Seiji Yashiro

Characteristics of coronal mass ejections associated with long-wavelength type II radio bursts

We investigated the characteristics of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) associated with long-wavelength type II radio bursts in the near-Sun interplanetary medium. Type II radio bursts in the decameter-hectometric (DH) wavelengths indicate powerful MHD shocks leaving the inner solar corona and entering the interplanetary medium. Almost all of these bursts are associated with wider and faster than average CMEs. A large fraction of these radio-rich CMEs were found to decelerate in the coronagraph field of view, in contrast to the prevailing view that most CMEs display either constant acceleration or constant speed. We found a similar deceleration for the fast CMEs (speed > 900 km s−1) in general. We suggest that the coronal drag could be responsible for the deceleration, based on the result that the deceleration has a quadratic dependence on the CME speed. About 60% of the fast CMEs were not associated with DH type II bursts, suggesting that some additional condition needs to be satisfied to be radio-rich. The average width (66°) of the radio-poor, fast CMEs is much smaller than that (102°) of the radio-rich CMEs, suggesting that the CME width plays an important role. The special characteristics of the radio-rich CMEs suggest that the detection of DH radio bursts may provide a useful tool in identifying the population of geoeffective CMEs.

Relation Between Type II Bursts and CMEs Inferred from STEREO Observations

The inner coronagraph (COR1) of the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) mission has made it possible to observe CMEs in the spatial domain overlapping with that of the metric type II radio bursts. The type II bursts were associated with generally weak flares (mostly B and C class soft X-ray flares), but the CMEs were quite energetic. Using CME data for a set of type II bursts during the declining phase of solar cycle 23, we determine the CME height when the type II bursts start, thus giving an estimate of the heliocentric distance at which CME-driven shocks form. This distance has been determined to be ∼1.5Rs (solar radii), which coincides with the distance at which the Alfvén speed profile has a minimum value. We also use type II radio observations from STEREO/WAVES and Wind/WAVES observations to show that CMEs with moderate speed drive either weak shocks or no shock at all when they attain a height where the Alfvén speed peaks (∼3Rs – 4Rs). Thus the shocks seem to be most efficient in accelerating electrons in the heliocentric distance range of 1.5Rs to 4Rs. By combining the radial variation of the CME speed in the inner corona (CME speed increase) and interplanetary medium (speed decrease) we were able to correctly account for the deviations from the universal drift-rate spectrum of type II bursts, thus confirming the close physical connection between type II bursts and CMEs. The average height (∼1.5Rs) of STEREO CMEs at the time of type II bursts is smaller than that (2.2Rs) obtained for SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) CMEs. We suggest that this may indicate, at least partly, the density reduction in the corona between the maximum and declining phases, so a given plasma level occurs closer to the Sun in the latter phase. In two cases, there was a diffuse shock-like feature ahead of the main body of the CME, indicating a standoff distance of 1Rs – 2Rs by the time the CME left the LASCO field of view.

EUV WAVE REFLECTION FROM A CORONAL HOLE

We report on the detection of EUV wave reflection from a coronal hole, as observed by the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory mission. The EUV wave was associated with a coronal mass ejection (CME) erupting near the disk center. It was possible to measure the kinematics of the reflected waves for the first time. The reflected waves were generally slower than the direct wave. One of the important implications of the wave reflection is that the EUV transients are truly a wave phenomenon. The EUV wave reflection has implications for CME propagation, especially during the declining phase of the solar cycle when there are many low-latitude coronal holes.

Implications of Mass and Energy Loss due to Coronal Mass Ejections on Magnetically Active Stars

Analysis of a database of solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and associated flares over the period 1996-2007 finds well-behaved power law relationships between the 1-8 AA flare X-ray fluence and CME mass and kinetic energy. We extrapolate these relationships to lower and higher flare energies to estimate the mass and energy loss due to CMEs from stellar coronae, assuming that the observed X-ray emission of the latter is dominated by flares with a frequency as a function of energy dn/dE=kE^-alpha. For solar-like stars at saturated levels of X-ray activity, the implied losses depend fairly weakly on the assumed value of alpha and are very large: M_dot ~ 5x10^-10 M_sun/yr and E_dot ~ 0.1L_sun. In order to avoid such large energy requirements, either the relationships between CME mass and speed and flare energy must flatten for X-ray fluence >~ 10^31 erg, or the flare-CME association must drop significantly below 1 for more energetic events. If active coronae are dominated by flares, then the total coronal energy budget is likely to be up to an order of magnitude larger than the canonical 10^-3 L_bol X-ray saturation threshold. This raises the question of what is the maximum energy a magnetic dynamo can extract from a star? For an energy budget of 1% of L_bol, the CME mass loss rate is about 5x10^-11 M_sun/yr.

Major solar flares without coronal mass ejections

We examine the source properties of X-class soft X-ray flares that were not associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs). All the flares were associated with intense microwave bursts implying the production of high energy electrons. However, most (85%) of the flares were not associated with metric type III bursts, even though open field lines existed in all but two of the active regions. The X-class flares seem to be truly confined because there was no material ejection (thermal or nonthermal) away from the flaring region.

