Engineering topics

Klimchuk, James A.

Publications and source records attributed to Klimchuk, James A..

At least 37 records · Page 2

NASA NTRS2011

The Hazards of Our Star

The Sun's magnetic field permeates its atmosphere - ranging from the solar photosphere (the visible "surface") to the corona above. Think of this field as a collection of invisible rubber bands that are slowly stretched and twisted until they eventually reach a breaking point, When the field breaks, it releases a small amount of energy, known as a nanoflare. Millions of nanoflares occur every second, and the combined effect heats the solar corona to more than 1 million kelvins, hundreds of times hotter than the photosphere. The super-heated gas emits X-ray and ultraviolet radiation; Earth's upper atmosphere absorbs it, which changes our atmosphere's properties. This can disrupt communication, navigation, and surveillance systems, and also alter the orbits of satellites. On much larger scales, huge sections of the corona explosively erupt in coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and solar flares. CMEs directed toward Earth cause geomagnetic storms, which can wreck havoc on electrical power grids and produce widespread blackouts. Highly energetic particles can damage or even disable critical spacecraft components. Intense radiation from flares has the same effects as nanoflares, but to a greater degree. The need to understand how solar phenomena impact Earth has led to an important science field called space weather.

Klimchuk, James A.↗

NASA NTRS2010

SDO/AIA Light Curves and Implications for Coronal Heating: Model Predictions

It seems largely agreed that many coronal loops---those observed at a temperature of about 1 MK---are bundles of unresolved strands that are heated by storms of impulsive nanoflares. The nature of coronal heating in hotter loops and in the very important but largely ignored diffuse component of active regions is much less clear. Is it also impulsive or is it quasi steady? The spectacular new data from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) telescopes on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) offer an excellent opportunity to address this question. We analyze the light curves of coronal loops and the diffuse corona in 6 different AIA channels and compare them with the predicted light curves from theoretical models. Light curves in the different AIA channels reach their peak intensities with predictable orderings as a function the nanoflare storm properties. We show that while some sets of light curves exhibit clear evidence of cooling after nanoflare storms, other cases are less straightforward to interpret. Complications arise because of line-of-sight integration through many different structures, the broadband nature of the AIA channels, and because physical properties can change substantially depending on the magnitude of the energy release. Nevertheless, the light curves exhibit predictable and understandable patterns. This presentation emphasizes the modeling aspects of our study. A companion presentation emphasizes the observations.

Klimchuk, James A.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Nanoflare Heating of Solar and Stellar Coronae

A combination of observational and theoretical evidence suggests that much, and perhaps most, of the Sun's corona is heated by small unresolved bursts of energy called nanoflares. It seems likely that stellar coronae are heated in a similar fashion. Kanoflares are here taken to mean any impulsive heating that occurs within a magnetic flux strand. Many mechanisms have this property, including waves, but we prefer Parker's picture of tangled magnetic fields. The tangling is caused by turbulent convection at the stellar surface, and magnetic energy is released when the stresses reach a critical level. We suggest that the mechanism of energy release is the "secondary instability" of electric current sheets that are present at the boundaries between misaligned strands. I will discuss the collective evidence for solar and stellar nanoflares and hopefully present new results from the Solar Dynamics Observatory that was just launched.

Klimchuk, James A.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Can Thermal Nonequilibrium Explain Coronal Loops?

Any successful model of coronal loops must explain a number of observed properties. For warm (approx. 1 MK) loops, these include: 1. excess density, 2. flat temperature profile, 3. super-hydrostatic scale height, 4. unstructured intensity profile, and 5. 1000-5000 s lifetime. We examine whether thermal nonequilibrium can reproduce the observations by performing hydrodynamic simulations based on steady coronal heating that decreases exponentially with height. We consider both monolithic and multi-stranded loops. The simulations successfully reproduce certain aspects of the observations, including the excess density, but each of them fails in at least one critical way. -Xonolithic models have far too much intensity structure, while multi-strand models are either too structured or too long-lived. Storms of nanoflares remain the only viable explanation for warm loops that has been proposed so far. Our results appear to rule out the widespread existence of heating that is both highly concentrated low in the corona and steady or quasi-steady (slowly varying or impulsive with a rapid cadence). Active regions would have a very different appearance if the dominant heating mechanism had these properties. Thermal nonequilibrium may nonetheless play an important role in prominences and catastrophic cooling e(veen.gts..,coronal rain) that occupy a small fraction of the coronal volume. However, apparent inconsistencies between the models and observations of cooling events have yet to be understood.

