Spectral Features of Magnetic Fluctuations at Proton Scales from Fast to Slow Solar Wind

This Letter investigates the spectral characteristics of the interplanetary magnetic field fluctuations at proton scales during several time intervals chosen along the speed profile of a fast stream. The character of the fluctuations within the first frequency decade, beyond the high frequency break located between the fluid and the kinetic regime, strongly depends on the type of wind. While the fast wind shows a clear signature of both right handed and left handed polarized fluctuations, possibly associated with KAW and Ion-Cyclotron waves, respectively, the rarefaction region, where the wind speed and the Alfv\'{e}nicity of low frequency fluctuations decrease, shows a rapid disappearance of the ion-cyclotron signature followed by a more gradual disappearance of the KAWs. Moreover, also the power associated to perpendicular and parallel fluctuations experiences a rapid depletion, keeping, however, the power anisotropy in favour of the perpendicular spectrum.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, to be published in ApJ

Differential rotation of the solar corona: A new data-adaptive multiwavelength approach

For the purpose of investigating the differential rotation of the solar corona, we analyzed ultraviolet (UV) spectral line observations acquired on both the east and west limbs at 1.7 $R_{\odot}$ by SOHO/UVCS during the solar minimum preceding solar cycle 23. To obtain a reliable and statistically robust picture of the rotational profile, we used a set of simultaneous 400-day long spectral line intensities of five different spectral lines: O VI 1032 A, O VI 1037 A, Si XII 499 A, Si XII 521 A, and H I 1216 A, which are routinely observed by UVCS. The data were analyzed by means of two different techniques: the generalized Lomb-Scargle periodogram (GLS) and a multivariate data-adaptive technique called multichannel singular spectrum analysis (MSSA). Among many other positive outcomes, this latter method is unique in its ability to recognize common oscillatory modes between the five time series observed at both limbs. The latitudinal rotation profile obtained in this work emphasizes that the low-latitude region of the UV corona (about $\pm 20^{\circ}$ from the solar equator) exhibits differential rotation, while the higher-latitude structures do rotate quasi-rigidly. The differential rotation rate of the solar corona as evinced at low-latitudes is consistent with the rotational profile of the near-surface convective zone of the Sun, suggesting that the rotation of the corona at 1.7 $R_{\odot}$ is linked to intermediate-scale magnetic bipole structures anchored near 0.99 $R_{\odot}$. The quasi-rigid rotation rate found at mid and high latitudes is instead attributed to the influence of large-scale coronal structures linked to the rigidly rotating coronal holes. We further suggest that the methodology presented in this paper could represent a milestone for future investigations on differential rotation rates when dealing with simultaneous multiwavelength data.Comment: A&A, in press (12 pages, 8 figures

Observations of IMF coherent structures and their relationship to SEP dropout events

Abstract. The solar energetic particle (SEP) events from impulsive solar flares are often characterized by short-timescale modulations affecting, at the same time, particles with different energies. Several models and simulations suggest that these modulations are observed when SEPs propagate through magnetic structures with a different connection with the flare site. However, in situ observations rarely showed clear magnetic signatures associated with these modulations. In this paper we used the Grad–Shafranov reconstruction to perform a detailed analysis of the local magnetic field topology during the SEP event of 9–10 January 1999, characterized by several SEP dropouts. An optimization procedure is used to identify, during this SEP event, the magnetic structures which better satisfy the Grad–Shafranov assumptions and to evaluate the direction of their invariant axis. We found that these two-dimensional structures, which are flux ropes or current sheets with a more complex field topology, are generally associated with the maxima in the SEP counts. This association suggests that the SEPs propagate within these structures and, since their gyration radii is much smaller than the transverse dimension of these structure, cannot escape from them

Detection of Solar Coronal Mass Ejections from Raw Images with Deep Convolutional Neural Networks

Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) are massive releases of plasma from the solar corona. When the charged material is ejected towards the Earth, it can cause geomagnetic storms and severely damage electronic equipment and power grids. Early detection of CMEs is therefore crucial for damage containment. In this paper, we study detection of CMEs from sequential images of the solar corona acquired by a satellite. A low-complexity deep neural network is trained to process the raw images, ideally directly on the satellite, in order to provide early alerts

Coronal Diagnostics from Narrowband Images around 30.4 nm

Images taken in the band centered at 30.4 nm are routinely used to map the radiance of the He II Ly alpha line on the solar disk. That line is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, line in the EUV observed in the solar spectrum, and one of the few lines in that wavelength range providing information on the upper chromosphere or lower transition region. However, when observing the off-limb corona the contribution from the nearby Si XI 30.3 nm line can become significant. In this work we aim at estimating the relative contribution of those two lines in the solar corona around the minimum of solar activity. We combine measurements from CDS taken in August 2008 with temperature and density profiles from semiempirical models of the corona to compute the radiances of the two lines, and of other representative coronal lines (e.g., Mg X 62.5 nm, Si XII 52.1 nm). Considering both diagnosed quantities from line ratios (temperatures and densities) and line radiances in absolute units, we obtain a good overall match between observations and models. We find that the Si XI line dominates the He II line from just above the limb up to ~2 R_Sun in streamers, while its contribution to narrowband imaging in the 30.4 nm band is expected to become smaller, even negligible in the corona beyond ~2 - 3 R_Sun, the precise value being strongly dependent on the coronal temperature profile.Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures; to be published in: Solar Physic

GCR flux 9-day variations with LISA Pathfinder

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Comparing extrapolations of the coronal magnetic field structure at 2.5 solar radii with multi-viewpoint coronagraphic observations

The magnetic field shapes the structure of the solar corona but we still know little about the interrelationships between the coronal magnetic field configurations and the resulting quasi-stationary structures observed in coronagraphic images (as streamers, plumes, coronal holes). One way to obtain information on the large-scale structure of the coronal magnetic field is to extrapolate it from photospheric data and compare the results with coronagraphic images. Our aim is to verify if this comparison can be a fast method to check systematically the reliability of the many methods available to reconstruct the coronal magnetic field. Coronal fields are usually extrapolated from photospheric measurements typically in a region close to the central meridian on the solar disk and then compared with coronagraphic images at the limbs, acquired at least 7 days before or after to account for solar rotation, implicitly assuming that no significant changes occurred in the corona during that period. In this work, we combine images from three coronagraphs (SOHO/LASCO-C2 and the two STEREO/SECCHI-COR1) observing the Sun from different viewing angles to build Carrington maps covering the entire corona to reduce the effect of temporal evolution to ~ 5 days. We then compare the position of the observed streamers in these Carrington maps with that of the neutral lines obtained from four different magnetic field extrapolations, to evaluate the performances of the latter in the solar corona. Our results show that the location of coronal streamers can provide important indications to discriminate between different magnetic field extrapolations.Comment: Accepted by A&A the 20th of May, 201

The Heliospheric Space Weather Center: A novel space weather service

The Heliospheric Space Weather Center project is the result of the synergy between the Aerospace Logistics Technology Engineering Company (ALTEC S.p.A.) and the INAF-Astrophysical Observatory of Torino, both located in Turin, Italy. The main goal of this project is to provide space weather medium and short-term forecast, by combining remote-sensing and in situ open data with novel data analysis technologies, giving to scientists the possibility of designing, implementing, and validating space-weather algorithms using extensive data sets