sun, coronal loop footprints, coronal moss, and from above a sunspot is studied. It is shown that the mean Fourier power spectra in these regions can be described by a power law at lower frequencies that tails to flat spectrum at higher frequencies, plus a Gaussian-shaped contribution that varies depending on the region studied. This Fourier spectral shape is in contrast to the commonly-held assumption that coronal time-series are well de…
Using full three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic numerical simulations, we study the effects of magnetic field sigmoidity or helicity on the properties of the fundamental kink oscillation of solar coronal loops. Our model consists of a single denser coronal loop, embedded in a plasma with dipolar force-free magnetic field with a constant alpha-parameter. For the loop with no sigmoidity, we find that the numerically determined oscillation period of the fundamental kink mode matches the theoretical period calculated using WKB theory. In contrast, with increasing sigmoidity of the loop, the actua…
Coronal seismology is extensively used to estimate properties of the corona, e.g. the coronal magnetic field strength are derived from oscillations observed in coronal loops. We present a three-dimensional coronal simulation including a realistic energy balance in which we observe oscillations of a loop in synthesised coronal emission. We use these results to test the inversions based on coronal seismology. From the simulation of the corona above an active region we synthesise extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emission from the model corona. From this we derive maps of line intensity and Doppler shift…
Coronal rain consists of cool plasma condensations formed in coronal loops as a result of thermal instability. The standard models of coronal rain formation assume that the heating is quasi-steady and localised at the coronal loop footpoints. We present an observation of magnetic reconnection in the corona and the associated impulsive heating triggering formation of coronal rain condensations. We analyse combined SDO/AIA and IRIS observations of a coronal rain event following a reconnection between threads of a low-lying prominence flux rope and surrounding coronal field lines. The reconnectio…
Dynamic features, such as chromospheric jets, transition region network jets, coronal plumes and coronal jets, are abundant in the network regions of the solar polar coronal holes. We investigate the relationship between chromospheric jets and coronal activities (e.g., coronal plumes and jets).We analyze observations of a polar coronal hole including the filtergrams that were taken by the New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST) at the Hα-0.6 Åto study the Hα jets,and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 171 Å images to follow the evolution of coronal activities. Hα jets are persistent in the netwo…
Magnetism defines the complex and dynamic solar corona. Twists and tangles in coronal magnetic fields build up energy and ultimately erupt, hurling plasma into interplanetary space. These coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are transient riders on the ever-outflowing solar wind, which itself possesses a three-dimensional morphology shaped by the global coronal magnetic field. Coronal magnetism is thus at the heart of any understanding of the origins of space weather at the Earth. However, we have historically been limited by the difficulty of directly measuring the magnetic fields of the corona, and…
Coronal holes are well accepted to be source regions of the fast solar wind. As one of the common structures in coronal holes, coronal plumes might contribute to the origin of the nascent solar wind. To estimate the contribution of coronal plumes to the nascent solar wind, we make the first attempt to estimate their populations in solar polar coronal holes. By comparing the observations viewed from two different angles taken by the twin satellites of STEREO and the results of Monte Carlo simulations, we estimate about 16--27 plumes rooted in an area of $4\times10^4$ arcsec$^2$ of the polar cor…
We used our newly developed magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code to perform 2.5D simulations of a fast-mode MHD wave interacting with coronal holes (CH) of varying Alfvén speed which result from assuming different CH densities. We find that this interaction leads to effects like reflection, transmission, stationary fronts at the CH boundary and the formation of a density depletion that moves in the opposite direction to the incoming wave. We compare these effects with regard to the different CH densities and present a comprehensive analysis of morphology and kinematics of the associated secondary wa…
An application of active contours without edges is presented as an efficient and effective means of extracting and characterizing coronal holes. Coronal holes are regions of low-density plasma on the Sun with open magnetic field lines. As the source of the fast solar wind, the detection and characterization of these regions is important for both testing theories of their formation and evolution and from a space weather perspective. Coronal holes are detected in full disk extreme ultraviolet (EUV) images of the corona obtained with the Solar Dynamics Observatory Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (SD…
Jets are defined as impulsive, well-collimated upflows, occurring in different layers of the solar atmosphere with different scales. Their relationship with coronal mass ejections (CMEs), another type of solar impulsive events, remains elusive. Using the high-quality imaging data of AIA/SDO, here we show a well-observed coronal jet event, in which part of the jets, with the embedding coronal loops, runs into a nearby coronal hole (CH) and gets bounced towards the opposite direction. This is evidenced by the flat-shape of the jet front during its interaction with the CH and the V-shaped feature…