Klimchuk, James A.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Heating of the Solar Corona and its Loops

At several million degrees, the solar corona is more than two orders of magnitude hotter than the underlying solar surface. The reason for these extreme conditions has been a puzzle for decades and is considered one of the fundamental problems in astrophysics. Much of the coronal plasma is organized by the magnetic field into arch-like structures called loops. Recent observational and theoretical advances have led to great progress in understanding the nature of these loops. In particular, we now believe they are bundles of unresolved magnetic strands that are heated by storms of impulsive energy bursts called nanoflares. Turbulent convection at the solar surface shuffles the footpoints of the strands and causes them to become tangled. A nanoflare occurs when the magnetic stresses reach a critical threshold, probably by way of a mechanism called the secondary instability. I will describe our current state of knowledge concerning the corona, its loops, and how they are heated.

Klimchuk, James A.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Triennial Report 2006-2009. Commission 10: Solar Activity

Commission 10 deals with solar activity in all of its forms, ranging from the smallest nanoflares to the largest coronal mass ejections. This report reviews scientific progress over the roughly two-year period ending in the middle of 2008. This has been an exciting time in solar physics, highlighted by the launches of the Hinode and STEREO missions late in 2006. The report is reasonably comprehensive, though it is far from exhaustive. Limited space prevents the inclusion of many significant results. The report is divided into following sections: Photosphere and Chromosphere; Transition Region; Corona and Coronal Heating; Coronal Jets; Flares; Coronal Mass Ejection Initiation; Global Coronal Waves and Shocks; Coronal Dimming; The Link Between Low Coronal CME signatures and Magnetic Clouds; Coronal Mass Ejections in the Heliosphere; and Coronal Mass Ejections and Space Weather. Primary authorship is indicated at the beginning of each section.

Klimchuk, James A.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Coronal Heating and the Need for High-Resolution Observations

Despite excellent progress in recent years in understanding coronal heating, there remain many crucial questions that are still unanswered. Limitations in the observations are one important reason. Both theoretical and observational considerations point to the importance of small spatial scales, impulsive energy release, strong dynamics, and extreme plasma nonuniformity. As a consequence, high spatial resolution, broad temperature coverage, high temperature fidelity, and sensitivity to velocities and densities are all critical observational parameters. Current instruments lack one or more of these properties, and this has led to considerable ambiguity and confusion. In this talk, I will discuss recent ideas about coronal heating and emphasize that high spatial resolution observations, especially spectroscopic observations, are needed to make major progress on this important problem.

Klimchuk, James A.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Multi-wavelength Observations and Modelling of a Solar Flare

Aims: The aim of this work is to investigate the dynamic behavior of a C-class solar flare through the evolution of temperature, emission measure, energy loss and velocity. In particular, the variation of these properties with time are studied using multi-wavelength observations in combination with a recently developed 0-D hydrodynamic model. Methods: The temperature and emission measure evolution were studied using several instruments covering a wide range of temperatures - the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI, >5 MK), GOES-12 (5- 30 MK), the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE 171 A, 1 MK) and the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer (CDS, 0.03-8 MK). The temperature and emission measure were analysed through the systematic cooling of flare plasma through the response functions of these instruments. These parameters were then investigated using the Enthalpy Based Thermal Evolution of Loops model (EBTEL). The Doppler shifts at both flare footpoints were analysed using five emission lines seen by CDS. Results: The flare began with clear evidence for pre-flare heating. Upflows of approx.90 km/s and low level emission, both observed in Fe XIX before the main impulsive phase were explained by pre-flare gentle chromospheric evaporation. During the main impulsive phase, the flare plasma was heated to a temperature of >13 MK in approximately 10 minutes. Explosive chromospheric evaporation was observed, driving upflows of approx.80 km/s in Fe XIX and simultaneous downflows of approx.20 km/s in He I and O v. At the peak of the Rare, conduction modelled by EBTEL was found to be the dominant loss mechanism, working efficiently to both lower the temperatures and drive gentle chromospheric evaporation. As the temperature fell below approx.8 MK, radiation became the dominant loss mechanism. During the final stages of the decay phase, downflowing plasma was observed at the footpoints in He I, O v and Mg x at velocities of up to approx.40 km/s, suggesting loop draining occurred. Conclusions. This is the first extensive study of the evolution of flare plasma using both spectroscopic and broad-band instruments in conjunction with a comprehensive hydrodynamic model. The flare began with pre-flare heating and then evolved following the predictions of the standard flare model. Detailed analysis of the plasma heating mechanisms was carried out and the heating function most consistent with observations was found to be Gaussian in shape. The simulations suggested that both direct heating and heating by a non-thermal beam played significant roles in this event.

