Stellar Activity and Coronal Heating: an overview of recent results

Observations of the coronae of the Sun and of solar-like stars provide complementary information to advance our understanding of stellar magnetic activity, and of the processes leading to the heating of their outer atmospheres. While solar observations allow us to study the corona at high spatial and temporal resolution, the study of stellar coronae allows us to probe stellar activity over a wide range of ages and stellar parameters. Stellar studies therefore provide us with additional tools for understanding coronal heating processes, as well as the long-term evolution of solar X-ray activity. We discuss how recent studies of stellar magnetic fields and coronae contribute to our understanding of the phenomenon of activity and coronal heating in late-type stars.Comment: Accepted for publication on Philosophical Transactions A. 29 pages, 5 figure

Evidence of Non-Thermal Particles in Coronal Loops Heated Impulsively by Nanoflares

The physical processes causing energy exchange between the Sun's hot corona and its cool lower atmosphere remain poorly understood. The chromosphere and transition region (TR) form an interface region between the surface and the corona that is highly sensitive to the coronal heating mechanism. High resolution observations with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) reveal rapid variability (about 20 to 60 seconds) of intensity and velocity on small spatial scales at the footpoints of hot dynamic coronal loops. The observations are consistent with numerical simulations of heating by beams of non-thermal electrons, which are generated in small impulsive heating events called "coronal nanoflares". The accelerated electrons deposit a sizable fraction of their energy in the chromosphere and TR. Our analysis provides tight constraints on the properties of such electron beams and new diagnostics for their presence in the nonflaring corona.Comment: Published in Science on October 17: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/346/6207/1255724 . 26 pages, 10 figures. Movies are available at: http://www.lmsal.com/~ptesta/iris_science_mov

Using a Differential Emission Measure and Density Measurements in an Active Region Core to Test a Steady Heating Model

The frequency of heating events in the corona is an important constraint on the coronal heating mechanisms. Observations indicate that the intensities and velocities measured in active region cores are effectively steady, suggesting that heating events occur rapidly enough to keep high temperature active region loops close to equilibrium. In this paper, we couple observations of Active Region 10955 made with XRT and EIS on \textit{Hinode} to test a simple steady heating model. First we calculate the differential emission measure of the apex region of the loops in the active region core. We find the DEM to be broad and peaked around 3\,MK. We then determine the densities in the corresponding footpoint regions. Using potential field extrapolations to approximate the loop lengths and the density-sensitive line ratios to infer the magnitude of the heating, we build a steady heating model for the active region core and find that we can match the general properties of the observed DEM for the temperature range of 6.3 $<$ Log T $<$ 6.7. This model, for the first time, accounts for the base pressure, loop length, and distribution of apex temperatures of the core loops. We find that the density-sensitive spectral line intensities and the bulk of the hot emission in the active region core are consistent with steady heating. We also find, however, that the steady heating model cannot address the emission observed at lower temperatures. This emission may be due to foreground or background structures, or may indicate that the heating in the core is more complicated. Different heating scenarios must be tested to determine if they have the same level of agreement.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, accepted to Ap

The Flares of Proxima Cen

Flares on Proxima Cen are ubiquitous. As on the Sun, they are expected to be distributed as power-laws of the form N(E)∝E−α. We track the variations of α over the stellar cycle, using data from multiple observatories using ASCA, Swift, Chandra, and XMM. After correcting for coronal temperature variations, we find a remarkable consistency in the shape of the flare distributions across the epochs, with α>2. If flare onset is attributable to self-organized critical proccesses, this suggests that the characteristics of the magnetic field structure like the filling factor and the plasma heating mechanism on Proxima Cen remain stable throughout the cycle

Eruption cyclicity at silicic volcanoes potentially caused by magmatic gas waves

cited By 23Eruptions at active silicic volcanoes are often cyclical. For example, at the Soufrière Hills volcano in Montserrat, Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, and Sakurajima in Japan, episodes of intense activity alternate with repose intervals over periods between several hours and a day. Abrupt changes in eruption rates have been explained with the motion of a plug of magma that alternatively sticks or slides along the wall of the volcanic conduit. However, it is unclear how the static friction that prevents the plug from sliding is periodically overcome. Here we use two-phase flow equations to model a gas-rich, viscous magma ascending through a volcanic conduit. Our analyses indicate that magma compaction yields ascending waves comprised of low- and high-porosity bands. However, magma ascent to lower pressures also causes gas expansion. We find that the competition between magma compaction and gas expansion naturally selects pressurized gas waves with specific periods. At the surface, these waves can induce cyclical eruptive behaviour with periods between 1 and 100 hours, which compares well to the observations from Soufrière Hills, Mount Pinatubo and Sakurajima. We find that the period is insensitive to volcano structure, but increases weakly with magma viscosity. We conclude that observations of a shift to a longer eruption cycle imply an increase in magma viscosity and thereby enhanced volcanic hazard. © 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited