5,483 research outputs found
Coronal heating in multiple magnetic threads
Context. Heating the solar corona to several million degrees requires the
conversion of magnetic energy into thermal energy. In this paper, we
investigate whether an unstable magnetic thread within a coronal loop can
destabilise a neighbouring magnetic thread. Aims. By running a series of
simulations, we aim to understand under what conditions the destabilisation of
a single magnetic thread can also trigger a release of energy in a nearby
thread. Methods. The 3D magnetohydrodynamics code, Lare3d, is used to simulate
the temporal evolution of coronal magnetic fields during a kink instability and
the subsequent relaxation process. We assume that a coronal magnetic loop
consists of non-potential magnetic threads that are initially in an equilibrium
state. Results. The non-linear kink instability in one magnetic thread forms a
helical current sheet and initiates magnetic reconnection. The current sheet
fragments, and magnetic energy is released throughout that thread. We find
that, under certain conditions, this event can destabilise a nearby thread,
which is a necessary requirement for starting an avalanche of energy release in
magnetic threads. Conclusions. It is possible to initiate an energy release in
a nearby, non-potential magnetic thread, because the energy released from one
unstable magnetic thread can trigger energy release in nearby threads, provided
that the nearby structures are close to marginal stability
Lunar magnetization concentrations (MAGCONS) antipodal to young large impact basins
Electron reflection measurements from Apollo 15 and 16 subsatellites show that patches of strong surface magnetic fields ranging in size from less than about 7 km to greater than 500 km are distributed over the surface of the Moon. With the exception of a few regions, no obvious association to surface geology has been found. Researchers examined the antipodes of 23 winged impact basins for which electron reflection measurements are available. It was concluded that the apparent temporal variations for the basin antipodes may reflect real variations in the lunar magnetic field
The effect of the relative orientation between the coronal field and new emerging flux: I Global Properties
The emergence of magnetic flux from the convection zone into the corona is an
important process for the dynamical evolution of the coronal magnetic field. In
this paper we extend our previous numerical investigations, by looking at the
process of flux interaction as an initially twisted flux tube emerges into a
plane parallel, coronal magnetic field. Significant differences are found in
the dynamical appearance and evolution of the emergence process depending on
the relative orientation between the rising flux system and any preexisting
coronal field. When the flux systems are nearly anti-parallel, the experiments
show substantial reconnection and demonstrate clear signatures of a high
temperature plasma located in the high velocity outflow regions extending from
the reconnection region. However, the cases that have a more parallel
orientation of the flux systems show very limited reconnection and none of the
associated features. Despite the very different amount of reconnection between
the two flux systems, it is found that the emerging flux that is still
connected to the original tube, reaches the same height as a function of time.
As a compensation for the loss of tube flux, a clear difference is found in the
extent of the emerging loop in the direction perpendicular to the main axis of
the initial flux tube. Increasing amounts of magnetic reconnection decrease the
volume, which confines the remaining tube flux.Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures Accepted for Ap
Investigating the damping rate of phase-mixed Alfven waves
Context: This paper investigates the effectiveness of phase mixing as a
coronal heating mechanism. A key quantity is the wave damping rate, ,
defined as the ratio of the heating rate to the wave energy.
Aims: We investigate whether or not laminar phase-mixed Alfv\'en waves can
have a large enough value of to heat the corona. We also investigate
the degree to which the of standing Alfv\'en waves which have reached
steady-state can be approximated with a relatively simple equation. Further
foci of this study are the cause of the reduction of in response to
leakage of waves out of a loop, the quantity of this reduction, and how
increasing the number of excited harmonics affects .
