Chaowei Jiang

A Fitting Formula for the Merger Timescale of Galaxies in Hierarchical Clustering

We study galaxy mergers using a high-resolution cosmological hydro/N-body simulation with star formation and compare the measured merger timescales with theoretical predictions based on the Chandrasekhar formula. In contrast to Navarro et al., our numerical results indicate that the commonly used equation for the merger timescale given by Lacey and Cole systematically underestimates the merger timescales for minor mergers and overestimates those for major mergers. This behavior is partly explained by the poor performance of their expression for the Coulomb logarithm, ln (mpri/msat) . The two alternative forms ln (1 + mpri/msat) and ½ln[1 + (mpri/msat)2] for the Coulomb logarithm can account for the mass dependence of merger timescale successfully, but both of them underestimate the merger timescale by a factor 2. Since ln (1 + mpri/msat) represents the mass dependence slightly better, we adopt this expression for the Coulomb logarithm. Furthermore, we find that the dependence of the merger timescale on the circularity parameter is much weaker than the widely adopted power law 0.78, whereas 0.940.60 + 0.60 provides a good match to the data. Based on these findings, we present an accurate and convenient fitting formula for the merger timescale of galaxies in cold dark matter models.

MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC SIMULATION OF A SIGMOID ERUPTION OF ACTIVE REGION 11283

Current magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the initiation of solar eruptions are still commonly carried out with idealized magnetic field models, whereas the realistic coronal field prior to eruptions can possibly be reconstructed from the observable photospheric field. Using a nonlinear force-free field extrapolation prior to a sigmoid eruption in AR 11283 as the initial condition in an MHD model, we successfully simulate the realistic initiation process of the eruption event, as is confirmed by a remarkable resemblance to the SDO/AIA observations. Analysis of the pre-eruption field reveals that the envelope flux of the sigmoidal core contains a coronal null and furthermore the flux rope is prone to a torus instability. Observations suggest that reconnection at the null cuts overlying tethers and likely triggers the torus instability of the flux rope, which results in the eruption. This kind of simulation demonstrates the capability of modeling the realistic solar eruptions to provide the initiation process.

A Hybrid Solar Wind Model of the CESE+HLL Method with a Yin-Yang Overset Grid and an AMR Grid

A hybrid three-dimensional (3D) MHD model for solar wind study is proposed in the present paper with combined grid systems and solvers. The computational domain from the Sun to Earth space is decomposed into the near-Sun and off-Sun domains, which are respectively constructed with a Yin-Yang overset grid system and a Cartesian adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) grid system and coupled with a domain connection interface in the overlapping region between the near-Sun and off-Sun domains. The space-time conservation element and solution element method is used in the near-Sun domain, while the Harten-Lax-Leer method is employed in the off-Sun domain. The Yin-Yang overset grid can avoid well-known singularity and polar grid convergence problems and its body-fitting property helps achieve high-quality resolution near the solar surface. The block structured AMR Cartesian grid can automatically capture far-field plasma flow features, such as heliospheric current sheets and shock waves, and at the same time, it can save significant computational resources compared to the uniformly structured Cartesian grid. A numerical study of the solar wind structure for Carrington rotation 2069 shows that the newly developed hybrid MHD solar wind model successfully produces many realistic features of the background solar wind, in both the solar corona and interplanetary space, by comparisons with multiple solar and interplanetary observations.

