The Cooling of Coronal Plasmas. iv: Catastrophic Cooling of Loops

We examine the radiative cooling of coronal loops and demonstrate that the recently identified catastrophic cooling (Reale and Landi, 2012) is due to the inability of a loop to sustain radiative / enthalpy cooling below a critical temperature, which can be > 1 MK in flares, 0.5 - 1 MK in active regions and 0.1 MK in long tenuous loops. Catastrophic cooling is characterised by a rapid fall in coronal temperature while the coronal density changes by a small amount. Analytic expressions for the critical temperature are derived and show good agreement with numerical results. This effect limits very considerably the lifetime of coronal plasmas below the critical temperature

Enthalpy-based Thermal Evolution of Loops: II. Improvements to the Model

This paper develops the zero-dimensional (0D) hydrodynamic coronal loop model "Enthalpy-based Thermal Evolution of Loops" (EBTEL) proposed by Klimchuk et al (2008), which studies the plasma response to evolving coronal heating, especially impulsive heating events. The basis of EBTEL is the modelling of mass exchange between the corona and transition region and chromosphere in response to heating variations, with the key parameter being the ratio of transition region to coronal radiation. We develop new models for this parameter that now include gravitational stratification and a physically motivated approach to radiative cooling. A number of examples are presented, including nanoflares in short and long loops, and a small flare. The new features in EBTEL are important for accurate tracking of, in particular, the density. The 0D results are compared to a 1D hydro code (Hydrad) with generally good agreement. EBTEL is suitable for general use as a tool for (a) quick-look results of loop evolution in response to a given heating function, (b) extensive parameter surveys and (c) situations where the modelling of hundreds or thousands of elemental loops is needed. A single run takes a few seconds on a contemporary laptop

Pyogenic iliopsoas abscess: An uncommon presentation of nonspecific leg pain

AbstractPsoas abscesses can have a high mortality rate, particularly when left untreated. Diagnosis is commonly delayed owing to the relative paucity of cases and its varied clinical presentation. We describe a patient with psoas abscess who presented to the emergency department at Milton Keynes General Hospital, illustrating how psoas abscesses are still misdiagnosed by junior and senior clinicians, even when patients present with the classical signs of fever, leg pain, and antalgic gait. This highlights the need for an increased emphasis on training at all levels, to increase the index of suspicion for a psoas abscess in those presenting with leg, hip, or back pain with a fever

Coronal density structure and its role in wave damping in loops

This project has received funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (UK) and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unionʼs Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No 647214). The research leading to these results has also received funding from the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under the grant agreement SOLSPANET (project No. 269299, www.solspanet.eu/about).It has long been established that gradients in the Alfvén speed, and in particular the plasma density, are an essential part of the damping of waves in the magnetically closed solar corona by mechanisms such as resonant absorption and phase mixing. While models of wave damping often assume a fixed density gradient, in this paper the self-consistency of such calculations is assessed by examining the temporal evolution of the coronal density. It is shown conceptually that for some coronal structures, density gradients can evolve in a way that the wave-damping processes are inhibited. For the case of phase mixing we argue that (a) wave heating cannot sustain the assumed density structure and (b) inclusion of feedback of the heating on the density gradient can lead to a highly structured density, although on long timescales. In addition, transport coefficients well in excess of classical are required to maintain the observed coronal density. Hence, the heating of closed coronal structures by global oscillations may face problems arising from the assumption of a fixed density gradient, and the rapid damping of oscillations may have to be accompanied by a separate (non-wave-based) heating mechanism to sustain the required density structuring.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Dynamical processes in the solar atmosphere

It has become clear that the closed-field regions of the solar atmosphere are not static (as was once thought) but that many types of steady and unsteady flows and other dynamical, processes such as flares are continually occurring, in them. This thesis investigates some theoretical aspects of these dynamical phenomena. Steady, one-dimensional flow along a coronal loop is investigated first of all. Such a flow may be driven by a pressure difference between the foot points, and a wide range of shocked and unshocked flows are found. The presence of steady flows removes the symmetry present in most static loop models, and these models are shown to form only one class of a much wider range of dynamic solutions to the equations of motion. Thermal non-equilibrium in hot coronal loops occurs if the pressure in a loop becomes too big. The non-linear evolution of this non-equilibrium state is followed, and the loop is found to cool from of order 10[super]6 K to below 10[super]5 K in a few hours. An upflow is driven, and non-equilibrium is suggested as a means of formation of either cool loop cores or prominences. Thermal non-equilibrium is also discussed as a possible mechanism for the simple-loop flare. It is suggested that a cool equilibrium at a temperature of a few times 10[super]4 K can flare to over. 10[super]7 K if the mechanical heating in the cool loop becomes too large. The evolution is followed and the loop is found to flare to over 10[super]7 K in approximately 5 minutes. Magnetohydrodynamic shock waves have long been regarded as a potentially efficient heating mechanism. Their behaviour is re-examined here, and it is found that certain types of shock can release very large amounts of energy. These results are then applied to the heating of "post"-flare loops, for which temperatures of 10[super]7 K at the loop summit may be obtained. Finally, some solutions of the magnetostatic equation are discussed, and it is pointed out that if the gas pressure is too big then magnetostatic equilibrium will break down. It is suggested that the subsequent evolution may give rise to a surge or other mass ejection