Results: We find that at observed frequencies is too small to heat
the corona by approximately three orders of magnitude. Therefore, we believe
that laminar phase mixing is not a viable stand-alone heating mechanism for
coronal loops. We show that is largest at resonance. We find our
simple equation provides a good estimate for the damping rate (within
approximately 10% accuracy) for resonant field lines. However, away from
resonance, the equation provides a poor estimate, predicting to be
orders of magnitude too large. We find that leakage acts to reduce but
plays a negligible role if is of the order required to heat the
corona. If the wave energy follows a power spectrum with slope -5/3 then
grows logarithmically with the number of excited harmonics. If the
number of excited harmonics is increased by much more than 100, then the
heating is mainly caused by gradients that are parallel to the field rather
than perpendicular to it. Therefore, in this case, the system is not heated
mainly by phase mixing.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure
Flare particle acceleration in the interaction of twisted coronal flux ropes
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the U.K. Science and Technology Facilities Council. JT and AWH acknowledge the financial support of STFC through the Consolidated grant, ST/N000609/1, to the University of St Andrews. PKB acknowledges STFC support through ST/P000428/1 at the University of Manchester.Aims. The aim of this work is to investigate and characterise non-thermal particle behaviour in a three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) model of unstable multi-threaded flaring coronal loops. Methods. We have used a numerical scheme which solves the relativistic guiding centre approximation to study the motion of electrons and protons. The scheme uses snapshots from high resolution numerical MHD simulations of coronal loops containing two threads, where a single thread becomes unstable and (in one case) destabilises and merges with an additional thread. Results. The particle responses to the reconnection and fragmentation in MHD simulations of two loop threads are examined in detail. We illustrate the role played by uniform background resistivity and distinguish this from the role of anomalous resistivity using orbits in an MHD simulation where only one thread becomes unstable without destabilising further loop threads. We examine the (scalable) orbit energy gains and final positions recovered at different stages of a second MHD simulation wherein a secondary loop thread is destabilised by (and merges with) the first thread. We compare these results with other theoretical particle acceleration models in the context of observed energetic particle populations during solar flares.PostprintPeer reviewe
A Nanoflare Distribution Generated by Repeated Relaxations Triggered by Kink Instability
Context: It is thought likely that vast numbers of nanoflares are responsible
for the corona having a temperature of millions of degrees. Current
observational technologies lack the resolving power to confirm the nanoflare
hypothesis. An alternative approach is to construct a magnetohydrodynamic
coronal loop model that has the ability to predict nanoflare energy
distributions.
Aims: This paper presents the initial results generated by such a model. It
predicts heating events with a range of sizes, depending on where the
instability threshold for linear kink modes is encountered. The aims are to
calculate the distribution of event energies and to investigate whether kink
instability can be predicted from a single parameter.
Methods: The loop is represented as a straight line-tied cylinder. The
twisting caused by random photospheric motions is captured by two parameters,
representing the ratio of current density to field strength for specific
regions of the loop. Dissipation of the loop's magnetic energy begins during
the nonlinear stage of the instability, which develops as a consequence of
current sheet reconnection. After flaring, the loop evolves to the state of
lowest energy where, in accordance with relaxation theory, the ratio of current
to field is constant throughout the loop and helicity is conserved.
Results: The results suggest that instability cannot be predicted by any
simple twist-derived property reaching a critical value. The model is applied
such that the loop undergoes repeated episodes of instability followed by
energy-releasing relaxation. Hence, an energy distribution of the nanoflares
produced is collated.
Conclusions: The final energy distribution features two nanoflare populations
that follow different power laws. The power law index for the higher energy
population is more than sufficient for coronal heating.Comment: 13 pages, 18 figure
Remote Teaching of Publication-Quality, Single-Case Graphs in Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is ubiquitous, cost-effective, and can be used to create publication-quality single-case design graphs. We systematically replicated the GraphPad Prism video tutorial by Mitteer et al. (2018) to teach 24 master\u27s students to create multiple-baseline graphs using Excel 2016. Students\u27 mean accuracy on the multiple-baseline graph was 25% in pretraining, 86% with the video tutorial, and 96% with the review checklist. Next, students used the same video tutorial to create multielement and reversal graphs. Students\u27 mean accuracy on the multielement graph was 93% with video tutorial and 94% with review checklist, and accuracy on the reversal graph was 82% with video tutorial and 94% with review checklist. Students reported moderate to high satisfaction with both training components. The results support scientist-practitioners using the video tutorial and review checklists to create three common graphs using Excel 2016, Excel 2019, and Excel Office 365
3D MHD Flux Emergence Experiments: Idealized models and coronal interactions
This paper reviews some of the many 3D numerical experiments of the emergence
of magnetic fields from the solar interior and the subsequent interaction with
the pre-existing coronal magnetic field. The models described here are
idealized, in the sense that the internal energy equation only involves the
adiabatic, Ohmic and viscous shock heating terms. However, provided the main
aim is to investigate the dynamical evolution, this is adequate. Many
interesting observational phenomena are explained by these models in a
self-consistent manner.Comment: Review article, accepted for publication in Solar Physic
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