No Arabic abstract
We show examples of excitation of coronal waves by flare-related abrupt eruptions of magnetic rope structures. The waves presumably rapidly steepened into shocks and freely propagated afterwards like decelerating blast waves that showed up as Moreton waves and EUV waves. We propose a simple quantitative description for such shock waves to reconcile their observed propagation with drift rates of metric type II bursts and kinematics of leading edges of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Taking account of different plasma density falloffs for propagation of a wave up and along the solar surface, we demonstrate a close correspondence between drift rates of type II bursts and speeds of EUV waves, Moreton waves, and CMEs observed in a few known events.
On 17 January 2010, STEREO-B observed in extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and white light a large-scale dome-shaped expanding coronal transient with perfectly connected off-limb and on-disk signatures. Veronig et al. (2010, ApJL 716, 57) concluded that the dome was formed by a weak shock wave. We have revealed two EUV components, one of which corresponded to this transient. All of its properties found from EUV, white light, and a metric type II burst match expectations for a freely expanding coronal shock wave including correspondence to the fast-mode speed distribution, while the transient sweeping over the solar surface had a speed typical of EUV waves. The shock wave was presumably excited by an abrupt filament eruption. Both a weak shock approximation and a power-law fit match kinematics of the transient near the Sun. Moreover, the power-law fit matches expansion of the CME leading edge up to 24 solar radii. The second, quasi-stationary EUV component near the dimming was presumably associated with a stretched CME structure; no indications of opening magnetic fields have been detected far from the eruption region.
We continue our study (Grechnev et al. (2013), doi:10.1007/s11207-013-0316-6; Paper I) on the 18 November 2003 geoffective event. To understand possible impact on geospace of coronal transients observed on that day, we investigated their properties from solar near-surface manifestations in extreme ultraviolet, LASCO white-light images, and dynamic radio spectra. We reconcile near-surface activity with the expansion of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and determine their orientation relative to the earthward direction. The kinematic measurements, dynamic radio spectra, and microwave and X-ray light curves all contribute to the overall picture of the complex event and confirm an additional eruption at 08:07 - 08:20 UT close to the solar disk center presumed in Paper I. Unusual characteristics of the ejection appear to match those expected for a source of the 20 November superstorm but make its detection in LASCO images hopeless. On the other hand, none of the CMEs observed by LASCO seem to be a promising candidate for a source of the superstorm being able to produce, at most, a glancing blow on the Earths magnetosphere. Our analysis confirms free propagation of shock waves revealed in the event and reconciles their kinematics with EUV waves and dynamic radio spectra up to decameters.
We investigate the physical conditions of the sources of two metric Type-II bursts associated with CME expansions with the aim of verifying the relationship between the shocks and the CMEs, comparing the heights of the radio sources and the heights of the EUV waves associated with the CMEs. The heights of the EUV waves associated with the events were determined in relation to the wave fronts. The heights of the shocks were estimated by applying two different density models to the frequencies of the Type-II emissions and compared with the heights of the EUV waves. For the 13 June 2010 event, with band-splitting, the shock speed was estimated from the frequency drifts of the upper and lower branches of the harmonic lane, taking into account the H/F frequency ratio fH/fF = 2. Exponential fits on the intensity maxima of the branches revealed to be more consistent with the morphology of the spectrum of this event. For the 6 June 2012 event, with no band-splitting and with a clear fundamental lane on the spectrum, the shock speed was estimated directly from the frequency drift of the fundamental emission, determined by linear fit on the intensity maxima of the lane. For each event, the most appropriate density model was adopted to estimate the physical parameters of the radio source. The 13 June 2010 event presented a shock speed of 664-719 km/s, consistent with the average speed of the EUV wave fronts of 609 km/s. The 6 June 2012 event was related to a shock of speed of 211-461 km/s, also consistent with the average speed of the EUV wave fronts of 418 km/s. For both events, the heights of the EUV wave revealed to be compatible with the heights of the radio source, assuming a radial propagation of the shock.
Numerical simulations of magnetosonic wave formation driven by an expanding cylindrical piston are performed to get better physical insight into the initiation and evolution of large-scale coronal waves. Several very basic initial configurations are employed to analyze intrinsic characteristics of the MHD wave formation that do not depend on specific properties of the environment. It turns out that these simple initial configurations result in piston/wave morphologies and kinematics that reproduce common characteristics of coronal waves. In the initial stage the wave and the expanding source-region cannot be clearly resolved. During the acceleration stage of the source-region inflation, the wave is driven by the piston expansion, so its amplitude and phase-speed increase, whereas the wavefront profile steepens. At a given point, a discontinuity forms in the wavefront profile. The time/distance required for the shock formation is shorter for a more impulsive source-region expansion. After the piston stops, the wave amplitude and phase-speed start decreasing. During the expansion, most of the source region becomes strongly rarified, which reproduces the coronal dimming left behind the eruption. On the other hand, the density increases at the source-region boundary, and stays enhanced even after the expansion stops, which might explain stationary brightenings that are sometimes observed at the edges of the erupted coronal structure. In addition, in the rear of the wave a weak density depletion develops, trailing the wave, which is sometimes observed as weak transient coronal dimming. Finally, we find a well defined relationship between the impulsiveness of the source-region expansion and the wave amplitude and phase speed. The results for the cylindrical piston are also compared with the outcome for a planar wave, to find out how different geometries affect the evolution of the wave.
A gradual solar energetic particle (SEP) event is thought to happen when particles are accelerated at a shock due to a fast coronal mass ejection (CME). To quantify what kind of solar eruptions can result in such SEP events, we have conducted detailed investigations on the characteristics of CMEs, solar flares and m-to-DH wavelength type II radio bursts (herein after m-to-DH type II bursts) for SEP-associated and non-SEP-associated events, observed during the period of 1997-2012. Interestingly, 65% of m-to-DH type II bursts associated with CMEs and flares produced SEP events. The SEP-associated CMEs have higher sky-plane mean speed, projection corrected speed, and sky-plane peak speed than those of non-SEP-associated CMEs respectively by 30%, 39%, and 25%, even though the two sets of CMEs achieved their sky-plane peak speeds at nearly similar heights within LASCO field of view. We found Pearsons correlation coefficients between the speeds of CMEs speeds and logarithmic peak intensity of SEP events are cc = 0.62 and cc = 0.58, respectively. We also found that the SEP-associated CMEs are on average of three times more decelerated (-21.52 m/s2) than the non-SEP-associated CMEs (-5.63 m/s2). The SEP-associated m type II bursts have higher frequency drift rate and associated shock speed than those of the non-SEP-associated events by 70% and 25% respectively. The average formation heights of m and DH type II radio bursts for SEP-associated events are lower than for non-SEP-associated events. 93% of SEP-associated events originate from the western hemisphere and 65% of SEP-associated events are associated with interacting CMEs. The obtained results indicate that, at least for the set of CMEs associated with m-to-DH type II bursts, SEP-associated CMEs are more energetic than those not associated with SEPs, thus suggesting that they are effective particle accelerators.