In the quest to solve the long-standing coronal heating problem, it has been suggested half a century ago that coronal loops could be heated by waves. Despite the accumulating observational evidence of the possible importance of coronal waves, still no 3D MHD simulations exist that show significant heating by MHD waves. Here we report on the first 3D coronal loop model heating the plasma against radiative cooling. The coronal loop is driven at the footpoint by transverse oscillations and subsequently the induced Kelvin-Helmholtz instability deforms the loop cross-section and generates small-sc…
At the Sun, the strongest magnetic fields are routinely detected at dark sunspots. The magnitude of the field is typically about 3000 G, with only a few exceptions that reported the magnetic field in excess of 5000 G. Given that the magnetic field decreases with height in the solar atmosphere, no coronal magnetic field above ~2000 G was ever reported. Here, we present imaging microwave observations of an anomalously strong magnetic field of about 4000 G at the base of the corona in solar active region NOAA 12673 on 06 September 2017. Combining the photospheric vector measurements of the magnet…
We investigate the statistics of 288 low-latitude coronal holes extracted from SDO/AIA-193 filtergrams over the time range 2011/01/01 to 2013/12/31. We analyse the distribution of characteristic coronal hole properties, such as the areas, mean AIA-193 intensities, and mean magnetic field densities, the local distribution of the SDO/AIA-193 intensity and the magnetic field within the coronal holes, and the distribution of magnetic flux tubes in coronal holes. We find that the mean magnetic field density of all coronal holes under study is 3.0 +- 1.6 G, and the percentage of unbalanced magnetic …
The coronal magnetic field, despite its overwhelming importance to the physics and dynamics of the corona, has only rarely been measured. Here, the electron density maps derived from images acquired during the total solar eclipse of August 21st, 2017 are employed to demonstrate a new technique to measure the coronal magnetic fields. The strength of the coronal magnetic fields is derived with a semiempirical formula relating the plasma magnetic energy density to the gravitational potential energy. The resulting values are compared with those provided by more advanced coronal field reconstructio…
It has been known that some solar activity indicators show a double-peak feature in their evolution through a solar cycle, which is not conspicuous in sunspot number. In this letter, we investigate the high solar dynamic activity in the declining phase of the sunspot cycle by examining the evolution of polar and low latitude coronal hole areas and the statistics of splitting and merging events of coronal holes and coronal mass ejections detected by SOHO/LASCO C3 in solar cycle 23. Although the total coronal hole area is at its maximum near the sunspot minimum, in which polar coronal holes prev…
Recent observational and numerical studies show a variety of thermal structures in the solar chromosphere. Given that the thermal interplay across the transition region is a key to coronal heating, it is worth investigating how different thermal structures of the chromosphere yield different coronal properties. In this work, by MHD simulations of Alfvén-wave heating of coronal loops, we study how the coronal properties are affected by the chromospheric temperature. To this end, instead of solving the radiative transfer equation, we employ a simple radiative loss function so that the chromosphe…
On 2019 July 2 a total solar eclipse -- visible across some parts of the Southern Pacific Ocean, Chile and Argentina -- will enable observations of the Sun's large-scale coronal structure. The structure of the Sun's corona and their emission characteristics are determined by underlying magnetic fields which also govern coronal heating and solar eruptive events. However, coronal magnetic field measurements remain an outstanding challenge. Computational models of coronal magnetic fields serve an important purpose in this context. Earlier work has demonstrated that the large-scale coronal field i…
Using EUV images and line-of-sight magnetograms from Solar Dynamics Observatory, we examine eight emerging bipolar magnetic regions (BMRs) in central-disk coronal holes for whether the emerging magnetic arch made any noticeable coronal jets directly, via reconnection with ambient open field as modeled by Yokoyama and Shibata (1995). During emergence, each BMR produced no obvious EUV coronal jet of normal brightness, but each produced one or more faint EUV coronal jets that are discernible in AIA 193 Å images. The spires of these jets are much fainter and usually narrower than for typical EUV j…
As the observational signature of the footprints of solar magnetic field lines open into the heliosphere, coronal holes provide a critical measure of the structure and evolution of these lines. Using a combination of Solar and Heliospheric Observatory / Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SOHO/EIT), Solar Dynamics Observatory / Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (SDO/AIA) and Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory / Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (STEREO/EUVI A/B) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) observations spanning 1996-2015 (nearly two solar cycles), coronal holes are automatically detected and charact…
