222 research outputs found
Distinct Scaling Regimes of Energy Release Dynamics in the Nighttime Magnetosphere
Based on a spatiotemporal analysis of POLAR UVI images, we show that the
auroral emission events that initiate equatorward of the isotropic boundary
(IB) obtained from a time-dependent empirical model, have systematically
steeper power-law slopes of energy, power, area and lifetime probability
distributions compared to the events that initiate poleward of the IB. The
low-latitude group of events contains a distinct subpopulation of
substorm-scale disturbances violating the power-law behavior, while the high
latitude group is described by nearly perfect power-law statistics over the
entire range of scales studied. The results obtained indicate that the inner
and outer portions of the plasma sheet are characterized by substantially
different scaling regimes of bursty energy dissipation suggestive of different
physics in these regions.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 2 table
Spatiotemporal organization of energy release events in the quiet solar corona
Using data from STEREO and SOHO spacecraft, we show that temporal
organization of energy release events in the quiet solar corona is close to
random, in contrast to the clustered behavior of flaring times in solar active
regions. The locations of the quiet-Sun events follow the meso- and
supergranulation pattern of the underling photosphere. Together with earlier
reports of the scale-free event size statistics, our findings suggest that
quiet solar regions responsible for bulk coronal heating operate in a driven
self-organized critical state, possibly involving long-range Alfv\'{e}nic
interactions.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
Scaling and a Fokker-Planck model for fluctuations in geomagnetic indices and comparison with solar wind as seen by Wind and ACE
The evolution of magnetospheric indices on temporal scales shorter than that of substorms is characterized by bursty, intermittent events that may arise from turbulence intrinsic to the magnetosphere or that may reflect solar wind-magnetosphere coupling. This leads to a generic problem of distinguishing between the features of the system and those of the driver. We quantify scaling properties of short-term (up to few hours) fluctuations in the geomagnetic indices AL and AU during solar minimum and maximum, along with the parameter that is a measure of the solar wind driver. We find that self-similar statistics provide a good approximation for the observed scaling properties of fluctuations in the geomagnetic indices, regardless of the solar activity level, and in the parameter at solar maximum. This self-similarity persists for fluctuations on timescales at least up to about 1–2 hours. The scaling exponent of AU index fluctuations show dependence on the solar cycle, and the trend follows that found in the scaling of fluctuations in . The values of their corresponding scaling exponents, however, are always distinct. Fluctuations in the AL index are insensitive to the solar cycle, as well as being distinct from those in the parameter. This approximate self-similar scaling leads to a Fokker-Planck model which, we show, captures the probability density function of fluctuations and provides a stochastic dynamical equation (Langevin equation) for time series of the geomagnetic indices
Image-Optimized Coronal Magnetic Field Models
We have reported previously on a new method we are developing for using
image-based information to improve global coronal magnetic field models. In
that work we presented early tests of the method which proved its capability to
improve global models based on flawed synoptic magnetograms, given excellent
constraints on the field in the model volume. In this follow-up paper we
present the results of similar tests given field constraints of a nature that
could realistically be obtained from quality white-light coronagraph images of
the lower corona. We pay particular attention to difficulties associated with
the line-of-sight projection of features outside of the assumed coronagraph
image plane, and the effect on the outcome of the optimization of errors in
localization of constraints. We find that substantial improvement in the model
field can be achieved with this type of constraints, even when magnetic
features in the images are located outside of the image plane
Measuring temperature - dependent propagating disturbances in coronal fan loops using multiple SDO/AIA channels and surfing transform technique
A set of co-aligned high resolution images from the Atmospheric Imaging
Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is used to
investigate propagating disturbances (PDs) in warm fan loops at the periphery
of a non-flaring active region NOAA AR 11082. To measure PD speeds at multiple
coronal temperatures, a new data analysis methodology is proposed enabling
quantitative description of subvisual coronal motions with low signal-to-noise
ratios of the order of 0.1 %. The technique operates with a set of
one-dimensional "surfing" signals extracted from position-time plots of several
AIA channels through a modified version of Radon transform. The signals are
used to evaluate a two-dimensional power spectral density distribution in the
frequency - velocity space which exhibits a resonance in the presence of
quasi-periodic PDs. By applying this analysis to the same fan loop structures
observed in several AIA channels, we found that the traveling velocity of PDs
increases with the temperature of the coronal plasma following the square root
dependence predicted for the slow mode magneto-acoustic wave which seems to be
the dominating wave mode in the studied loop structures. This result extends
recent observations by Kiddie et al. (Solar Phys., 2012) to a more general
class of fan loop systems not associated with sunspots and demonstrating
consistent slow mode activity in up to four AIA channels.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, 2 table
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