Alexander N. McClymont

Evidence for current-carrying emerging flux

To determine the relationship between electric currents and magnetic flux in emerging sunspots, we use observations of the morphology, proper motion, magnetic flux, and currents associated with several well-observed growing bipoles. Our target was NOAA Active Region 7260, which included a preexisting large spot and a fast-growing area of new magnetic flux. Magnetic bipoles in this region are well documented by X-ray images from the Yohkoh spacecraft and optical images and vector magnetograms from several ground-based observatories. In this paper we show that (1) the Hα and X-ray structures associated with these bipoles do not agree with potential-field extrapolations of magnetograms; (2) proper motions imply that the flux bundles that make up these new bipoles are twisted before they emerge; (3) these new bipoles are cospatial with significant vertical electric currents; (4) the morphology, proper motion, and measured currents of these bipoles all imply the same sense of twist; (5) this sense of twist is the same as the large-scale twist of the preexisting large spot; and (6) the increase of these currents, as new flux emerges, is not consistent with their generation by photospheric motions. We conclude that the new magnetic flux that emerged in this active region carried currents generated below the photosphere.

Dynamics of emerging active region flux loops

The buoyant rise of a magnetic flux loop arising from a single perturbed segment of a toroidal flux ring lying slightly beneath the base of the convection zone is studied by way of numerical simulations. We have considered flux loop evolution assuming both solid-body rotation, and differential rotation consistent with recent results from helioseismology. Our major results are presented, and we offer some speculations on the decay of active regions, based on the results of our studies. We speculate that as plasma in the tube attempts to establish hydrostatic equilibrium along the field lines after the flux emergence has taken place, the tube field strength at some intermediate depths below the surface becomes sufficiently small at the surface portions of the tube (which have cooled and undergone convective collapse) become dynamically disconnected from those portions near the base of the convection zone. The surface proportions of the emerged flux tubes are then transported by motions near the photosphere, such as supergranular convection and meridional flow.

ON THE SUBPHOTOSPHERIC ORIGIN OF CORONAL ELECTRIC CURRENTS

Using photospheric vector magnetograms from the Haleakala Stokes Polarimeter and coronal X-ray images from the Yohkoh Soft X-Ray Telescope (SXT), we infer values of the force-free field parameter α at both photospheric and coronal levels within 140 active regions. We determine the value of α for a linear force-free field that best fits each magnetogram in a least-squares sense. We average values from all available magnetograms to obtain a single mean photospheric α-value αp for each active region. From the SXT images we estimate α in the corona by determining (π/L) sin γ for individual loops, where γ is the observed shear angle of X-ray loops of length L. We then average these values of α to obtain a single coronal α value, αc, for each active region. In active regions for which the photospheric α-map is predominantly of one sign, we find that the values of αp and αc are well correlated. Only for active regions in which both signs of α are well represented, and in which our method of analysis therefore breaks down, are the values of αp and αc poorly correlated. The former correlation implies that coronal electric currents typically extend down to at least the photosphere. However, other studies imply subphotospheric origin of the currents, and even current systems, that are observed in the photosphere. We therefore conclude that the currents responsible for sinuous coronal structures are of subphotospheric origin.

The morphology of flare phenomena, magnetic fields, and electric currents in active regions. I - Introduction and methods

This paper introduces a study of electric current systems in solar active regions and their spatial relationship to sites of electron precipitation and high pressure in flares. The primary purpose of this study is to provide observational evidence for or against the flare models commonly discussed in the literature. We determine the photospheric distribution of vertical currents from vector magnetograms. We use Hα line profiles to identify sites of intense nonthermal electron precipitation into the chromosphere and of high pressure in the overlying corona. By observing complete Hα spectra rather than just narrow-band images, we are able to distinguish between electron precipitation and high-pressure sites in the observed flares

The morphology of flare phenomena, magnetic fields, and electric currents in active regions. II - NOAA active region 5747 (1989 October)

The paper describes October 1989 observations in NOAA Active Region 5747 of the morphology of energetic electron precipitation and high-pressure coronal flare plasmas of three flares and their relation to the vector magnetic field and vertical electric currents. The H-alpha spectroheliograms were coaligned with the vector magnetograms using continuum images of sunspots, enabling positional accuracy of a few arcsec. It was found that, during the gradual phase, the regions of the H-alpha flare that show the effects of enhanced pressure in the overlying corona often encompass extrema of the vertical current density, consistent with earlier work showing a close relationship between H-alpha emission and line-of-sight currents. The data are also consistent with the overall morphology and evolution described by erupting-filament models such as those of Kopp and Pneuman (1976) and Sturrock (1989).