Raftery, Claire L.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Explaining Warm Coronal Loops

One of the great mysteries of coronal physics that has come to light in the last few years is the discovery that warn (- 1 INK) coronal loops are much denser than expected for quasi-static equilibrium. Both the excess densities and relatively long lifetimes of the loops can be explained with bundles of unresolved strands that are heated impulsively to very high temperatures. Since neighboring strands are at different stages of cooling, the composite loop bundle is multi-thermal, with the distribution of temperatures depending on the details of the "nanoflare storm." Emission hotter than 2 MK is predicted, but it is not clear that such emission is always observed. We consider two possible explanations for the existence of over-dense warm loops without corresponding hot emission: (1) loops are bundles of nanoflare heated strands, but a significant fraction of the nanoflare energy takes the form of a nonthermal electron beam rather then direct plasma heating; (2) loops are bundles of strands that undergo thermal nonequilibrium that results when steady heating is sufficiently concentrated near the footpoints. We present numerical hydro simulations of both of these possibilities and explore the observational consequences, including the production of hard X-ray emission and absorption by cool material in the corona.

Klimchuk, James A.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Models of Coronal Loops and Those Annoying Observations

It is often said that coronal loops are the fundamental building blocks of the magnetically-closed corona. This is certainly true, especially when one realizes that the diffuse component of the corona can be thought of as a collection of indistinguishable loops. During the Skylab era, it was believed that loops are in states of quasi static equilibrium. However, more recent observations combined with numerical models have revealed that this interpretation is not correct, at least for many loops. The concept of loops as bundles of impulsively-heated strands is very appealing and solves many of the problems faced by static models, but it too faces observational challenges. Yet another idea involves the fascinating phenomenon of thermal nonequilibrium. I will review the various attempts to model coronal loops and discuss how they agree and disagree with observations, paying particular attention to the latest results from Hinode.

Klimchuk, James A.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Static and Impulsive Models of Solar Active Regions

The physical modeling of active regions (ARs) and of the global coronal is receiving increasing interest lately. Recent attempts to model ARs using static equilibrium models were quite successful in reproducing AR images of hot soft X-ray (SXR) loops. They however failed to predict the bright EUV warm loops permeating ARs: the synthetic images were dominated by intense footpoint emission. We demonstrate that this failure is due to the very weak dependence of loop temperature on loop length which cannot simultaneously account for both hot and warm loops in the same AR. We then consider time-dependent AR models based on nanoflare heating. We demonstrate that such models can simultaneously reproduce EUV and SXR loops in ARs. Moreover, they predict radial intensity variations consistent with the localized core and extended emissions in SXR and EUV AR observations respectively. We finally show how the AR morphology can be used as a gauge of the properties (duration, energy, spatial dependence, repetition time) of the impulsive heating.

Patsourakos, S.↗

NASA NTRS1998

Report on New Mission Concept Study: Stereo X-Ray Corona Imager Mission

Studies of the three-dimensional structure and dynamics of the solar corona have been severely limited by the constraint of single viewpoint observations. The Stereo X-Ray Coronal Imager (SXCI) mission will send a single instrument, an X-ray telescope, into deep space expressly to record stereoscopic images of the solar corona. The SXCI spacecraft will be inserted into a approximately 1 AU heliocentric orbit leading Earth by approximately 25 deg at the end of nine months. The SXCI X-ray telescope forms one element of a stereo pair, the second element being an identical X-ray telescope in Earth orbit placed there as part of the NOAA GOES program. X-ray emission is a powerful diagnostic of the corona and its magnetic fields, and three dimensional information on the coronal magnetic structure would be obtained by combining the data from the two X-ray telescopes. This information can be used to address the major solar physics questions of (1) what causes explosive coronal events such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), eruptive flares and prominence eruptions and (2) what causes the transient heating of coronal loops. Stereoscopic views of the optically thin corona will resolve some ambiguities inherent in single line-of-sight observations. Triangulation gives 3D solar coordinates of features which can be seen in the simultaneous images from both telescopes. As part of this study, tools were developed for determining the 3D geometry of coronal features using triangulation. Advanced technologies for visualization and analysis of stereo images were tested. Results of mission and spacecraft studies are also reported.

Liewer, Paulett C.↗

NASA NTRS1994

The possible role of MHD waves in heating the solar corona

The possible role of waves in the heating of the solar corona has been investigated. A general dispersion relation has been derived for waves propagating in a homogeneous plasma subject to dissipation by viscosity and thermal conduction. The dissipation mechanisms have been incorporated self-consistently into the equations, and no assumptions about the strength of the damping have been made. Solutions of the sixth-order dispersion relation provide information on how the damping of both slow and fast mode waves depends upon the plasma density, temperature, field strength, and angle of propagation relative to the background magnetic field. We provide a detailed comparison to the standard approach, which is to solve for the wave quantities in the absence of dissipation and then to use these quantities in expressions for the heating due to viscosity and thermal conduction.