FORMATION AND ERUPTION OF AN ACTIVE REGION SIGMOID. I. A STUDY BY NONLINEAR FORCE-FREE FIELD MODELING

We present a comprehensive study of the formation and eruption of an active region (AR) sigmoid in AR 11283. To follow the quasi-static evolution of the coronal magnetic field, we reconstruct a time sequence of static fields using a recently developed nonlinear force-free field model constrained by vector magnetograms. A detailed analysis of the fields compared with observations suggests the following scenario for the evolution of the region. Initially, a new bipole emerges into the negative polarity of a preexisting bipolar AR, forming a null-point topology between the two flux systems. A weakly twisted flux rope (FR) is then built up slowly in the embedded core region, largely through flux cancellation, forming a bald patch separatrix surface (BPSS). The FR grows gradually until its axis runs into a torus instability (TI) domain, and the BPSS also develops a full S-shape. The combined effects of the TI-driven expansion of the FR and the line tying at the BP tear the FR into two parts with the upper portion freely expelled and the lower portion remaining behind the postflare arcades. This process dynamically perturbs the BPSS and results in the enhanced heating of the sigmoid and the rope. The accelerated expansion of the upper-portion rope strongly pushes its envelope flux near the null point and triggers breakout reconnection at the null, which further drives the eruption. We discuss the important implications of these results for the formation and disruption of the sigmoid region with an FR.

A DATA-DRIVEN MODEL FOR THE GLOBAL CORONAL EVOLUTION

This work is devoted to the construction of a data-driven model for the study of the dynamic evolution of the global corona that can respond continuously to the changing of the photospheric magnetic field. The data-driven model consists of a surface flux transport (SFT) model and a global three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) coronal model. The SFT model is employed to produce the global time-varying and self-consistent synchronic snapshots of the photospheric magnetic field as the input to drive our 3D numerical global coronal AMR-CESE-MHD model on an overset grid of Yin-Yang overlapping structure. The SFT model and the 3D global coronal model are coupled through the boundary condition of the projected characteristic method. Numerical results of the coronal evolution from 1996 September 4 to October 29 provide a good comparison with multiply observed coronal images.

EXTRAPOLATION OF THE SOLAR CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD FROM SDO/HMI MAGNETOGRAM BY A CESE-MHD-NLFFF CODE

Due to the absence of direct measurement, the magnetic field in the solar corona is usually extrapolated from the photosphere in a numerical way. At the moment, the nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) model dominates the physical models for field extrapolation in the low corona. Recently, we have developed a new NLFFF model with MHD relaxation to reconstruct the coronal magnetic field. This method is based on CESE-MHD model with the conservation-element/solution-element (CESE) spacetime scheme. In this paper, we report the application of the CESE-MHD-NLFFF code to Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (SDO/HMI) data with magnetograms sampled for two active regions (ARs), NOAA AR 11158 and 11283, both of which were very non-potential, producing X-class flares and eruptions. The raw magnetograms are preprocessed to remove the force and then inputted into the extrapolation code. Qualitative comparison of the results with the SDO/AIA images shows that our code can reconstruct magnetic field lines resembling the EUV-observed coronal loops. Most important structures of the ARs are reproduced excellently, like the highly sheared field lines that suspend filaments in AR 11158 and twisted flux rope which corresponds to a sigmoid in AR 11283. Quantitative assessment of the results shows that the force-free constraint is fulfilled very well in the strong-field regions but apparently not that well in the weak-field regions because of data noise and numerical errors in the small currents.

A New Implementation of the Magnetohydrodynamics-relaxation Method for Nonlinear Force-free Field Extrapolation in the Solar Corona

The magnetic field in the solar corona is usually extrapolated from a photospheric vector magnetogram using a nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) model. NLFFF extrapolation needs considerable effort to be devoted to its numerical realization. In this paper, we present a new implementation of the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) relaxation method for NLFFF extrapolation. The magnetofrictional approach, which is introduced for speeding the relaxation of the MHD system, is realized for the first time by the spacetime conservation-element and solution-element scheme. A magnetic field splitting method is used to further improve the computational accuracy. The bottom boundary condition is prescribed by incrementally changing the transverse field to match the magnetogram, and all other artificial boundaries of the computational box are simply fixed. We examine the code using two types of NLFFF benchmark tests, the Low & Lou semi-analytic force-free solutions and a more realistic solar-like case constructed by van Ballegooijen et al. The results show that our implementation is successful and versatile for extrapolations of either the relatively simple cases or the rather complex cases that need significant rebuilding of the magnetic topology, e.g., a flux rope. We also compute a suite of metrics to quantitatively analyze the results and demonstrate that the performance of our code in extrapolation accuracy basically reaches the same level of the present best-performing code, i.e., that developed by Wiegelmann.