Electron density in the quiet solar coronal transition region from SoHO/SUMER measurements of S VI line radiance and opacity

Context: The sharp temperature and density gradients in the coronal transition region are a challenge for models and observations. Aims: We set out to get linearly- and quadratically-weighted average electron densities in the region emitting the S VI lines, using the observed opacity and the emission measure of these lines. Methods: We analyze SoHO/SUMER spectroscopic observations of the S VI lines, using the center-to-limb variations and radiance ratios to derive the opacity. We also use the Emission Measure derived from radiance at disk center. Results: We get an opacity at S VI line center of the order of 0.05. The resulting average electron density is 2.4 10^16 m^-3 at T = 2 10^5 K. This value is higher than the values obtained from radiance measurements. Conversely, taking a classical value for the density leads to a too high value of the thickness of the emitting layer. Conclusions: The pressure derived from the Emission Measure method compares well with previous determinations and implies a low opacity of 5 10^-3 to 10^-2. The fact that a direct derivation leads to a much higher opacity remains unexplained, despite tentative modeling of observational biases. Further measurements need to be done, and more realistic models of the transition region need to be used.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure

A new approach for modelling chromospheric evaporation in response to enhanced coronal heating : I. The method

C.D.J. acknowledges the financial support of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. This project has received funding from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (UK) through the consolidated grant ST/N000609/1 and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No 647214).We present a new computational approach that addresses the difficulty of obtaining the correct interaction between the solar corona and the transition region in response to rapid heating events. In the coupled corona, transition region and chromosphere system, an enhanced downward conductive flux results in an upflow (chromospheric evaporation).However, obtaining the correct upflow generally requires high spatial resolution in order to resolve the transition region. With an unresolved transition region, artificially low coronal densities are obtained because the downward heat flux ‘jumps’ across the unresolved region to the chromosphere, underestimating the upflows. Here, we treat the lower transition region as a discontinuity that responds to changing coronal conditions through the imposition of a jump condition that is derived from an integrated form of energy conservation. To illustrate and benchmark this approach against a fully resolved one-dimensional model, we present field-aligned simulations of coronal loops in response to a range of impulsive (spatially uniform) heating events. We show that our approach leads to a significant improvement in the coronal density evolution than just when using coarse spatial resolutions insufficient to resolve the lower transition region. Our approach compensates for the jumping of the heat flux by imposing a velocity correction that ensures that the energy from the heat flux goes into driving the transition region dynamics, rather than being lost through radiation. Hence, it is possible to obtain improved coronal densities. The advantages of using this approach in both one-dimensional hydrodynamic and three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations are discussed.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Structures in the outer solar atmosphere

The structure and dynamics of the outer solar atmosphere are reviewed with emphasis on the role played by the magnetic field. Contemporary observations that focus on high resolution imaging over a range of temperatures, as well as UV, EUV and hard X-ray spectroscopy, demonstrate the presence of a vast range of temporal and spatial scales, mass motions, and particle energies present. By focussing on recent developments in the chromosphere, corona and solar wind, it is shown that small scale processes, in particular magnetic reconnection, play a central role in determining the large-scale structure and properties of all regions. This coupling of scales is central to understanding the atmosphere, yet poses formidable challenges for theoretical models.Comment: 41 Pages, 15 Figures, Accepted for publication in Space Science Review

Modeling the Radiative Signatures of Turbulent Heating in Coronal Loops

The statistical properties of the radiative signature of a coronal loop subject to turbulent heating obtained from a three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model are studied. The heating and cooling of a multistrand loop is modeled and synthetic spectra for Fe XII 195.12, Fe XV 284.163, and Fe XIX 1118.06 ? are calculated, covering a wide temperature range. The results show that the statistical properties of the thermal and radiative energies partially reflect those of the heating function in that power-law distributions are transmitted, but with very significant changes in the power-law indices. There is a strong dependence on the subloop geometry. Only high-temperature radiation (?107 K) preserves reasonably precise information on the heating function