Quasi-Periodic Oscillations in Lasco Coronal Mass Ejection Speeds

Quasi-periodic oscillations in the speed profile of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the radial distance range 2-30 solar radii are studied. We considered the height-time data of the 307 CMEs recorded by the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) during 2005 January-March. In order to study the speed-distance profile of the CMEs, we have used only 116 events for which there are at least 10 height-time measurements made in the LASCO field of view. The instantaneous CME speed is estimated using a pair of height-time data points, providing the speed-distance profile. We found quasi-periodic patterns in at least 15 speed-distance profiles, where the speed amplitudes are larger than the speed errors. For these events we have determined the speed amplitude and period of oscillations. The periods of quasi-periodic oscillations are found in the range 48-240 minutes, tending to increase with height. The oscillations have similar properties as those reported by Krall et al., who interpreted them in terms of the flux-rope model. The nature of forces responsible for the motion of CMEs and their oscillations are discussed.

Statistical relationship between solar flares and coronal mass ejections

We report on the statistical relationships between solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) observed during 1996-2007 inclusively. We used soft X-ray flares observed by the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) and CMEs observed by the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) mission. Main results are (1) the CME association rate increases with flares peak flux, fluence, and duration, (2) the difference between flare and CME onsets shows a Gaussian distribution with the standard deviation σ = 17 min (σ = 15 min) for the first (second) order extrapolated CME onset, (3) the most frequent flare site is under the center of the CME span, not near one leg (outer edge) of the CMEs, (4) a good correlation was found between the flare fluence versus the CME kinetic energy. Implications for flare-CME models are discussed.

CME Interaction and the Intensity of Solar Energetic Particle Events

Large Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) are closely associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The significant correlation observed between SEP intensity and CME speed has been considered as the evidence for such a close connection. The recent finding that SEP events with preceding wide CMEs are likely to have higher intensities compared to those without was attributed to the interaction of the CME-driven shocks with the preceding CMEs or with their aftermath. It is also possible that the intensity of SEPs may also be affected by the properties of the solar source region. In this study, we found that the active region area has no relation with the SEP intensity and CME speed, thus supporting the importance of CME interaction. However, there is a significant correlation between flare size and the active region area, which probably reflects the spatial scale of the flare phenomenon as compared to that of the CME-driven shock.

Multiwavelength Diagnostics of the Precursor and Main Phases of an M1.8 Flare on 2011 April 22

We study the temporal, spatial and spectral evolution of the M1.8 flare, which occurred in the active region 11195 (S17E31) on 2011 April 22, and explore the underlying physical processes during the precursor phase and their relation to the main phase. The study of the source morphology using the composite images in 131 wavelength observed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Atmospheric Imaging Assembly and 6-14 kiloelectronvolts [from the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI)] revealed a multi-loop system that destabilized systematically during the precursor and main phases. In contrast, hard X-ray emission (20-50 kiloelectronvolts) was absent during the precursor phase, appearing only from the onset of the impulsive phase in the form of foot-points of emitting loops. This study also revealed the heated loop-top prior to the loop emission, although no accompanying foot-point sources were observed during the precursor phase. We estimate the flare plasma parameters, namely temperature (T), emission measure (EM), power-law index (gamma) and photon turn-over energy (to), and found them to be varying in the ranges 12.4-23.4 megakelvins, 0.0003-0.6 x 10 (sup 49) per cubic centimeter, 5-9 and 14-18 kiloelectronvolts, respectively, by forward fitting RHESSI spectral observations. The energy released in the precursor phase was thermal and constituted approximately 1 percent of the total energy released during the flare. The study of morphological evolution of the filament in conjunction with synthesized T and EM maps was carried out, which reveals (a) partial filament eruption prior to the onset of the precursor emission and (b) heated dense plasma over the polarity inversion line and in the vicinity of the slowly rising filament during the precursor phase. Based on the implications from multiwavelength observations, we propose a scheme to unify the energy release during the precursor and main phase emissions in which the precursor phase emission was originated via conduction front that resulted due to the partial filament eruption. Next, the heated leftover S-shaped filament underwent slow-rise and heating due to magnetic reconnection and finally erupted to produce emission during the impulsive and gradual phases.

Observations of moreton waves and EIT waves

Abstract We study the relationship between Moreton waves and EIT waves by analyzing Hα images taken with the Flare Monitoring Telescope (FMT) at the Hida Observatory of Kyoto University and EUV images taken with SOHO /EIT. In the event of November 4, 1997 (Eto et al. 2002) , the propagation speeds of the Moreton wave and the EIT wave were approximately 780 km/s and 200 km/s, respectively. The data on speed and location suggest that Moreton waves differ physically from EIT waves in these cases. In the event of November 3, 1997 (Narukage et al. 2002) , the wave is detected in soft X-rays as well as by the Moreton and EIT wave signatures. The propagation speeds of the Moreton wave, X-ray wave, and EIT wave were 490 km/s, 630 km/s, and 170 km/s, respectively, which suggests that we can identify both the X-ray wave and the Moreton wave a coronal fast-mode MHD shock wave, but that the EIT wave is physically different.