N. Magyar

Damping of nonlinear standing kink oscillations: a numerical study

We aim to study the standing fundamental kink mode of coronal loops in the nonlinear regime, investigating the changes in energy evolution in the cross-section and oscillation amplitude of the loop which are related to nonlinear effects, in particular to the development of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI). We run idea, high-resolution three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations, studying the influence of the initial velocity amplitude and the inhomogeneous layer thickness. We model the coronal loop as a straight, homogeneous magnetic flux tube with an outer inhomogeneous layer, embedded in a straight, homogeneous magnetic field. We find that, for low amplitudes which do not allow for the KHI to develop during the simulated time, the damping time agrees with the theory of resonant absorption. However, for higher amplitudes, the presence of KHI around the oscillating loop can alter the loops evolution, resulting in a significantly faster damping than predicted by the linear theory in some cases. This questions the accuracy of seismological methods applied to observed damping profiles, based on linear theory.

Forward modeling of EUV and gyrosynchrotron emission from coronal plasmas with FoMo

The FoMo code was developed to calculate the EUV emission from optically thin coronal plasmas. The input data for FoMo consists of the coronal density, temperature and velocity on a 3D grid. This is translated to emissivity on the 3D grid, using CHIANTI data. Then, the emissivity is integrated along the line-of-sight to calculate the emergent spectral line that could be observed by a spectrometer. Moreover, the code has been extended to model also the radio emission from plasmas with a population of non-thermal particles. In this case, also optically thick plasmas may be modelled. The radio spectrum is calculated over a large wavelength range, allowing for the comparison with data from a wide range of radio telescopes.

Numerical simulations of transverse oscillations in radiatively cooling coronal loops

Aims. We aim to study the influence of radiative cooling on the standing kink oscillations of a coronal loop. Methods. Using the FLASH code, we solved the 3D ideal magnetohydrodynamic equations. Our model consists of a straight, density enhanced and gravitationally stratified magnetic flux tube. We perturbed the system initially, leading to a transverse oscillation of the structure, and followed its evolution for a number of periods. A realistic radiative cooling is implemented. Results are compared to available analytical theory. Results. We find that in the linear regime (i.e. low amplitude perturbation and slow cooling) the obtained period and damping time are in good agreement with theory. The cooling leads to an amplification of the oscillation amplitude. However, the di erence between the cooling and non-cooling cases is small (around 6% after 6 oscillations). In high amplitude runs with realistic cooling, instabilities deform the loop, leading to increased damping. In this case, the di erence between cooling and non-cooling is still negligible at around 12%. A set of simulations with higher density loops are also performed, to explore what happens when the cooling takes place in a very short time (tcool 100 s). In this case, the di erence in amplitude after nearly 3 oscillation periods for the low amplitude case is 21% between cooling and non-cooling cases. We strengthen the results of previous analytical studies that state that the amplification due to cooling is ine ective, and its influence on the oscillation characteristics is small, at least for the cases shown here. Furthermore, the presence of a relatively strong damping in the high amplitude runs even in the fast cooling case indicates that it is unlikely that cooling could alone account for the observed, flare-related undamped oscillations of coronal loops. These results may be significant in the field of coronal seismology, allowing its application to coronal loop oscillations with observed fading-out or cooling behaviour.

FORWARD MODELING OF PROPAGATING SLOW WAVES IN CORONAL LOOPS AND THEIR FREQUENCY-DEPENDENT DAMPING

Propagating slow waves in coronal loops exhibit a damping that depends upon the frequency of the waves. In this study we aim to investigate the relationship of the damping length (Ld) with the frequency of the propagating wave. We present a 3D coronal loop model with uniform density and temperature and investigate the frequency-dependent damping mechanism for the four chosen wave periods. We include the thermal conduction to damp the waves as they propagate through the loop. The numerical model output has been forward modeled to generate synthetic images of SDO/AIA 171 and 193 channels. The use of forward modeling, which incorporates the atomic emission properties into the intensity images, allows us to directly compare our results with the real observations. The results show that the damping lengths vary linearly with the periods. We also measure the contributions of the emission properties on the damping lengths by using density values from the simulation. In addition to that we have also calculated the theoretical dependence of Ld with wave periods and showed that it is consistent with the results we obtained from the numerical modeling and earlier observations.

The instability and non-existence of multi-stranded loops, when driven by transverse waves

In recent years, omni-present transverse waves have been observed in all layers of the solar atmosphere. Coronal loops are often modeled as a collection of individual strands, in order to explain their thermal behaviour and appearance. We perform 3D ideal MHD simulations to study the effect of a continuous small amplitude transverse footpoint driving on the internal structure of a coronal loop composed of strands. The output is also converted to synthetic images, corresponding to the AIA 171 A and 193 A passbands, using FoMo. We show that the multi-stranded loop ceases to exist in the traditional sense of the word, because the plasma is efficiently mixed perpendicularly to the magnetic field, with the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability acting as the main mechanism. The final product of our simulation is mixed loop with density structures on a large range of scales, resembling a power-law. Thus, multi-stranded loops are unstable to driving by transverse waves, and this raises a strong doubt on the usability and applicability of coronal loop models consisting of independent strands.

Generalized phase mixing: Turbulence-like behaviour from unidirectionally propagating MHD waves

We present the results of three-dimensional (3D) ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations on the dynamics of a perpendicularly inhomogeneous plasma disturbed by propagating Alfvénic waves. Simpler versions of this scenario have been extensively studied as the phenomenon of phase mixing. We show that, by generalizing the textbook version of phase mixing, interesting phenomena are obtained, such as turbulence-like behavior and complex current-sheet structure, a novelty in longitudinally homogeneous plasma excited by unidirectionally propagating waves. This study is in the setting of a coronal hole. However, it constitutes an important finding for turbulence-related phenomena in astrophysics in general, relaxing the conditions that have to be fulfilled in order to generate turbulent behavior.

P-mode induced convective collapse in vertical expanding magnetic flux tubes?

Small-scale kG strong magnetic field elements in the solar photosphere are often identified as so-called magnetic bright points (MBPs). In principle these MBPs represent the cross-section of a vertical, strong, magnetic flux tube which is expanding with height in the solar atmosphere. As these magnetic elements represent possible MHD wave guides, a significant interest has been already paid to them from the viewpoint of observations and simulations. In this work we would like to shed more light on a possible scenario for the creation of such strong magnetic field concentrations. The accepted standard scenario involves the convective collapse process. In this ongoing work we will show indications that this convective collapse process may become triggered by sufficiently strong pressure disturbances. However, it is highly unlikely that p-mode waves can be of such a strength.