STUDY OF THE THREE-DIMENSIONAL CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD OF ACTIVE REGION 11117 AROUND THE TIME OF A CONFINED FLARE USING A DATA-DRIVEN CESE-MHD MODEL

We apply a data-driven magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model to investigate the three-dimensional (3D) magnetic field of NOAA active region (AR) 11117 around the time of a C-class confined flare that occurred on 2010 October 25. The MHD model, based on the spacetime conservation-element and solution-element scheme, is designed to focus on the magnetic field evolution and to consider a simplified solar atomsphere with finite plasma beta. Magnetic vector-field data derived from the observations at the photosphere is inputted directly to constrain the model. Assuming that the dynamic evolution of the coronal magnetic field can be approximated by successive equilibria, we solve a time sequence of MHD equilibria based on a set of vector magnetograms for AR 11117 taken by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory around the time of the flare. The model qualitatively reproduces the basic structures of the 3D magnetic field, as supported by the visual similarity between the field lines and the coronal loops observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, which shows that the coronal field can indeed be well characterized by the MHD equilibrium in most cases. The magnetic configuration changes very little during the studied time interval of 2 hr. A topological analysis reveals that the small flare is correlated with a bald patch (BP, where the magnetic field is tangent to the photosphere), suggesting that the energy release of the flare can be understood by magnetic reconnection associated with the BP separatrices. The total magnetic flux and energy keep increasing slightly in spite of the flare, while the computed magnetic free energy drops during the flare by similar to 10(30) erg, which seems to be adequate in providing the energy budget of a minor C-class confined flare.

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD USING THE CESE-MHD METHOD

We present a new implementation of the MHD relaxation method for reconstruction of the nearly force-free coronal magnetic field from a photospheric vector magnetogram. A new numerical MHD scheme is proposed to solve the full MHD equations by using the spacetime conservation-element and solution-element method. The bottom boundary condition is prescribed in a similar way as in the stress-and-relax method, by changing the transverse field incrementally to match the magnetogram, and other boundaries of the computational box are set by the nonreflecting boundary conditions. Applications to the well-known benchmarks for nonlinear force-free-field reconstruction, the Low & Lou force-free equilibria, validate the method and confirm its capability for future practical application, with observed magnetograms as inputs.

Nonlinear Force-free Field Extrapolation of a Coronal Magnetic Flux Rope Supporting a Large-scale Solar Filament from a Photospheric Vector Magnetogram

Solar filaments are commonly thought to be supported inmagnetic dips, in particular, in those ofmagnetic flux ropes (FRs). In this Letter, based on the observed photospheric vector magnetogram, we implement a nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) extrapolation of a coronal magnetic FR that supports a large-scale intermediate filament between an active region and a weak polarity region. This result is a first, in the sense that current NLFFF extrapolations including the presence of FRs are limited to relatively small-scale filaments that are close to sunspots and along main polarity inversion lines (PILs) with strong transverse field and magnetic shear, and the existence of an FR is usually predictable. In contrast, the present filament lies along the weak-field region (photospheric field strength less than or similar to 100 G), where the PIL is very fragmented due to small parasitic polarities on both sides of the PIL and the transverse field has a low signal-to-noise ratio. Thus, extrapolating a large-scale FR in such a case represents a far more difficult challenge. We demonstrate that our CESE-MHD-NLFFF code is sufficient for the challenge. The numerically reproduced magnetic dips of the extrapolated FR match observations of the filament and its barbs very well, which strongly supports the FR-dip model for filaments. The filament is stably sustained because the FR is weakly twisted and strongly confined by the overlying closed arcades.