Porter, Lisa J.↗

NASA NTRS1994

The possible role of high-frequency waves in heating solar coronal loops

We investigate the role of high-frequency waves in the heating of solar active region coronal loops. We assume a uniform background magnetic field, and we introduce a density stratification in a direction perpendicular to this field. We focus on ion compressive viscosity as the damping mechanism of the waves. We incorporate viscosity self-consistently into the equations, and we derive a dispersion relation by adopting a slab model, where the density inside the slab is greater than that outside. Such a configuration supports two types of modes: surface waves and trapped body waves. In order to determine under what conditions these waves may contribute to the heating of active regions, we solve our dispersion relation for a range of densities, temperatures, magnetic field strengths, density ratios, wavevector magnitudes, wavevector ratios, and slab widths. We find that surface waves exhibit very small damping, but body waves can potentially damp at rates needed to balance radiative losses. However, the required frequencies of these body waves are very high. For example, the wave frequency must be at least 5.0/s for a slab density of 10(exp 9,5)/cc, a slab temperature of 10(exp 6,5) K, a field strength of 100 G, and a density ratio of 5. For a slab density of 10(exp 10)/cc, this frequency increases to 8.8/s. Although these frequencies are very high, there in no observational evidence to rule out their existence, and they may be generated both below the corona and at magnetic reconnection sites in the corona. However, we do find that, for slab densities of 10(exp 10)/cc or less, the dissipation of high-frequency waves will be insufficient to balance the radiative losses if the magnetic field strength exceeds roughly 200 G. Because the magnetic field is known to exceed 200 G in many active region loops, particularly low-lying loops and loops emanating from sunspots, it is unlikely that high-frequency waves can provide sufficient heating in these regions.

Porter, Lisa J.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Static and dynamic loop models and their observational signatures

The magnetically closed regions of the outer solar atmosphere can be studied in terms of one dimensional hydrodynamic loops models. These regions include the bright plasma loops that are readily visible in EUV and X-ray images as well as the fainter, more diffuse-appearing plasma that surrounds them. The basic theoretical properties of static, steady state, and time dependent loop models are discussed, and these properties are related to observations of emission measure distributions and Doppler shifts. Both existing observations and future observations from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) are considered. In particular, the dependence of the models on the form of the energy input (coronal heating) is emphasized.

Klimchuk, James A.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Thickness variations along coronal loops observed by the Soft X-ray Telescope on Yohkoh

The paper presents preliminary results of an investigation of thickness variations along coronal loops observed with the Yohkoh Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT), using observations from ten loops selected from the SXT data. The quantitative results indicate that coronal X-ray loops do not expand. This contradicts the expectation that, if plasma loops coincide with magnetic loops, many loops must be significantly broader at their tops than at their foot points. Possible interpretations of the obtained results are proposed.

Klimchuk, James A.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Shear-induced inflation of coronal magnetic fields

Using numerical models of force-free magnetic fields, the shearing of footprints in arcade geometries leading to an inflation of the coronal magnetic field was examined. For each of the shear profiles considered, all of the field lines become elevated compared with the potential field. This includes cases where the shear is concentrated well away from the arcade axis, such that B(sub z), the component of field parallel to the axis, increases outward to produce an inward B(sub z) squared/8 pi magnetic pressure gradient force. These results contrast with an earlier claim, shown to be incorrect, that field lines can sometimes become depressed as a result of shear. It is conjectured that an inflation of the entire field will always result from the shearing of simple arcade configurations. These results have implications for prominence formation, the interplanetary magnetic flux, and possibly also coronal holes.

Klimchuk, James A.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Shear-induced inflation of coronal magnetic fields

Using numerical models of force-free magnetic fields, the shearing of footprints in arcade geometries leading to an inflation of the coronal magnetic field was examined. For each of the shear profiles considered, all of the field lines become elevated compared with the potential field. This includes cases where the shear is concentrated well away from the arcade axis, such that B(sub z), the component of field parallel to the axis, increases outward to produce an inward B(sub z)squared/8 pi magnetic pressure gradient force. These results contrast with an earlier claim, shown to be incorrect, that field lines can sometimes become depressed as a result of shear. It is conjectured that an inflation of the entire field will always result from the shearing of simple arcade configurations. These results have implications for prominence formation, the interplanetary magnetic flux, and possibly also coronal holes.

Klimchuk, James A.↗