No Arabic abstract
This paper develops the zero-dimensional (0D) hydrodynamic coronal loop model Enthalpy-based Thermal Evolution of Loops (EBTEL) proposed by Klimchuk et al (2008), which studies the plasma response to evolving coronal heating, especially impulsive heating events. The basis of EBTEL is the modelling of mass exchange between the corona and transition region and chromosphere in response to heating variations, with the key parameter being the ratio of transition region to coronal radiation. We develop new models for this parameter that now include gravitational stratification and a physically motivated approach to radiative cooling. A number of examples are presented, including nanoflares in short and long loops, and a small flare. The new features in EBTEL are important for accurate tracking of, in particular, the density. The 0D results are compared to a 1D hydro code (Hydrad) with generally good agreement. EBTEL is suitable for general use as a tool for (a) quick-look results of loop evolution in response to a given heating function, (b) extensive parameter surveys and (c) situations where the modelling of hundreds or thousands of elemental loops is needed. A single run takes a few seconds on a contemporary laptop.
Any successful model of coronal loops must explain a number of observed properties. For warm (~ 1 MK) loops, these include: 1. excess density, 2. flat temperature profile, 3. super-hydrostatic scale height, 4. unstructured intensity profile, and 5. 1000--5000 s lifetime. We examine whether thermal nonequilibrium can reproduce the observations by performing hydrodynamic simulations based on steady coronal heating that decreases exponentially with height. We consider both monolithic and multi-stranded loops. The simulations successfully reproduce certain aspects of the observations, including the excess density, but each of them fails in at least one critical way. Monolithic models have far too much intensity structure, while multi-strand models are either too structured or too long-lived. Our results appear to rule out the widespread existence of heating that is both highly concentrated low in the corona and steady or quasi-steady (slowly varying or impulsive with a rapid cadence). Active regions would have a very different appearance if the dominant heating mechanism had these properties. Thermal nonequilibrium may nonetheless play an important role in prominences and catastrophic cooling events (e.g., coronal rain) that occupy a small fraction of the coronal volume. However, apparent inconsistencies between the models and observations of cooling events have yet to be understood.
Long-period EUV pulsations, recently discovered to be common in active regions, are understood to be the coronal manifestation of thermal non-equilibrium (TNE). The active regions previously studied with EIT/SOHO and AIA/SDO indicated that long-period intensity pulsations are localized in only one or two loop bundles. The basic idea of this study is to understand why. For this purpose, we tested the response of different loop systems, using different magnetic configurations, to different stratifications and strengths of the heating. We present an extensive parameter-space study using 1D hydrodynamic simulations (1,020 in total) and conclude that the occurrence of TNE requires specific combinations of parameters. Our study shows that the TNE cycles are confined to specific ranges in parameter space. This naturally explains why only some loops undergo constant periodic pulsations over several days: since the loop geometry and the heating properties generally vary from one loop to another in an active region, only the ones in which these parameters are compatible exhibits TNE cycles. Furthermore, these parameters (heating and geometry) are likely to vary significantly over the duration of a cycle, which potentially limits the possibilities of periodic behavior. This study also confirms that long-period intensity pulsations and coronal rain are two aspects of the same phenomenon: both phenomena can occur for similar heating conditions and can appear simultaneously in the simulations.
Prediction of the shocks arrival times (SATs) at the Earth is very important for space weather forecast. There is a well-known SAT model, STOA, which is widely used in the space weather forecast. However, the shock transit time from STOA model usually has a relative large error compared to the real measurements. In addition, STOA tends to yield too much `yes prediction, which causes a large number of false alarms. Therefore, in this work, we work on the modification of STOA model. First, we give a new method to calculate the shock transit time by modifying the way to use the solar wind speed in STOA model. Second, we develop new criteria for deciding whether the shock will arrive at the Earth with the help of the sunspot numbers and the angle distances of the flare events. It is shown that our work can improve the SATs prediction significantly, especially the prediction of flare events without shocks arriving at the Earth.
I study the joint effect of dynamical friction, tidal torques and cosmological constant on clusters of galaxies formation I show that within high-density environments, such as rich clusters of galaxies, both dynamical friction and tidal torques slows down the collapse of low-? peaks producing an observable variation in the time of collapse of the perturbation and, as a consequence, a reduction in the mass bound to the collapsed perturbation Moreover, the delay of the collapse produces a tendency for less dense regions to accrete less mass, with respect to a classical spherical model, inducing a biasing of over-dense regions toward higher mass I show how the threshold of collapse is modified if dynamical friction, tidal torques and a non-zero cosmological constant are taken into account and I use the Extended Press Schecter (EPS) approach to calculate the effects on the mass function Then, I compare the numerical mass function given in Reed et al (2003) with the theoretical mass function obtained in the present paper I show that the barrier obtained in the present paper gives rise to a better description of the mass function evolution with respect to other previous models (Sheth & Tormen 1999, MNRAS, 308, 119 (hereafter ST); Sheth & Tormen 2002, MNRAS, 329, 61 (hereafter ST1))
Thermal non-equilibrium (TNE) is a phenomenon that can occur in solar coronal loops when the heating is quasi-constant and highly-stratified. Under such heating conditions, coronal loops undergo cycles of evaporation and condensation. The recent observations of ubiquitous long-period intensity pulsations in coronal loops and their relationship with coronal rain have demonstrated that understanding the characteristics of TNE cycles is an essential step in constraining the circulation of mass and energy in the corona. We report unique observations with the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) that link the captured thermal properties across the extreme spatiotemporal scales covered by TNE processes. Within the same coronal loop bundle, we captured 6 hr period coronal intensity pulsations in SDO/AIA and coronal rain observed off-limb in the chromospheric Halpha and Ca II K spectral lines with SST/CRISP and SST/CHROMIS. We combined a multi-thermal analysis of the cycles with AIA and an extensive spectral characterisation of the rain clumps with the SST. We find clear evidence of evaporation-condensation cycles in the corona which are linked with periodic coronal rain showers. The high-resolution spectroscopic instruments at the SST reveal the fine-structured rain strands and allow us to probe the cooling phase of one of the cycles down to chromospheric temperatures. These observations reinforce the link between long-period intensity pulsations and coronal rain. They also demonstrate the capability of TNE to shape the dynamics of active regions on the large scales as well as on the smallest scales currently resolvable.