Flare loop radiative hydrodynamics. II. Thermal stability of empirical models

The importance of loop structures in the corona, both for flares and for the quiet Sun, has stimulated considerable attention to questions of their thermal stability. Previous studies have focused attention on the coronal part of the loop. In this paper we examine loop stability by treating the entire observable loop, from its photospheric footpoints to its coronal apex. This approach allows the chromosphere and corona to interact naturally, thus avoiding possibly artificial boundary conditions imposed at transition region footpoints.

Can cool loop flows explain transition region redshifts

Observations of solar active regions reveal extensive areas of redshifted emission lines in the extreme ultraviolet, indicative of down flowing plasma. Redshifts are seen also in the magnetic network of the quiet sun and in magnetically active stars. The inferred velocities are large and appear to represent steady flows. Redshifts are not observed at higher coronal temperatures. It is shown here that steady flow in cool loops driven by the buoyancy force set up by a small heating asymmetry between the two legs of the loop, offers a possible theoretical explanation of the observed features. 27 refs.

The solar flare extreme ultraviolet to hard X-ray ratio

Simultaneous measurements of the peak 10-1030 A extreme ultraviolet (EUV) flux enhancement and more than 10 keV hard X-ray (HXR) peak flux of many solar flare bursts, ranging over about four orders of magnitude in HXR intensity, are studied. A real departure from linearity is found in the relationship between the peak EUV and HXR fluxes in impulsive flare bursts. This relationship is well described by a given power law. Comparison of the predictions of the impulsive nonthermal thick-target electron beam model with observations shows that the model satisfactorily predicts the observed time differences between the HXR and EUV peaks and explains the data very well under given specific assumptions. It is concluded that the high-energy fluxes implied by the invariant area thick-target model cannot be completely ruled out, while the invariant area model with smaller low cutoff requires impossibly large beam densities. A later alternative thick-target model is suggested. 52 references.

Beam-induced pressure gradients in the early phase of proton-heated solar flares

The pressure gradient induced in a coronal loop by proton beam momentum deposition is calculated and compared with the thermal pressure gradient arising from nonuniform deposition of beam energy; it is assumed that the transfer of momentum and energy from beam to target occurs via the Coulomb interaciton. Results are presented for both a low mean energy and a high mean energy proton beam injected at the loop apex and characterized by a power-law energy spectrum. The present treatment takes account of the breakdown of the cold target approximation for the low-energy proton beam in the corona, where the thermal speed of target electrons exceeds the beam speed. It is found that proton beam momentum deposition plays a potentially significant role in flare dynamics only in the low mean energy case and only in the corona, where it may dominate the acceleration of target material for as long as several tens of seconds. This conclusion suggest that the presence of low-energy nonthermal protons may be inferred from velocity-sensitive coronal observations in the early impulsive phase. 38 references.

The stretching of magnetic flux tubes in the convective overshoot region

The present study examines the fate of a magnetic flux tube initially lying at the bottom of the solar convective overshoot region. Stretching of the flux tube, e.g., by differential rotation, reduces its density, causing it to rise quasi-statically (a process referred to as vertical flux drift) until it reaches the top of the overshoot region and enters the buoyantly unstable convection region, from which a portion of it may ultimately protrude to form an active region on the surface. It is suggested that vertical flux drift and flux destabilization are inevitable consequences of field amplification, and it is surmised that these phenomena should be considered in self-consistent models of solar and stellar dynamos operating in the overshoot region. 26 refs.