Caroline Alexander

A new look at a polar crown cavity as observed by SDO/AIA Structure and dynamics

Context. The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) was launched in February 2010 and is now providing an unprecedented view of the solar activity at high spatial resolution and high cadence covering a broad range of temperature layers of the atmosphere. Aims. We aim at defining the structure of a polar crown cavity and describing its evolution during the erupting process. Methods. We use the high-cadence time series of SDO/AIA observations at 304 A (50 000 K) and 171 A (0.6 MK) to determine the structure of the polar crown cavity and its associated plasma, as well as the evolution of the cavity during the different phases of the eruption. We report on the observations recorded on 13 June 2010 located on the north-west limb. Results. We observe coronal plasma shaped by magnetic field lines with a negative curvature (U-shape) sitting at the bottom of a cavity. The cavity is located just above the polar crown filament material. We thus observe the inner part of the cavity above the filament as depicted in the classical three part coronal mass ejection (CME) model composed of a filament, a cavity, and a CME front. The filament (in this case a polar crown filament) is part of the cavity, and it makes a continuous structuring from the filament to the CME front depicted by concentric ellipses (in a 2D cartoon). Conclusions. We propose to define a polar crown cavity as a density depletion sitting above denser polar crown filament plasma drained down the cavity by gravity. As part of the polar crown filament, plasma at different temperatures (ranging from 50 000 K to 0.6 MK) is observed at the same location on the cavity dips and sustained by a competition between the gravity and the curvature of magnetic field lines. The eruption of the polar crown cavity as a solid body can be decomposed into two phases: a slow rise at a speed of 0.6 km s −1 and an acceleration phase at a mean speed of 25 km s −1 .

Hinode observations and 3D magnetic structure of an X-ray bright point

Aims. We present complete Hinode Solar Optical Telescope (SOT), X-Ray Telescope (XRT)and EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) observations of an X-ray bright point (XBP) observed on the 10, 11 of October 2007 over its entire lifetime (∼12 h). We aim to show how the measured plasma parameters of the XBP change over time and also what kind of similarities the X-ray emission has to a potential magnetic field model. Methods. Information from all three instruments on-board Hinode was used to study its entire evolution. XRT data was used to investigate the structure of the bright point and to measure the X-ray emission. The EIS instrument was used to measure various plasma parameters over the entire lifetime of the XBP. Lastly, the SOT was used to measure the magnetic field strength and provide a basis for potential field extrapolations of the photospheric fields to be made. These were performed and then compared to the observed coronal features. Results. The XBP measured ∼15 �� in size and was found to be formed directly above an area of merging and cancelling magnetic flux on the photosphere. A good correlation between the rate of X-ray emission and decrease in total magnetic flux was found. The magnetic fragments of the XBP were found to vary on very short timescales (minutes), however the global quasi-bipolar structure remained throughout the lifetime of the XBP. The potential field extrapolations were a good visual fit to the observed coronal loops in most cases, meaning that the magnetic field was not too far from a potential state. Electron density measurements were obtained using a line ratio of Fe xii and the average density was found to be 4.95 ×10 9 cm −3 with the volumetric plasma filling factor calculated to have an average value of 0.04. Emission measure loci plots were then used to infer a steady temperature of log Te[K] ∼ 6.1. The calculated Fe xii Doppler shifts show velocity changes in and around the bright point of ±15 kms −1 which are observed to change on a timescale of less than 30 min.

CAN LARGE TIME DELAYS OBSERVED IN LIGHT CURVES OF CORONAL LOOPS BE EXPLAINED IN IMPULSIVE HEATING

The light curves of solar coronal loops often peak first in channels associated with higher temperatures and then in those associated with lower. The time delays between the different narrowband EUV channels have been measured for many individual loops and recently for every pixel of an active region observation. Time delays between channels for an active region exhibit a wide range of values, with maxima

ANTI-PARALLEL EUV FLOWS OBSERVED ALONG ACTIVE REGION FILAMENT THREADS WITH HI-C

>

Sparkling extreme-ultraviolet bright dots observed with Hi-C

5,000\,s. These large time delays make up 3-26\% (depending on the channel pair) of the pixels where a significant, positive time delay is measured. It has been suggested that time delays can be explained by impulsive heating. In this paper, we investigate whether the largest observed time delays can be explained by this hypothesis by simulating a series of coronal loops with different heating rates, loop lengths, abundances, and geometries to determine the range of expected time delays between a set of four EUV channels. We find that impulsive heating cannot address the largest time delays observed in two of the channel pairs and that the majority of the large time delays can only be explained by long, expanding loops with photospheric abundances. Additional observations may rule out these simulations as an explanation for the long time delays. We suggest that either the time delays found in this manner may not be representative of real loop evolution, or that the impulsive heating and cooling scenario may be too simple to explain the observations and other heating scenarios must be explored.