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NASA NTRS2000

The Fundamental Physical Processes Producing and Controlling Stellar Coronal/Transition Region/Chromospheric Activity and Structure

Our LTSA (Long Term Space Astrophysics) research has utilized current NASA and ESA spacecraft, supporting ground-based IR, radio, and sub-mm telescopes, and the extensive archives of HST (Hubble Space Telescope), IUE (International Ultraviolet Explorer), ROSAT, EUVE (Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer), and other missions. Our research effort has included observational work (with a nonnegligible groundbased component), specialized processing techniques for imaging and spectral data, and semiempirical modelling, ranging from optically thin emission measure studies to simulations of optically thick resonance lines. In our previous LTSA efforts, we have had a number of major successes, including most recently: organizing and carrying out an extensive cool star UV survey in HST cycle eight; obtaining observing time with new instruments, such as Chandra and XMM (X-ray Multi-Mirror) in their first cycles; collaborating with the Chandra GTO program and participating with the Chandra Emission Line Project on multi-wavelength observations of HR 1099 and Capella. These are the main broad-brush themes of our previous investigation: a) Where do Coronae Occur in the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram? b) Winds of Coronal and Noncoronal Stars; c) Activity, Age, Rotation Relations; d) Atmospheric Inhomogeneities; e) Heating Mechanisms, Subcoronal Flows, and Flares; f) Development of Analysis and Modelling Tools.

Ayres, T. R.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Beta in Streamers

Streamers are generally described as regions of the corona in which the density is higher than in coronal holes because the plasma is trapped by closed loops of magnetic flux. In contrast, MHD models of the global corona show the plasma beta in streamers above siml.2R_S (heliocentric). There are three recent contributions to this topic. The first is that heating near the cusp further drives beta up and results in release of new slow solar wind plasma from the top of the streamer. The second is SOHO/UVCS observations, in combination with a potential field/source surface model of the magnetic field, that show beta above 1.2R_S in a streamer observed near solar sunspot minimum. The third is a magnetic field reconstruction technique that uses field deforming algorithms and is more versatile for local fields than potential field models . The field reconstruction algorithm was applied to an isolated active region (AR 7999) and to the Pneuman Kopp global MHD model (beta has never been published for their model). In the active region, beta becomes larger than unity at siml.2 R_S. In the Pneuman & Kopp model, beta at the base of the streamer and rises with increasing height, becoming 15-20 at 1.6R_S and 35- 50 at 1.7R_S. Global simulations go on to show that the reason streamers do not simply explode under such high beta conditions is that they are held down by pressure from the sides due to the magnetic fields (and low beta) in adjacent coronal holes. The main role of the closed magnetic loop near the cusp is to keep the steamer from continuously leaking plasma, as otherwise happens in a magnetic pinch which is similar but has no closed loops. Awareness of MHD physical conditions in streamers is causing us to focus more attention on the details of the heating. On obvious suggestion is that heating is at much lower heights in streamers than in coronal holes. Also, energy which is directly delivered as momentum in coronal holes might all be deposited as heat in streamers.

Suess, Steven T.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Waves in space plasmas - The mirror trapping of hot auroral electrons

A brief review is given of the problem of precipitation of auroral electrons by electrostatic Bernstein waves. Since the magnetospheric loss cone is small, only moderately small intense levels of wave turbulence are required to remove any large anisotropy sources of free energy and to maintain a weakly anisotropic electron distribution on strong diffusion precipitation. The electrostatic electron cyclotron harmonic waves are nonconvectively unstable for weak loss cone anisotropies and over a large range of parameters for both the hot and cold distributions. Since the instability is nonconvective, weak wave growth can be maintained independent of the flux level of the hot electrons, i.e., the instability does not have the stably trapped flux limit imposed by convective amplification. Recent plasma numerical simulations show that the nonlinear evolution of this instability involves both the pitch angle diffusion of the hot electrons and the heating of the cold electrons.

Ashour-Abdalla, M.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Role of thermal conduction in the acceleration of the solar wind

The thermal and suprathermal processes involving solar wind electrons are discussed from a theoretical point of view. A model for the electron distribution function, f(e), based on the solutions of the Boltzmann equation in Krook's approximation is outlined: the angular and energy dependences of for various distances from the Sun between the coronal base and the Earth are presented with the express purpose of obtaining the radial profile of the heat flux generated by the suprathermals. The basic fluid-dynamical equations for the solar wind plasma as a whole along any given magnetic field line are solved. Results are in good agreement with observations. The predicted density and temperature profiles for positive ions exhibit the characteristics of recent measurements, both in the corona (above the coronal holes) and between 0.3 and 1 A.U. (the Helios region). It is concluded that the suprathermal electrons play an important role in the formation and the dynamics of the solar wind.

Olbert, S.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Expansion of chromospheric matter in the gradual phase of solar flares

Interferometric observations at 17 GHz of several small X-ray flares are presented along with soft X-ray observations of preflare active regions to show that a large mass increase accompanies the formation of an X-ray hot region in the corona. The total amount of energy contained in a hot coronal region is estimated, and a model is proposed in which a significant amount of the hot matter is supplied to the corona from the chromosphere during each flare. According to this model, energy produced by some coronal instability is transported by thermal conduction to the chromosphere, where dense gas is heated and subsequently expands into the corona. It is shown that impulsive heating of the chromosphere by nonthermal electrons cannot be the energy source of this model because the total energy supplied to the hot region during the gradual phase must be much greater than that supplied during the impulsive phase.

Ohki, K.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Observational and Theoretical Challenges to Wave or Turbulence Accelerations of the Fast Solar Wind

We use both observations and theoretical considerations to show that hydromagnetic waves or turbulence cannot produce the acceleration of the fast solar wind and the related heating of the open solar corona. Waves do exist as shown by Hinode and other observations, and can play a role in the differential heating and acceleration of minor ions but their amplitudes are not sufficient to power the wind, as demonstrated by extrapolation of magnetic spectra from Helios and Ulysses observations. Dissipation mechanisms invoked to circumvent this conclusion cannot be effective for a variety of reasons. In particular, turbulence does not play a strong role in the corona as shown by both eclipse observations of coronal striations and theoretical considerations of line-tying to a nonturbulent photosphere, nonlocality of interactions, and the nature of kinetic dissipation. In the absence of wave heating and acceleration, the chromosphere and transition region become the natural source of open coronal energization. We suggest a variant of the velocity filtration approach in which the emergence and complex churning of the magnetic flux in the chromosphere and transition region continuously and ubiquitously produces the nonthermal distributions required. These particles are then released by magnetic carpet reconnection at a wide range of scales and produce the wind as described in kinetic approaches. Since the carpet reconnection is not the main source of the energization of the plasma, there is no expectation of an observable release of energy in nanoflares.

Roberts, D. Aaron↗
NASA NTRS1997

The impact of UVCS/SOHO observations on models of ion-cyclotron resonance heating of the solar corona

The compatibility between theoretical models and observations of the temperatures and anisotropic distributions of hydrogen and minor ions in the solar corona is examined. The ultraviolet coronagraph spectrometer (UVCS) instrument onboard SOHO measured hydrogen kinetic temperatures along lines of sight in coronal holes in excess of 3 x 10(exp 6) K and O(+5) ion kinetic temperatures of at least 2 x 10(exp 8) K. Various features of plasma heating by the dissipation of high-frequency ion-cyclotron resonance Alfven waves, which may be the most natural physical mechanism to produce certain plasma conditions, are examined. Preliminary quantitative models of the ion motion in polar coronal holes are presented, and it is shown that such models can be used to predict the spectrum of waves required to reproduce the observations. Indeed, the more ionic species that are observed spectroscopically, the greater the extent in frequency space the wave spectrum can be inferred.

Cranmer, S. R.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Closed coronal structures. V - Gasdynamic models of flaring loops and comparison with SMM observations

A time-dependent one-dimensional code incorporating energy, momentum and mass conservation equations, and taking the entire solar atmospheric structure into account, is used to investigate the hydrodynamic response of confined magnetic structures to strong heating perturbations. Model calculation results are compared with flare observations which include the light curves of spectral lines formed over a wide range of coronal flare temperatures, as well as determinations of Doppler shifts for the high temperature plasma. It is shown that the numerical simulation predictions are in good overall agreement with the observed flare coronal plasma evolution, correctly reproducing the temporal profile of X-ray spectral lines and their relative intensities. The predicted upflow velocities support the interpretation of the blueshifts as due to evaporation of chromospheric material.

Peres, G.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Demonstrations that the Solar Wind Is Not Accelerated by Waves

The present work uses both observations and theoretical considerations to show that hydromagnetic waves cannot produce the acceleration of the fast solar wind and the related heating of the open solar corona. Waves do exist, and can play a role in the differential heating and acceleration of minor ions, but their amplitudes are not sufficient to power the wind, as demonstrated by extrapolation of magnetic spectra from Helios and Ulysses observations. Dissipation mechanisms invoked to circumvent this conclusion cannot be effective for a variety of reasons. In particular, turbulence does not play a strong role in the corona as shown by both observations of coronal striations and theoretical considerations of line-tying to a nonturbulent photosphere, nonlocality of interactions, and the nature of the kinetic dissipation. In the absence of wave heating and acceleration, the chromosphere and transition region become the natural source of open coronal energization. We suggest a variant of the 'velocity filtration' approach in which the emergence and complex churning of the magnetic flux in the chromosphere and transition region continuously and ubiquitously produces the nonthermal distributions required. These particles are then released by magnetic carpet reconnection at a wide range of scales and produce the wind as described in kinetic approaches. Since the carpet reconnection is not the main source of the energization of the plasma, there is no expectation of an observable release of energy in nanoflares.

