212 research outputs found
Application of the MHD energy principle to magnetostatic atmospheres
The MHD energy principle is applied to the stability of a magnetized atmosphere which is bounded below by much denser fluid, as is the solar corona. The two fluids are treated as ideal; the approximation is consistent with the energy principle, and the dynamical conditions that must hold at a fluid-fluid interface are used to show that if vertical displacements of the lower boundary are premitted, then the lower atmosphere must be perturbed as well. However, displacements which do not perturb the coronal boundary can be properly treated as isolated perturbations of the corona alone
Environments for Magnetic Field Amplification by Cosmic Rays
We consider a recently discovered class of instabilities, driven by cosmic
ray streaming, in a variety of environments. We show that although these
instabilities have been discussed primarily in the context of supernova driven
interstellar shocks, they can also operate in the intergalactic medium and in
galaxies with weak magnetic fields, where, as a strong source of helical
magnetic fluctuations, they could contribute to the overall evolution of the
magnetic field. Within the Milky Way, these instabilities are strongest in warm
ionized gas, and appear to be weak in hot, low density gas unless the injection
efficiency of cosmic rays is very high.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures; Accepted to Ap
Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability in a Weakly Ionized Medium
Ambient interstellar material may become entrained in outflows from massive
stars as a result of shear flow instabilities. We study the linear theory of
the Kelvin - Helmholtz instability, the simplest example of shear flow
instability, in a partially ionized medium. We model the interaction as a two
fluid system (charged and neutral) in a planar geometry. Our principal result
is that for much of the relevant parameter space, neutrals and ions are
sufficiently decoupled that the neutrals are unstable while the ions are held
in place by the magnetic field. Thus, we predict that there should be a
detectably narrower line profile in ionized species tracing the outflow
compared with neutral species since ionized species are not participating in
the turbulent interface with the ambient ISM. Since the magnetic field is
frozen to the plasma, it is not tangled by the turbulence in the boundary
layer.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figure
Magnetic Merging in Colliding Flux Tubes
We develop an analytical theory of reconnection between colliding, twisted
magnetic flux tubes. Our analysis is restricted to direct collisions between
parallel tubes and is based on the collision dynamics worked out by Bogdan
(1984). We show that there is a range of collision velocities for which neutral
point reconnection of the Parker-Sweet type can occur, and a smaller range for
which reconnection leads to coalescence. Mean velocities within the solar
convection zone are probably significantly greater than the upper limit for
coalescence. This suggests that the majority of flux tube collisions do not
result in merging, unless the frictional coupling of the tubes to the
background flow is extremely strong.Comment: uuencoded-compressed-tarred PostScript (un-tars to 2 postscript
files), 15pp text + 3 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journal. POP-00
1D Modeling for Temperature-Dependent Upflow in the Dimming Region Observed by Hinode/EIS
We have previously found a temperature-dependent upflow in the dimming region
following a coronal mass ejection (CME) observed by the {\it Hinode} EUV
Imaging Spectrometer (EIS). In this paper, we reanalyzed the observations along
with previous work on this event, and provided boundary conditions for
modeling. We found that the intensity in the dimming region dramatically drops
within 30 minutes from the flare onset, and the dimming region reaches the
equilibrium stage after 1 hour later. The temperature-dependent upflows
were observed during the equilibrium stage by EIS. The cross sectional area of
the fluxtube in the dimming region does not appear to expand significantly.
From the observational constraints, we reconstructed the temperature-dependent
upflow by using a new method which considers the mass and momentum conservation
law, and demonstrated the height variation of plasma conditions in the dimming
region. We found that a super radial expansion of the cross sectional area is
required to satisfy the mass conservation and momentum equations. There is a
steep temperature and velocity gradient of around 7 Mm from the solar surface.
This result may suggest that the strong heating occurred above 7 Mm from the
solar surface in the dimming region. We also showed that the ionization
equilibrium assumption in the dimming region is violated especially in the
higher temperature range.Comment: accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
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