More on the determination of the coronal heating function from Yohkoh data

Two recent works have analyzed a solar large and steady coronal loop observed with Yohkoh/SXT in two filter passbands to infer the distribution of the heating along it. Priest et al. (2000) modelled the distribution of the temperature obtained from filter ratio method with an analytical approach, and concluded that the heating was uniform along the loop. Aschwanden (2001) found that a uniform heating led to an unreasonably large plasma column depth along the line of sight, and, using a two component loop model, that a footpoint-heated model loop (with a minor cool component) yields more acceptable physical solutions. We revisit the analysis of the same loop system, considering conventional hydrostatic single loop models with uniformly distributed heating, and with heating localized at the footpoints and at the apex, and an unstructured background contribution extrapolated from the region below the analyzed loop. The flux profiles synthesized from the loop models have been compared in detail with those observed in both filter passbands with and without background subtraction; we find that background-subtracted data are fitted with acceptable statistical significance by a model of relatively hot loop (~3.7 MK) heated at the apex, with a column depth ~1/10 of the loop length. In discussing our results, we put warnings on the importance of aspects of data analysis and modeling, such as considering diffuse background emission in complex loop regions.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, refereed pape

Prominence plasma diagnostics through EUV absorption

In this paper we introduce a new diagnostic technique that uses prominence EUV and UV absorption to determine the prominence plasma electron temperature and column emission measure, as well as He/H relative abundance; if a realistic assumption on the geometry of the absorbing plasma can be made, this technique can also yield the absorbing plasma electron density. This technique capitalizes on the absorption properties of Hydrogen and Helium at different wavelength ranges and temperature regimes. Several cases where this technique can be successfully applied are described. This technique works best when prominence plasmas are hotter than 15,000 K and thus it is ideally suited for rapidly heating erupting prominences observed during the initial phases of coronal mass ejections. An example is made using simulated intensities of 4 channels of the SDO/AIA instrument. This technique can be easily applied to existing observations from almost all space missions devoted to the study of the solar atmosphere, which we list.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Ap

TRACE-derived temperature and emission measure profiles along long-lived coronal loops: the role of filamentation

In a recent letter (ApJ 517, L155) Lenz et al. have shown the evidence of uniform temperature along steady long coronal loops observed by TRACE in two different passbands (171 A and 195 A filters). We propose that such an evidence can be explained by the sub-arcsecond structuring of the loops across the magnetic field lines. In this perspective, we present a model of a bundle of six thin parallel hydrostatic filaments with temperature stratification dictated by detailed energy balance and with temperatures at their apex ranging between 0.8 and 5 MK. If analyzed as a single loop, the bundle would appear isothermal along most of its length.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figs, LaTeX text, PostScript figure

Magnetic shuffling of coronal downdrafts

Channelled fragmented downflows are ubiquitous in magnetized atmospheres, and have been recently addressed from an observation after a solar eruption. We study the possible back-effect of the magnetic field on the propagation of confined flows. We compare two 3D MHD simulations of dense supersonic plasma blobs downfalling along a coronal magnetic flux tube. In one, the blobs move strictly along the field lines; in the other, the initial velocity of the blobs is not perfectly aligned to the magnetic field and the field is weaker. The aligned blobs remain compact while flowing along the tube, with the generated shocks. The misaligned blobs are disrupted and merged by the chaotic shuffling of the field lines, and structured into thinner filaments; Alfven wave fronts are generated together with shocks ahead of the dense moving front. Downflowing plasma fragments can be chaotically and efficiently mixed if their motion is misaligned to field lines, with broad implications, e.g., disk accretion in protostars, coronal eruptions and rain.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, proposed for acceptance, movies available upon request to the first autho

Guided flows in coronal magnetic flux tubes

There is evidence for coronal plasma flows to break down into fragments and to be laminar. We investigate this effect by modeling flows confined along magnetic channels. We consider a full MHD model of a solar atmosphere box with a dipole magnetic field. We compare the propagation of a cylindrical flow perfectly aligned to the field to that of another one with a slight misalignment. We assume a flow speed of 200 km/s, and an ambient magnetic field of 30 G. We find that while the aligned flow maintains its cylindrical symmetry while it travels along the magnetic tube, the misaligned one is rapidly squashed on one side, becoming laminar and eventually fragmented because of the interaction and backreaction of the magnetic field. This model could explain an observation of erupted fragments that fall back as thin and elongated strands and end up onto the solar surface in a hedge-like configuration, made by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The initial alignment of plasma flow plays an important role in determining the possible laminar structure and fragmentation of flows while they travel along magnetic channels.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication, movies available upon request to the first autho