Roberts, Aaron↗
NASA NTRS1978

Reverse Current in Solar Flares

An idealized steady state model of a stream of energetic electrons neutralized by a reverse current in the pre-flare solar plasma was developed. These calculations indicate that, in some cases, a significant fraction of the beam energy may be dissipated by the reverse current. Joule heating by the reverse current is a more effective mechanism for heating the plasma than collisional losses from the energetic electrons because the Ohmic losses are caused by thermal electrons in the reverse current which have much shorter mean free paths than the energetic electrons. The heating due to reverse currents is calculated for two injected energetic electron fluxes. For the smaller injected flux, the temperature of the coronal plasma is raised by about a factor of two. The larger flux causes the reverse current drift velocity to exceed the critical velocity for the onset of ion cyclotron turbulence, producing anomalous resistivity and an order of magnitude increase in the temperature. The heating is so rapid that the lack of ionization equilibrium may produce a soft X-ray and EUV pulse from the corona.

Knight, J. W., III↗
NASA NTRS1994

Neutral hydrogen in the solar wind acceleration region

Observation of solar Ly alpha radiation scattered by coronal neutral hydrogen atoms can be used to investigate the acceleration region of the solar wind. In this paper we focus on the use of these observations to study Alfven waves, which can accelerate the solar wind plasma to flow speeds observed in high-speed streams if their amplitude at the coronal base is 20 km/s or larger. The wave amplitude is then larger than the proton thermal speed in the outer corona, so that the mean proton speed (averaged over a wave period) is significantly larger than the proton thermal speed. For low-frequency wave the hydrogen atoms follow the proton motion in the waves, while for higher frequencies the protons move relative to the neutrals. Nevertheless, in the higher frequency case, the rates for charge exchange and recombination are high enough to broaden the velocity distribution function of neutral hydrogen. Both the wave motion of the hydrogen atoms in low-frequency Alfven waves and the 'heating' by higher frequency waves lead to a broadening of the scattered solar Ly alpha line. For coronal base amplitues of 20 km/s, the line broadening increases with heliocentric distance beyond 4-5 solar radii.

Olsen, Espen Lyngdal↗
NASA NTRS1984

Magnetic reconnection and magnetic activity

A large-scale magnetic field extending through a highly conducting tenuous fluid may become distorted on a small scale as a consequence of slow small-scale shuffling of the magnetic lines of force at the boundaries of the tenuous fluid. Any slow wrapping and winding introduced at the boundaries is distributed along the field (at the Alfven speed). It is a curious and little-known fact that such wrapping and winding possesses no static equilibrium (except for a set of solutions of extreme symmetry). The result is neutral-point reconnection of the strains in the field, rapidly dissipating the wrapping and winding. It is suggested that this is the principal cause of the extreme heating that produces the active corona of the sun and other stars. The shuffling of the footpoints of the magnetic field in the photospheric turbulence introduces small-scale wrapping and twisting into the coronal loops. The work done by the turbulence in twisting the fields is dissipated within a matter 10-20 hours by neutral-point reconnection, introducing heat into the corona at a rate of about 10 Mergs/sq cm sec for photospheric turbulence of 0.5 km/sec. It is suggested that this is the basic cause of the X-ray corona.

Parker, E. N.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The Soft X-Ray/Microwave Ratio of Solar and Stellar Flares and Coronae

We have carried out plasma diagnostics of solar flares using soft X-ray (SXR) and simultaneous microwave observations and have compared the ratio of X-ray to microwave luminosities of solar flares with various active late-type stars available in the published literature. Both the SXR low-level ('quiescent') emission from stellar coronae and the flaring emission from the Sun and stars are generally interpreted as thermal radiations of coronal plasmas. On the other hand, the microwave emission of stars and solar flares is generally attributed to an extremely hot or nonthermal population of electrons. Solar flare SXR are conventionally measured in a narrower and harder passband than the stellar sources. Observations of the GOES-2 satellite in two energy channels have been used to estimate the luminosity of solar flares as it would appear in the ROSAT satellite passband. The solar and stellar flare luminosities fit well at the lower end of the active stellar coronae. The flare SXR/microwave ratio is similar to the ratio for stellar coronae. The average ratio follows a power-law relation L(sub X) varies as L(sub R)(sup 0.73 +/- 0.03) over 10 orders of magnitude from solar microflares to RS CVn and FK Com-type coronae. Dwarf Me and Ke stars, and RS CVn stars are also compatible with a linear SXR/microwave relation, but the ratio is slightly different for each type of star. Considering the differences between solar flares, stellar flares and the various active stellar coronae, the similarity of the SXR/microwave ratios is surprising. It suggests that the energetic electrons in low-level stellar coronae observed in microwaves are related in a similar way to the coronal thermal plasma as flare electrons to the flare thermal plasma, and, consequently, that the heating mechanism of active stellar coronae is a flare-like process.