Coronal Jets are transitory small-scale eruptions omnipresent in solar observations. Active regions jets produce significant perturbations on the ambient solar atmosphere and are believed to be generated by microflare reconnection. Multiple sets of recurrent jets are identified in extreme-ultraviolet filter imaging. In this work we analyze the long time-scale recurrence of coronal jets originating from a unique footpoint structure observed in the lower corona. We report the detection of penumbral magnetic structures in the lower corona. These structures, that we entitled "Coronal Geysers", per…
A differential emission measure (DEM) method is used to evaluate the relationship of the electron density and temperature before and after a coronal rain event during an active sun over the period from 20:10 UT on October 6 to 02:10 on October 7, 2011. Observational data were obtained from SDO/AIA for six different extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectral lines. 240 different coronal loops were analyzed during this time interval, and the average electron density and temperature were obtained using 171 Å (Fe IX) and 193 Å (Fe XII) filters. The relationship between the density and temperature made it …
Time-evolving coronal modelling of the solar maximum around the solar storms in May 2024 by COCONUT
KU Leuven（荷语鲁汶大学）；University of Maria Curie-Skłodowska（玛丽亚·居里-斯可夫多夫斯卡大学）；Von Karman Institute For Fluid Dynamics（冯·卡门流体力学研究所）；University of Oslo（奥斯陆大学）
Context: Thermal non-equilibrium (TNE) produces several observables that can be used to constrain the spatial and temporal distribution of solar coronal heating. Its manifestations include prominence formation, coronal rain, and long-period intensity pulsations in coronal loops. The recent observation of abundant periodic coronal rain associated with intensity pulsations by Auchère et al. allows to unify these two phenomena as the result of TNE condensation and evaporation cycles. On the other hand, many intensity pulsation events observed by Froment et al. show little to no coronal rain forma…
Solar eruptions are usually associated with a variety of phenomena occurring in the low corona before, during, and after onset of eruption. Though easily visible in coronagraph observations, so-called stealth coronal mass ejections (CMEs) do not obviously exhibit any of these low-coronal signatures. The presence or absence of distinct low coronal signatures can be linked to different theoretical models to establish the mechanisms by which the eruption is initiated and driven. In this study, 40 CMEs without low coronal signatures, occurring in 2012, are identified. Their observational and kinem…
Solar coronal loops are commonly subject to oscillations. Observations of coronal oscillations are used to infer physical properties of the coronal plasma using coronal seismology. Excitation and evolution of oscillations in coronal loops is typically studied using highly idealised models of magnetic flux-tubes. In order to improve our understanding of coronal oscillations, it is necessary to consider the effect of realistic magnetic field topology and evolution. We study excitation and evolution of coronal oscillations in three-dimensional self-consistent simulations of solar atmosphere spann…
We investigate the effect of coronal temperature on the formation process of solar chromospheric jets using two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the region from the upper convection zone to the lower corona. We develop a new radiative magnetohydrodynamic code for the dynamic modeling of the solar atmosphere, employing a LTE equation of state, optically thick radiative loss in the photosphere, optically thin radiative loss in the chromosphere and the corona, and thermal conduction along the magnetic field lines. Many chromospheric jets are produced in the simulations by shock wave…
The hot solar corona exists because of the balance between radiative and conductive cooling and some counteracting heating mechanism which remains one of the major puzzles in solar physics. The coronal thermal equilibrium is perturbed by magnetoacoustic waves which are abundantly present in the corona, causing a misbalance between the heating and cooling rates. Due to this misbalance, the wave experiences a back-reaction, either losing or gaining energy from the energy supply that heats the plasma, at the time scales comparable to the wave period. In particular, the plasma can be subject to wa…
Coronal Bright Points (CBPs) are ubiquitous structures in the solar atmosphere composed of hot small-scale loops observed in EUV or X-Rays in the quiet Sun and coronal holes. They are key elements to understand the heating of the corona; nonetheless, basic questions regarding their heating mechanisms, the chromosphere underneath, or the effects of flux emergence in these structures remain open. We have used the Bifrost code to carry out a 2D experiment in which a coronal-hole magnetic nullpoint configuration evolves perturbed by realistic granulation. To compare with observations, synthetic SD…
Observing the fine structure of loops through high resolution spectroscopic observations of coronal rain with the CRISP instrument at the Swedish Solar Telescope
Measurement of the coronal magnetic field is a crucial ingredient in understanding the nature of solar coronal dynamic phenomena at all scales. We employ STEREO/COR1 data obtained near maximum of solar activity in December 2012 (Carrington rotation, CR 2131) to retrieve and analyze the three-dimensional (3D) coronal electron density in the range of heights from $1.5$ to $4\ \mathrm{R}_\odot$ using a tomography method and qualitatively deduce structures of the coronal magnetic field. The 3D electron density analysis is complemented by the 3D STEREO/EUVI emissivity in 195 Å\ band obtained by tom…
