109 research outputs found
Characteristics of polar coronal hole jets
High spatial- and temporal-resolution images of coronal hole regions show a
dynamical environment where mass flows and jets are frequently observed. These
jets are believed to be important for the coronal heating and the acceleration
of the fast solar wind. We studied the dynamics of two jets seen in a polar
coronal hole with a combination of imaging from EIS and XRT onboard Hinode. We
observed drift motions related to the evolution and formation of these
small-scale jets, which we tried to model as well. We found observational
evidence that supports the idea that polar jets are very likely produced by
multiple small-scale reconnections occurring at different times in different
locations. These eject plasma blobs that flow up and down with a motion very
similar to a simple ballistic motion. The associated drift speed of the first
jet is estimated to be 27 km s. The average outward speed of
the first jet is km s, well below the escape speed, hence
if simple ballistic motion is considered, the plasma will not escape the Sun.
The second jet was observed in the south polar coronal hole with three XRT
filters, namely, Cpoly, Alpoly, and Almesh filters. We
observed that the second jet drifted at all altitudes along the jet with the
same drift speed of 7 km s. The enhancement in the light curves
of low-temperature EIS lines in the later phase of the jet lifetime and the
shape of the jet's stack plots suggests that the jet material is falls back,
and most likely cools down. To support this conclusion, the observed drifts
were interpreted within a scenario where reconnection progressively shifts
along a magnetic structure, leading to the sequential appearance of jets of
about the same size and physical characteristics. On this basis, we also
propose a simple qualitative model that mimics the observations.Comment: Accepted Astronomy and Astrophysic
Study of the three-dimensional shape and dynamics of coronal loops observed by Hinode/EIS
We study plasma flows along selected coronal loops in NOAA Active Region
10926, observed on 3 December 2006 with Hinode's EUV Imaging Spectrograph
(EIS). From the shape of the loops traced on intensity images and the Doppler
shifts measured along their length we compute their three-dimensional (3D)
shape and plasma flow velocity using a simple geometrical model. This
calculation was performed for loops visible in the Fe VIII 185 Ang., Fe X 184
Ang., Fe XII 195 Ang., Fe XIII 202 Ang., and Fe XV 284 Ang. spectral lines. In
most cases the flow is unidirectional from one footpoint to the other but there
are also cases of draining motions from the top of the loops to their
footpoints. Our results indicate that the same loop may show different flow
patterns when observed in different spectral lines, suggesting a dynamically
complex rather than a monolithic structure. We have also carried out magnetic
extrapolations in the linear force-free field approximation using SOHO/MDI
magnetograms, aiming toward a first-order identification of extrapolated
magnetic field lines corresponding to the reconstructed loops. In all cases,
the best-fit extrapolated lines exhibit left-handed twist (alpha < 0), in
agreement with the dominant twist of the region.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure
Solar microflares: a case study on temperatures and the Fe XVIII emission
In this paper, we discuss the temperature distribution and evolution of a
microflare, simultaneously observed by Hinode XRT, EIS, and SDO AIA. We find
using EIS lines that during peak emission the distribution is nearly isothermal
and peaked around 4.5 MK. This temperature is in good agreement with that
obtained from the XRT filter ratio, validating the use of XRT to study these
small events, invisible by full-Sun X-ray monitors such as GOES. The increase
in the estimated Fe XVIII emission in the AIA 94 {\AA} band can mostly be
explained with the small temperature increase from the background temperatures.
The presence of Fe XVIII emission does not guarantee that temperatures of 7 MK
are reached, as is often assumed. We also revisit with new atomic data the
temperatures measured by a SoHO SUMER observation of an active region which
produced microflares, also finding low temperatures (3 - 4 MK) from an Fe XVIII
/ Ca XIV ratio.Comment: 12-13 pages, 17 figures (22 eps-files), 4 tables, accepted by
Astronomy and Astrophysic
The Temperature Dependence of Solar Active Region Outflows
Spectroscopic observations with the EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on Hinode
have revealed large areas of high speed outflows at the periphery of many solar
active regions. These outflows are of interest because they may connect to the
heliosphere and contribute to the solar wind. In this Letter we use slit
rasters from EIS in combination with narrow band slot imaging to study the
temperature dependence of an active region outflow and show that it is more
complicated than previously thought. Outflows are observed primarily in
emission lines from Fe XI - Fe XV. Observations at lower temperatures (Si VII),
in contrast, show bright fan-like structures that are dominated by downflows.
The morphology of the outflows is also different than that of the fans. This
suggests that the fan loops, which often show apparent outflows in imaging
data, are contained on closed field lines and are not directly related to the
active region outflows.Comment: Movies are available online at:
http://tcrb.nrl.navy.mil/~hwarren/temp/papers/flow_temperatures/ To be
submitted to ApJ
Fe XI emission lines in a high resolution extreme ultraviolet spectrum obtained by SERTS
New calculations of radiative rates and electron impact excitation cross
sections for Fe XI are used to derive emission line intensity ratios involving
3s^23p^4 - 3s^23p^33d transitions in the 180-223 A wavelength range. These
ratios are subsequently compared with observations of a solar active region,
obtained during the 1995 flight Solar EUV Research Telescope and Spectrograph
(SERTS). The version of SERTS flown in 1995 incorporated a multilayer grating
that enhanced the instrumental sensitivity for features in the 170 - 225 A
wavelength range, observed in second-order between 340 and 450 A. This
enhancement led to the detection of many emission lines not seen on previous
SERTS flights, which were measured with the highest spectral resolution (0.03
A) ever achieved for spatially resolved active region spectra in this
wavelength range. However, even at this high spectral resolution, several of
the Fe XI lines are found to be blended, although the sources of the blends are
identified in the majority of cases. The most useful Fe XI electron density
diagnostic line intensity ratio is I(184.80 A)/I(188.21 A). This ratio involves
lines close in wavelength and free from blends, and which varies by a factor of
11.7 between N_e = 10^9 and 10^11 cm^-3, yet shows little temperature
sensitivity. An unknown line in the SERTS spectrum at 189.00 A is found to be
due to Fe XI, the first time (to our knowledge) this feature has been
identified in the solar spectrum. Similarly, there are new identifications of
the Fe XI 192.88, 198.56 and 202.42 A features, although the latter two are
blended with S VIII/Fe XII and Fe XIII, respectively.Comment: 21 pages, 9 gigures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
On Box-Perfect Graphs
Let be a graph and let be the clique-vertex incidence matrix
of . It is well known that is perfect iff the system , is totally dual integral (TDI). In 1982,
Cameron and Edmonds proposed to call box-perfect if the system
, is box-totally dual
integral (box-TDI), and posed the problem of characterizing such graphs. In
this paper we prove the Cameron-Edmonds conjecture on box-perfectness of parity
graphs, and identify several other classes of box-perfect graphs. We also
develop a general and powerful method for establishing box-perfectness
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