Benz, A. O.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Rendering Three-Dimensional Solar Coronal Structures

An X-ray or EUV image of the corona or chromosphere is a 2D representation of an extended 3D complex for which a general inversion process is impossible. A specific model must be incorporated in order to understand the full 3D structure. We approach this problem by modeling a set of optically-thin 3D plasma flux tubes which we render these as synthetic images. The resulting images allow the interpretation of the X-ray/EUV observations to obtain information on (1) the 3D structure of X-ray images, i.e., the geometric structure of the flux tubes, and on (2) the internal structure using specific plasma characteristics, i.e., the physical structure of the flux tubes. The data-analysis technique uses magnetograms to characterize photospheric magnetic fields and extrapolation techniques to form the field lines. Using a new set of software tools, we have generated 3D flux tube structures around these field lines and integrated the plasma emission along the line of sight to obtain a rendered image. A set of individual flux-tube images is selected by a non-negative least-squares technique to Provide a match with an observed X-ray image. The scheme minimizes the squares of the differences between the synthesized image and the observed image with a non-negative constraint on the coefficients of the brightness of the individual flux-tube loops. The derived images are used to determine the specific photospheric foot points and physical data, i.e., scaling laws for densities and loop lengths. The development has led to Computer efficient integration and display software that is compatible for comparison with observations (e.g., Yohkoh SXT data, NIXT, or EIT). This analysis is important in determining directly the magnetic field configuration, which provides the structure of coronal loops, and indirectly the electric currents or waves, which provide the energy for the heating of the plasma. We have used very simple assumptions (i.e., potential magnetic fields and isothermal corona) to provide an initial test of the techniques before complex models are introduced. We have separated the physical and geometric contributions of the emission for a set of flux tubes and concentrated, in this initial study, on the geometric contributions by making approximations to the physical contributions. The initial results are consistent with the scaling laws derived from Yohkoh SXT data.

Gary, G. Allen↗
NASA NTRS1983

Solar wind minor ions: Recent observations

Systematic studies show that the minor ions generally travel with a common bulk speed and have temperatures roughly proportional to their masses. It was determined that (3)He(++) content varies greatly; (3)He(++)/(4)He(++) ranges from as high as 10(-12) values to below 2 x 10(-4). In some solar wind flows which can be related to energetic coronal events, the minor ions are found in unusual ionization states containing Fe(16+) as a prominent ion, showing that the states were formed at unusually high temperatures. Unexpectedly, in a few flows substantial quantities of (4)He(+) were detected, sometimes with ions identifiable as O(2+) and O(3+). Surprisingly, in some of these examples the ionization state is mixed showing that part of the plasma escaped the corona without attaining the usual million-degree temperatures while other parts were heated more nearly in the normal manner. Additionally, detailed studies of the minor ions increased our understanding of the coronal expansion. For example, such studies contributed to identifying near equatorial coronal streamers as the source of solar wind flows between high speed streams.

Bame, S. J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

H-alpha redshifts as a diagnostic of solar flare heating

The dynamics of chomospheric condensations formed during chromospheric evaporation are studied using coordinated X-ray and H-alpha observations of five solar flares. It is shown that the peak downflow velocity of condensations predicted by simple hydrodynamic compression of the chromosphere is in good agreement with empirical downflow velocities implied by impulsive phase H-alpha red wing Doppler shifts. It is found that the H-alpha wing redshift provides a diagnostic of the pressure excess in the evaporating region and the coronal energy flux driving chromospheric evaporation. Because preflare coronal pressures derived for each of the flares are high, it is suggested that the chromosphere succeeds in radiating excess flare heat energy without undergoing explosive chromospheric evaporation.

Zarro, Dominic M.↗
NASA NTRS1982

An explanation for the systematic flow of plasma in the solar transition region

Using numerical simulations, it is shown that the systematic flow of plasma along a coronal magnetic flux tube is easily produced by a change in the spatial dependence of the heating rate from a symmetric deposition which supports a stationary equilibrium to a time-independent asymmetric deposition. The velocity of the flow is roughly proportional to the heating symmetry and is directed to the side of the loop away from the bulk of the energy deposition.

Boris, J. P.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Coronae on stars

Three lines of evidence are noted to point to a flare heating source for stellar coronae: a strong correlation between time-averaged flare energy release and coronal X-ray luminosity, the high temperature flare-like component of the spectral signature of coronal X-ray emission, and the observed short time scale variability that indicates continuous flare activity. It is presently suggested that flares may represent only the extreme high energy tail of a continuous distribution of coronal energy release events.

Haisch, B. M.↗