Three Dimensional Structure and Energy Balance of a Coronal Mass Ejection

The Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) observed Doppler shifted material of a partial Halo Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) on December 13 2001. The observed ratio of [O V]/O V] is a reliable density diagnostic important for assessing the state of the plasma. Earlier UVCS observations of CMEs found evidence that the ejected plasma is heated long after the eruption. We have investigated the heating rates, which represent a significant fraction of the CME energy budget. The parameterized heating and radiative and adiabatic cooling have been used to evaluate the temperature evolution of the CME material with a time dependent ionization state model. The functional form of a flux rope model for interplanetary magnetic clouds was also used to parameterize the heating. We find that continuous heating is required to match the UVCS observations. To match the O VI-bright knots, a higher heating rate is required such that the heating energy is greater than the kinetic energy. The temperatures for the knots bright in Ly$\alpha$ and C III emission indicate that smaller heating rates are required for those regions. In the context of the flux rope model, about 75% of the magnetic energy must go into heat in order to match the O VI observations. We derive tighter constraints on the heating than earlier analyses, and we show that thermal conduction with the Spitzer conductivity is not sufficient to account for the heating at large heights.Comment: 40 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ For associated mpeg file, please see https://www.cora.nwra.com/~jylee/mpg/f5.mp

Initiation and propagation of coronal mass ejections

This paper reviews recent progress in the research on the initiation and propagation of CMEs. In the initiation part, several trigger mechanisms are discussed; In the propagation part, the observations and modelings of EIT waves/dimmings, as the EUV counterparts of CMEs, are described.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, an invited review, to appear in J. Astrophys. Astro

Effect of Thermoelectric Cooling in Nanoscale Junctions

We propose a thermoelectric cooling device based on an atomic-sized junction. Using first-principles approaches, we investigate the working conditions and the coefficient of performance (COP) of an atomic-scale electronic refrigerator where the effects of phonon's thermal current and local heating are included. It is observed that the functioning of the thermoelectric nano-refrigerator is restricted to a narrow range of driving voltages. Compared with the bulk thermoelectric system with the overwhelmingly irreversible Joule heating, the 4-Al atomic refrigerator has a higher efficiency than a bulk thermoelectric refrigerator with the same $ZT$ due to suppressed local heating via the quasi-ballistic electron transport and small driving voltages. Quantum nature due to the size minimization offered by atomic-level control of properties facilitates electron cooling beyond the expectation of the conventional thermoelectric device theory.Comment: 8 figure

A Symmetric Generalization of Linear B\"acklund Transformation associated with the Hirota Bilinear Difference Equation

The Hirota bilinear difference equation is generalized to discrete space of arbitrary dimension. Solutions to the nonlinear difference equations can be obtained via B\"acklund transformation of the corresponding linear problems.Comment: Latex, 12 pages, 1 figur

Spin Calogero Particles and Bispectral Solutions of the Matrix KP Hierarchy

Pairs of $n\times n$ matrices whose commutator differ from the identity by a matrix of rank $r$ are used to construct bispectral differential operators with $r\times r$ matrix coefficients satisfying the Lax equations of the Matrix KP hierarchy. Moreover, the bispectral involution on these operators has dynamical significance for the spin Calogero particles system whose phase space such pairs represent. In the case $r=1$, this reproduces well-known results of Wilson and others from the 1990's relating (spinless) Calogero-Moser systems to the bispectrality of (scalar) differential operators. This new class of pairs $(L, \Lambda)$ of bispectral matrix differential operators is different than those previously studied in that $L$ acts from the left, but $\Lambda$ from the right on a common $r\times r$ eigenmatrix.Comment: 16 page

The Grad-Shafranov Reconstruction of Toroidal Magnetic Flux Ropes: Method Development and Benchmark Studies

We develop an approach of Grad-Shafranov (GS) reconstruction for toroidal structures in space plasmas, based on in-situ spacecraft measurements. The underlying theory is the GS equation that describes two-dimensional magnetohydrostatic equilibrium as widely applied in fusion plasmas. The geometry is such that the arbitrary cross section of the torus has rotational symmetry about the rotation axis $Z$, with a major radius $r_0$. The magnetic field configuration is thus determined by a scalar flux function $\Psi$ and a functional $F$ that is a single-variable function of $\Psi$. The algorithm is implemented through a two-step approach: i) a trial-and-error process by minimizing the residue of the functional $F(\Psi)$ to determine an optimal $Z$ axis orientation, and ii) for the chosen $Z$, a $\chi^2$ minimization process resulting in the range of $r_0$. Benchmark studies of known analytic solutions to the toroidal GS equation with noise additions are presented to illustrate the two-step procedures and to demonstrate the performance of the numerical GS solver, separately. For the cases presented, the errors in $Z$ and $r_0$ are 9$^\circ$ and 22\%, respectively, and the relative percent error in the numerical GS solutions is less than 10\%. We also make public the computer codes for these implementations and benchmark studies.Comment: submitted to Sol. Phys. late Dec 2016; under review; code will be made public once review is ove

Evolution of active and polar photospheric magnetic fields during the rise of Cycle 24 compared to previous cycles

The evolution of the photospheric magnetic field during the declining phase and minimum of Cycle 23 and the recent rise of Cycle 24 are compared with the behavior during previous cycles. We used longitudinal full-disk magnetograms from the NSO's three magnetographs at Kitt Peak, the Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun (SOLIS) Vector Spectro-Magnetograph (VSM), the Spectromagnetograph and the 512-Channel Magnetograph instruments, and longitudinal full-disk magnetograms from the Mt. Wilson 150-foot tower. We analyzed 37 years of observations from these two observatories that have been observing daily, weather permitting, since 1974, offering an opportunity to study the evolving relationship between the active region and polar fields in some detail over several solar cycles. It is found that the annual averages of a proxy for the active region poloidal magnetic field strength, the magnetic field strength of the high-latitude poleward streams, and the time derivative of the polar field strength are all well correlated in each hemisphere. These results are based on statistically significant cyclical patterns in the active region fields and are consistent with the Babcock-Leighton phenomenological model for the solar activity cycle. There was more hemispheric asymmetry in the activity level, as measured by total and maximum active region flux, during late Cycle 23 (after around 2004), when the southern hemisphere was more active, and Cycle 24 up to the present, when the northern hemisphere has been more active, than at any other time since 1974. The active region net proxy poloidal fields effectively disappeared in both hemispheres around 2004, and the polar fields did not become significantly stronger after this time. We see evidence that the process of Cycle 24 field reversal has begun at both poles.Comment: Accepted for publication in Solar Physic

A Parametric Study of Erupting Flux Rope Rotation. Modeling the "Cartwheel CME" on 9 April 2008

The rotation of erupting filaments in the solar corona is addressed through a parametric simulation study of unstable, rotating flux ropes in bipolar force-free initial equilibrium. The Lorentz force due to the external shear field component and the relaxation of tension in the twisted field are the major contributors to the rotation in this model, while reconnection with the ambient field is of minor importance. Both major mechanisms writhe the flux rope axis, converting part of the initial twist helicity, and produce rotation profiles which, to a large part, are very similar in a range of shear-twist combinations. A difference lies in the tendency of twist-driven rotation to saturate at lower heights than shear-driven rotation. For parameters characteristic of the source regions of erupting filaments and coronal mass ejections, the shear field is found to be the dominant origin of rotations in the corona and to be required if the rotation reaches angles of order 90 degrees and higher; it dominates even if the twist exceeds the threshold of the helical kink instability. The contributions by shear and twist to the total rotation can be disentangled in the analysis of observations if the rotation and rise profiles are simultaneously compared with model calculations. The resulting twist estimate allows one to judge whether the helical kink instability occurred. This is demonstrated for the erupting prominence in the "Cartwheel CME" on 9 April 2008, which has shown a rotation of \approx 115 degrees up to a height of 1.5 R_sun above the photosphere. Out of a range of initial equilibria which include strongly kink-unstable (twist Phi=5pi), weakly kink-unstable (Phi=3.5pi), and kink-stable (Phi=2.5pi) configurations, only the evolution of the weakly kink-unstable flux rope matches the observations in their entirety.Comment: Solar Physics, submitte