Non-equilibrium of Ionization and the Detection of Hot Plasma in Nanoflare-heated Coronal Loops

Impulsive nanoflares are expected to transiently heat the plasma confined in coronal loops to temperatures of the order of 10 MK. Such hot plasma is hardly detected in quiet and active regions, outside flares. During rapid and short heat pulses in rarified loops the plasma can be highly out of equilibrium of ionization. Here we investigate the effects of the non-equilibrium of ionization (NEI) on the detection of hot plasma in coronal loops. Time-dependent loop hydrodynamic simulations are specifically devoted to this task, including saturated thermal conduction, and coupled to the detailed solution of the equations of ionization rate for several abundant elements. In our simulations, initially cool and rarified magnetic flux tubes are heated to 10 MK by nanoflares deposited either at the footpoints or at the loop apex. We test for different pulse durations, and find that, due to NEI effects, the loop plasma may never be detected at temperatures above ~5 MK for heat pulses shorter than about 1 min. We discuss some implications in the framework of multi-stranded nanoflare-heated coronal loops.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publicatio

Hydrodynamic modelling of ejecta shrapnel in the Vela supernova remnant

Many supernova remnants (SNRs) are characterized by a knotty ejecta structure. The Vela SNR is an excellent example of remnant in which detached clumps of ejecta are visible as X-ray emitting bullets that have been observed and studied in great detail. We aim at modelling the evolution of ejecta shrapnel in the Vela SNR, investigating the role of their initial parameters (position and density) and addressing the effects of thermal conduction and radiative losses. We performed a set of 2-D hydrodynamic simulations describing the evolution of a density inhomogeneity in the ejecta profile. We explored different initial setups. We found that the final position of the shrapnel is very sensitive to its initial position within the ejecta, while the dependence on the initial density contrast is weaker. Our model also shows that moderately overdense knots can reproduce the detached features observed in the Vela SNR. Efficient thermal conduction produces detectable effects by determining an efficient mixing of the ejecta knot with the surrounding medium and shaping a characteristic elongated morphology in the clump.Comment: Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Mass Accretion Processes in Young Stellar Objects: Role of Intense Flaring Activity

According to the magnetospheric accretion scenario, young low-mass stars are surrounded by circumstellar disks which they interact with through accretion of mass. The accretion builds up the star to its final mass and is also believed to power the mass outflows, which may in turn have a significant role in removing the excess angular momentum from the star-disk system. Although the process of mass accretion is a critical aspect of star formation, some of its mechanisms are still to be fully understood. On the other hand, strong flaring activity is a common feature of young stellar objects (YSOs). In the Sun, such events give rise to perturbations of the interplanetary medium. Similar but more energetic phenomena occur in YSOs and may influence the circumstellar environment. In fact, a recent study has shown that an intense flaring activity close to the disk may strongly perturb the stability of circumstellar disks, thus inducing mass accretion episodes (Orlando et al. 2011). Here we review the main results obtained in the field and the future perspectives.Comment: 4 pages, 2 Figures; accepted for publication on Acta Polytechnica (Proceedings of the Frascati Workshop 2013

On the importance of background subtraction in the analysis of coronal loops observed with TRACE

In the framework of TRACE coronal observations, we compare the analysis and diagnostics of a loop after subtracting the background with two different and independent methods. The dataset includes sequences of images in the 171 A, 195 A filter bands of TRACE. One background subtraction method consists in taking as background values those obtained from interpolation between concentric strips around the analyzed loop. The other method is a pixel-to-pixel subtraction of the final image when the loop had completely faded out, already used by Reale & Ciaravella 2006. We compare the emission distributions along the loop obtained with the two methods and find that they are considerably different. We find differences as well in the related derive filter ratio and temperature profiles. In particular, the pixel-to-pixel subtraction leads to coherent diagnostics of a cooling loop. With the other subtraction the diagnostics are much less clear. The background subtraction is a delicate issue in the analysis of a loop. The pixel-to-pixel subtraction appears to be more reliable, but its application is not always possible. Subtraction from interpolation between surrounding regions can produce higher systematic errors, because of intersecting structures and of the large amount of subtracted emission in TRACE observations.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure