Dynamics of the solar magnetic bright points derived from their horizontal motions

The sub-arcsec bright points (BP) associated with the small scale magnetic fields in the lower solar atmosphere are advected by the evolution of the photospheric granules. We measure various quantities related to the horizontal motions of the BPs observed in two wavelengths, including the velocity auto-correlation function. A 1 hr time sequence of wideband H$\alpha$ observations conducted at the \textit{Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope} (\textit{SST}), and a 4 hr \textit{Hinode} \textit{G}-band time sequence observed with the Solar Optical telescope are used in this work. We follow 97 \textit{SST} and 212 \textit{Hinode} BPs with 3800 and 1950 individual velocity measurements respectively. For its high cadence of 5 s as compared to 30 s for \textit{Hinode} data, we emphasize more on the results from \textit{SST} data. The BP positional uncertainty achieved by \textit{SST} is as low as 3 km. The position errors contribute 0.75 km$^2$ s$^{-2}$ to the variance of the observed velocities. The \textit{raw} and \textit{corrected} velocity measurements in both directions, i.e., $(v_x,v_y)$, have Gaussian distributions with standard deviations of $(1.32,1.22)$ and $(1.00, 0.86)$ km s$^{-1}$ respectively. The BP motions have correlation times of about $22 - 30$ s. We construct the power spectrum of the horizontal motions as a function of frequency, a quantity that is useful and relevant to the studies of generation of Alfv\'en waves. Photospheric turbulent diffusion at time scales less than 200 s is found to satisfy a power law with an index of 1.59.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. 24 pages, 9 figures, and 1 movie (not included

Slingshot prominences above stellar X-ray coronae

We present a new model for the coronal structure of rapidly rotating solar-type stars. The presence of prominences trapped in co-rotation 2 to 5 stellar radii above the stellar surface has been taken as evidence that the coronae of these stars must be very extended. The observed surface magnetic fields, however, cannot contain X-ray emitting gas out to these distances. We present an alternative model: that these prominences are trapped in long thin loops embedded not in the X-ray corona, but in the wind. Above coronal helmet streamers, oppositely-directed wind-bearing field lines reconnect to form closed loops which then fill up with gas that was originally part of the wind. We demonstrate that static equilibria exist for these loops at a range of pressures and temperatures. The maximum loop height falls as the rotation rate increases, but rises as the loop temperature decreases. For a solar-mass star with rotation period 0.5 days, whose X-ray corona extends 1stellar radius above the surface, loops at temperatures of 10, 000 K can extend out to 5 stellar radii.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

On the Generation, Propagation, and Reflection of Alfven Waves from the Solar Photosphere to the Distant Heliosphere

We present a comprehensive model of the global properties of Alfven waves in the solar atmosphere and fast solar wind. Linear non-WKB wave transport equations are solved from the photosphere to 4 AU, and for wave periods ranging from 3 seconds to 3 days. We derive a radially varying power spectrum of kinetic and magnetic energy fluctuations for waves propagating in both directions along a superradially expanding magnetic flux tube. This work differs from previous models in 3 major ways. (1) In the chromosphere and low corona, the successive merging of flux tubes on granular and supergranular scales is described using a 2D magnetostatic model of a network element. Below a critical merging height the waves are modeled as thin-tube kink modes, and we assume that all of the kink-mode wave energy is transformed into volume-filling Alfven waves above the merging height. (2) The frequency spectrum of horizontal motions is specified only at the photosphere based on prior analyses of G-band bright point kinematics. Everywhere else the amplitudes of outward and inward propagating waves are computed with no free parameters. We find that the wave amplitudes in the corona agree well with off-limb nonthermal line widths. (3) Nonlinear turbulent damping is applied to the results of the linear model using a phenomenological loss term. A single choice for the normalization of the turbulent outer-scale length produces both the right amount of damping at large distances (to agree with in situ measurements) and the right amount of heating in the extended corona (to agree with empirical wind acceleration models). In the corona, the modeled heating rate differs by more than an order of magnitude from a rate based on isotropic Kolmogorov turbulence.Comment: 54 pages (AASTeX), 19 figures, Ap. J. Supplement, in press (February 2005

Nonlinear Force-Free Field Modeling of the Solar Magnetic Carpet and Comparison with SDO/HMI and Sunrise/IMaX Observations

In the quiet solar photosphere, the mixed polarity fields form a magnetic carpet, which continuously evolves due to dynamical interaction between the convective motions and magnetic field. This interplay is a viable source to heat the solar atmosphere. In this work, we used the line-of-sight (LOS) magnetograms obtained from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on the \textit{Solar Dynamics Observatory} (\textit{SDO}), and the Imaging Magnetograph eXperiment (IMaX) instrument on the \textit{Sunrise} balloon-borne observatory, as time dependent lower boundary conditions, to study the evolution of the coronal magnetic field. We use a magneto-frictional relaxation method, including hyperdiffusion, to produce time series of three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear force-free fields from a sequence of photospheric LOS magnetograms. Vertical flows are added up to a height of 0.7 Mm in the modeling to simulate the non-force-freeness at the photosphere-chromosphere layers. Among the derived quantities, we study the spatial and temporal variations of the energy dissipation rate, and energy flux. Our results show that the energy deposited in the solar atmosphere is concentrated within 2 Mm of the photosphere and there is not sufficient energy flux at the base of the corona to cover radiative and conductive losses. Possible reasons and implications are discussed. Better observational constraints of the magnetic field in the chromosphere are crucial to understand the role of the magnetic carpet in coronal heating.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (13 pages, 10 figures

The heating of solar coronal loops by Alfvèn wave turbulence

This project was supported under contract NNM07AB07C from NASA to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) and contract SP02H1701R from Lockheed Martin Space and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL) to SAO.In this paper we further develop a model for the heating of coronal loops by Alfvèn wave turbulence (AWT). The Alfvèn waves are assumed to be launched from a collection of kilogauss flux tubes in the photosphere at the two ends of the loop. Using a three-dimensional magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) model for an active-region loop, we investigate how the waves from neighboring flux tubes interact in the chromosphere and corona. For a particular combination of model parameters we find that AWT can produce enough heat to maintain a peak temperature of about 2.5 MK, somewhat lower than the temperatures of 3 – 4 MK observed in the cores of active regions. The heating rates vary strongly in space and time, but the simulated heating events have durations less than 1 minute and are unlikely to reproduce the observed broad Differential Emission Measure distributions of active regions. The simulated spectral line non-thermal widths are predicted to be about 27 km s−1, which is high compared to the observed values. Therefore, the present AWT model does not satisfy the observational constraints. An alternative “magnetic braiding” model is considered in which the coronal field lines are subject to slow random footpoint motions, but we find that such long period motions produce much less heating than the shorter period waves launched within the flux tubes. We discuss several possibilities for resolving the problem of producing sufficiently hot loops in active regions.PostprintPeer reviewe