We investigate in detail the magnetic cause of minifilament eruptions that drive coronal-hole jets. We study 13 random on-disk coronal hole jet eruptions, using high resolution X-ray images from Hinode/XRT, EUV images from SDO/AIA, and magnetograms from SDO/HMI. For all 13 events, we track the evolution of the jet-base region and find that a minifilament of cool (transition-region-temperature) plasma is present prior to each jet eruption. HMI magnetograms show that the minifilaments reside along a magnetic neutral line between majority-polarity and minority-polarity magnetic flux patches. Thes…
New and advanced space-based observing facilities continue to lower the resolution limit and detect solar coronal loops in greater detail. We continue to discover even finer sub-structures within coronal loop cross sections, in order to understand the nature of the solar corona. Here, we push this lower limit further to search for the finest coronal loop sub-structures, through taking advantage of the resolving power of the Swedish 1- m Solar Telescope (SST) / CRisp Imaging Spectro-Polarimeter (CRISP), together with co-observations from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) / Atmospheric Image …
Coronal rain consists of cool and dense plasma condensations formed in coronal loops as a result of thermal instability. Previous numerical simulations of thermal instability and coronal rain formation have relied on artificially adding a coronal heating term to the energy equation. To reproduce large-scale characteristics of the corona, using more realistic coronal heating prescription is necessary. We analyse coronal rain formation and evolution in a 3-dimensional radiative magnetohydrodynamic simulation spanning from convection zone to corona which is self-consistently heated by magnetic fi…
Magnetism defines the complex and dynamic solar corona. Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are thought to be caused by stresses, twists, and tangles in coronal magnetic fields that build up energy and ultimately erupt, hurling plasma into interplanetary space. Even the ever-present solar wind possesses a three-dimensional morphology shaped by the global coronal magnetic field, forming geoeffective corotating interaction regions. CME evolution and the structure of the solar wind depend intimately on the coronal magnetic field, so comprehensive observations of the global magnetothermal atmosphere are…
Coronal jets are transient narrow features in the solar corona that originate from all regions of the solar disk: active regions, quiet sun, and coronal holes. Recent studies indicate that at least some coronal jets in quiet regions and coronal holes are driven by the eruption of a minifilament following flux cancellation at a magnetic neutral line. We have tested the veracity of that view by examining 60 random jets in quiet regions and coronal holes using multithermal (304 A, 171 A, 193 A, and 211 A) extreme ultraviolet (EUV) images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)/Atmospheric Imagi…
We highlight ten key aspects of coronal heating that must be understood before we can consider the problem to be solved. (1) All coronal heating is impulsive. (2) The details of coronal heating matter. (3) The corona is filled with elemental magnetic stands. (4) The corona is densely populated with current sheets. (5) The strands must reconnect to prevent an infinite buildup of stress. (6) Nanoflares repeat with different frequencies. (7) What is the characteristic magnitude of energy release? (8) What causes the collective behavior responsible for loops? (9) What are the onset conditions for …
We study the properties of 115 coronal holes in the time-range from 2010/08 to 2017/03, the peak velocities of the corresponding high-speed streams as measured in the ecliptic at 1 AU, and the corresponding changes of the Kp index as marker of their geo-effectiveness. We find that the peak velocities of high-speed streams depend strongly on both the ar- eas and the co-latitudes of their solar source coronal holes with regard to the heliospheric latitude of the satellites. Therefore, the co-latitude of their source coronal hole is an im- portant parameter for the prediction of the high-speed st…
The plasma thermodynamics in the solar upper atmosphere, particularly in the corona, are dominated by the magnetic field, which controls the flow and dissipation of energy. The relative lack of knowledge of the coronal vector magnetic field is a major handicap for progress in coronal physics. This makes the development of measurement methods of coronal magnetic fields a high priority in solar physics. The Hanle effect in the UV and IR spectral lines is a largely unexplored diagnostic. We use magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to study the magnitude of the signal to be expected for typical c…
Transient collimated plasma eruptions in the solar corona, commonly known as coronal (or X-ray) jets, are among the most interesting manifestations of solar activity. It has been suggested that these events contribute to the mass and energy content of the corona and solar wind, but the extent of these contributions remains uncertain. We have recently modeled the formation and evolution of coronal jets using a three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code with thermodynamics in a large spherical domain that includes the solar wind. Our model is coupled to 3D MHD flux-emergence simulatio…
We use full-disk, SOHO/EIT 195 $Å$ calibrated images to measure latitudinal and day to day variations of area and average photon fluxes of the near equatorial coronal holes. In addition, energy emitted by the coronal holes with their temperature and strength of magnetic field structures are estimated. By analyzing data of 2001-2008, we find that variations of average area (A), photon flux (F), radiative energy (E) and temperature (T) of coronal holes are independent of latitude. Whereas inferred strength of magnetic field structure of the coronal holes is dependent on the latitudes and varies …
