Harry P. Warren

Time Variability of the “Quiet” Sun Observed with TRACE. II. Physical Parameters, Temperature Evolution, and Energetics of Extreme-Ultraviolet Nanoflares

We present a detailed analysis of the geometric and physical parameters of 281 EUV nanoflares, simultaneously detected with the TRACE telescope in the 171 and 195 A wavelengths. The detection and discrimination of these flarelike events is detailed in the first paper in this series. We determine the loop length l, loop width w, emission measure EM, the evolution of the electron density ne(t) and temperature Te(t), the flare decay time τdecay, and calculate the radiative loss time τloss, the conductive loss time τcond, and the thermal energy Eth. The findings are as follows: (1) EUV nanoflares in the energy range of 1024-1026 ergs represent miniature versions of larger flares observed in soft X-rays (SXR) and hard X-rays (HXR), scaled to lower temperatures (Te 2 MK), lower densities (ne 109 cm-3), and somewhat smaller spatial scales (l ≈ 2-20 Mm). (2) The cooling time τdecay is compatible with the radiative cooling time τrad, but the conductive cooling timescale τcond is about an order of magnitude shorter, suggesting repetitive heating cycles in time intervals of a few minutes. (3) The frequency distribution of thermal energies of EUV nanoflares, N(E) ≈ 10-46(E/1024)-1.8 (s-1 cm-2 ergs-1) matches that of SXR microflares in the energy range of 1026-1029, and exceeds that of nonthermal energies of larger flares observed in HXR by a factor of 3-10 (in the energy range of 1029-1032 ergs). Discrepancies of the power-law slope with other studies, which report higher values in the range of a = 2.0-2.6 (Krucker & Benz; Parnell & Jupp), are attributed to methodical differences in the detection and discrimination of EUV microflares, as well as to different model assumptions in the calculation of the electron density. Besides the insufficient power of nanoflares to heat the corona, we find also other physical limits for nanoflares at energies 1024 ergs, such as the area coverage limit, the heating temperature limit, the lower coronal density limit, and the chromospheric loop height limit. Based on these quantitative physical limitations, it appears that coronal heating requires other energy carriers that are not luminous in EUV, SXR, and HXR.

Flows and Nonthermal Velocities in Solar Active Regions Observed with the EUV Imaging Spectrometer on Hinode: A Tracer of Active Region Sources of Heliospheric Magnetic Fields?

From Doppler velocity maps of active regions constructed from spectra obtained by the EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on the Hinode spacecraft we observe large areas of outflow (20-50 km s -->−1) that can persist for at least a day. These outflows occur in areas of active regions that are faint in coronal spectral lines formed at typical quiet-Sun and active region temperatures. The outflows are positively correlated with nonthermal velocities in coronal plasmas. The bulk mass motions and nonthermal velocities are derived from spectral line centroids and line widths, mostly from a strong line of Fe XII at 195.12 A. The electron temperature of the outflow regions estimated from an Fe XIII to Fe XII line intensity ratio is about -->(1.2–1.4) × 106 K. The electron density of the outflow regions derived from a density-sensitive intensity ratio of Fe XII lines is rather low for an active region. Most regions average around -->7 × 108 cm -->−3, but there are variations on pixel spatial scales of about a factor of 4. We discuss results in detail for two active regions observed by EIS. Images of active regions in line intensity, line width, and line centroid are obtained by rastering the regions. We also discuss data from the active regions obtained from other orbiting spacecraft that support the conclusions obtained from analysis of the EIS spectra. The locations of the flows in the active regions with respect to the longitudinal photospheric magnetic fields suggest that these regions might be tracers of long loops and/or open magnetic fields that extend into the heliosphere, and thus the flows could possibly contribute significantly to the solar wind.

Evolving Active Region Loops Observed with the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer. I. Observations

Observations made with TRACE have detected a class of persistent active region loops that have flat 195/171 A filter ratios. The intensity of these loops implies a density that is as much as 3 orders of magnitude larger than the densities of static solutions to the hydrodynamic equations. It has recently been suggested that these loops are bundles of impulsively heated strands that are cooling through the TRACE passbands. This scenario implies that the loops would appear in the hotter (Fe XV 284 A or Fe XII 195 A) TRACE filter images before appearing in the cooler (Fe IX/X 171 A) TRACE filter images. In this paper, we test this hypothesis by examining the temporal evolution of five active region loops in multiple TRACE EUV filter images. We find that all the loops appear in the hotter filter images before appearing in cooler filter images. We then use the measured delay to estimate a cooling time and find that four of the five loops have lifetimes greater than the expected lifetime of a cooling loop. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that each apparent loop is a bundle of sequentially heated strands; other explanations will also be discussed. To facilitate comparisons between these loops and hydrodynamic simulations, we use a new technique to estimate the loop length and geometry.

Steady Flows Detected in Extreme-Ultraviolet Loops

Recent Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) observations have detected a class of active region loops whose physical properties are inconsistent with previous hydrostatic loop models. In this Letter we present the first co-aligned TRACE and the Solar Ultraviolet Measurement of Emitted Radiation (SUMER) observations of these loops. Although these loops appear static in the TRACE images, SUMER detects line-of-sight flows along the loops of up to 40 km s-1. The presence of flows could imply an asymmetric heating function; such a heating function would be expected for heating that is proportional to (often asymmetric) footpoint field strength. We compare a steady flow solution resulting from an asymmetric heating function to a static solution resulting from a uniform heating function in a hypothetical coronal loop. We find that the characteristics associated with the asymmetrically heated loop better compare with the characteristics of the loops observed in the TRACE data.

A new model of solar EUV irradiance variability: 1. Model formulation

We present a new model of solar irradiance variability at extreme ultraviolet wavelengths (EUV, 50–1200 A). In this model, quiet Sun, coronal hole, and active region intensities for optically thin emission lines are computed from emission measure distributions determined from spectrally and spatially resolved observations. For optically thick emission lines and continua, empirical values are used. The contribution of various solar features to the spectral irradiance variability is determined from a simple model of limb-brightening and full-disk solar images taken at the Big Bear Solar Observatory and by the Soft X-Ray Telescope on Yohkoh. To extend our irradiance model beyond the time period covered by the available images, we use correlations with proxies for solar activity. Comparisons with the available irradiance data from the Atmospheric Explorer E (AE-E) spacecraft show that our model is capable of reproducing the rotational modulation of the EUV irradiance near solar maximum. The AE-E data, however, show systematically more solar cycle variability than our model estimates.

Hydrodynamic Modeling of Active Region Loops

Recent observations with the Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) have shown that many apparently cool (Te ~ 1-1.5 MK) active region loops are much brighter and have flatter temperature profiles than static loop models predict. Observations also indicate that these loops can persist much longer than a characteristic cooling time. Using time-dependent hydrodynamic simulations, we explore the possibility that these active region loops are actually a collection of small-scale filaments that have been impulsively heated and are cooling through the TRACE 171 A (Fe IX/X) and 195 A (Fe XII) bandpasses. We find that an ensemble of independently heated filaments can be significantly brighter than a static uniformly heated loop and would have a flat filter ratio temperature when observed with TRACE.

Nonthermal velocities in solar active regions observed with the extreme-ultraviolet imaging spectrometer on Hinode

We discuss nonthermal velocities in an active region as revealed by the Extreme-Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on the Hinode spacecraft. The velocities are derived from spectral line profiles in the extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) from a strong line of Fe XII at 195.12 A by fitting each line profile to a Gaussian function. We compare maps of the full width at half-maximum values, the Fe XII spectral line intensity, the Fe XII Doppler shift, the electron temperature, and electron density. We find that the largest widths in the active region do not occur in the most intense regions, but seem to concentrate in less intense regions, some of which are directly adjacent to coronal loops, and some of which concentrate in regions which also exhibit relative Doppler outflows. The increased widths can also occur over extended parts of the active region.

A Streamer Ejection with Reconnection Close to the Sun

We previously described coronal events that expand gradually outward over an interval of 1-2 days and then suddenly tear apart in the coronagraphs 2-6 R☉ field of view to form an outgoing flux rope and an inward system of collapsing loops. Now, we combine LASCO white-light images of the outer corona with spectrally resolved EIT images of the inner corona to describe a similar event for which the separation occurs closer to the Sun. The evolution of this 2006 July 1-2 event had four phases: (1) an expansion phase in which magnetic loops rise slowly upward and increase the amount of open flux in the adjacent polar coronal hole and in the low-latitude hole of opposite polarity; (2) a stretching phase in which the legs of the rising loops pinch together to form a current sheet; (3) a transition phase in which field line reconnection produces an outgoing flux rope and a hot cusp of new loops; and (4) an end phase in which the reconnected loops become visible at lower temperatures, and the outgoing flux rope plows through the slow material ahead of it to form a traveling bow wave. During this time, the photospheric field was relatively weak and unchanging, as if the eruption had a nonmagnetic origin. We suppose that coronal heating gradually overpowers magnetic tension and causes the streamer to separate into a system of collapsing loops and a flux rope that is carried outward in the solar wind.

Electron Densities in the Solar Polar Coronal Holes from Density-Sensitive Line Ratios of Si VIII and S X

We derive electron densities as a function of height in the north and south polar coronal holes from a forbidden spectral line ratio of Si VIII. Si VIII is produced at about 8 × 105 K in ionization equilibrium. We also derive densities from a similar line ratio of S X (1.3 × 106 K). The spectra were obtained with the Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation spectrometer flown on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft. In addition to the primary mechanism of electron impact excitation, the derivation of theoretical level populations for Si VIII and S X includes both proton and resonance capture excitation. We compare the coronal hole results to quiet-Sun coronal measurements obtained outside the east and west limbs. We find for distances of a few arcseconds outside the solar limb that the average line-of-sight electron densities in the coronal holes are about a factor of 2 lower than in quiet-Sun regions. The decrease of density with height is exponential in the polar holes. We also confirm the result known from a variety of earlier observations that the temperature of most of the plasma in coronal holes does not exceed about 106 K.

High-Resolution Observations of the Solar Hydrogen Lyman Lines in the Quiet Sun with the SUMER Instrument on SOHO

We present high-resolution observations of the higher H Lyman series lines taken with the Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation (SUMER) experiment flown on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. We have used systematic observations extending from disk center to the solar limb to compute average profiles for representative solar features of the quiet Sun, limb-brightening curves, and full-disk, quiet-Sun profiles for Ly? through Ly?(11) and the Lyman continuum. The effects of radiative transfer are apparent in all of the line profiles we studied. The average quiet-Sun profiles for Ly? through Ly are self-reversed, and the remaining lines are flat-topped. The characteristics of the line profiles vary markedly with intensity. We observe strong enhancements in the red wings of network profiles, while the faint cell-center profiles are nearly symmetric. We also find that the intensities of the H Lyman lines increase at the limb, although the limb brightening is weak compared to optically thin transition region emission lines and largely obscured by the intensity variations observed in the quiet Sun.