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Register a new userOn the Lorentz Force and Torque of Solar Photospheric Emerging Magnetic Fields
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Magnetic flux generated and intensified by the solar dynamo emerges into the solar atmosphere, forming active regions (ARs) including sunspots. Existing theories of flux emergence suggest that the magnetic flux can rise buoyantly through the convection zone but is trapped at the photosphere, while its further rising into the atmosphere resorts to the Parker buoyancy instability. To trigger such an instability, the Lorentz force in the photosphere needs to be as large as the gas pressure gradient to hold up an extra amount of mass against gravity. This naturally results in a strongly non-force-free photosphere, which is indeed shown in typical idealized numerical simulations of flux tube buoyancy from below the photosphere into the corona. Here we conduct a statistical study of the extents of normalized Lorentz forces and torques in the emerging photospheric magnetic field with a substantially large sample of SDO/HMI vector magnetograms. We found that the photospheric field has a rather small Lorentz force and torque on average, and thus is very close to a force-free state, which is not consistent with theories as well as idealized simulations of flux emergence. Furthermore, the small extents of forces and torques seem not to be influenced by the emerging ARs size, the emergence rate, or the non-potentiality of the field. This result puts an important constraint on future development of theories and simulations of flux emergence.
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The structure and dynamics of the solar corona is dominated by the magnetic field. In most areas in the corona magnetic forces are so dominant that all non-magnetic forces like plasma pressure gradient and gravity can be neglected in the lowest order. This model assumption is called the force-free field assumption, as the Lorentz force vanishes. This can be obtained by either vanishing electric currents (leading to potential fields) or the currents are co-aligned with the magnetic field lines. First we discuss a mathematically simpler approach that the magnetic field and currents are proportional with one global constant, the so-called linear force-free field approximation. In the generic case, however, the relation between magnetic fields and electric currents is nonlinear and analytic solutions have been only found for special cases, like 1D or 2D configurations. For constructing realistic nonlinear force-free coronal magnetic field models in 3D, sophisticated numerical computations are required and boundary conditions must be obtained from measurements of the magnetic field vector in the solar photosphere. This approach is currently of large interests, as accurate measurements of the photospheric field become available from ground-based (for example SOLIS) and space-born (for example Hinode and SDO) instruments. If we can obtain accurate force-free coronal magnetic field models we can calculate the free magnetic energy in the corona, a quantity which is important for the prediction of flares and coronal mass ejections. Knowledge of the 3D structure of magnetic field lines also help us to interpret other coronal observations, e.g., EUV-images of the radiating coronal plasma.
The Sun is replete with magnetic fields, with sunspots, pores and plage regions being their most prominent representatives on the solar surface. But even far away from these active regions, magnetic fields are ubiquitous. To a large extent, their importance for the thermodynamics in the solar photosphere is determined by the total magnetic flux. Whereas in low-flux quiet Sun regions, magnetic structures are shuffled around by the motion of granules, the high-flux areas like sunspots or pores effectively suppress convection, leading to a temperature decrease of up to 3000 K. The importance of magnetic fields to the conditions in higher atmospheric layers, the chromosphere and corona, is indisputable. Magnetic fields in both active and quiet regions are the main coupling agent between the outer layers of the solar atmosphere, and are therefore not only involved in the structuring of these layers, but also for the transport of energy from the solar surface through the corona to the interplanetary space. Consequently, inference of magnetic fields in the photosphere, and especially in the chromosphere, is crucial to deepen our understanding not only for solar phenomena such as chromospheric and coronal heating, flares or coronal mass ejections, but also for fundamental physical topics like dynamo theory or atomic physics. In this review, we present an overview of significant advances during the last decades in measurement techniques, analysis methods, and the availability of observatories, together with some selected results. We discuss the problems of determining magnetic fields at smallest spatial scales, connected with increasing demands on polarimetric sensitivity and temporal resolution, and highlight some promising future developments for their solution.
We compute the change in the Lorentz force integrated over the outer solar atmosphere implied by observed changes in vector magnetograms that occur during large, eruptive solar flares. This force perturbation should be balanced by an equal and opposite force perturbation acting on the solar photosphere and solar interior. The resulting expression for the estimated force change in the solar interior generalizes the earlier expression presented by Hudson, Fisher and Welsch (CS-383, ASP, 221, 2008), providing horizontal as well as vertical force components, and provides a more accurate result for the vertical component of the perturbed force. We show that magnetic eruptions should result in the magnetic field at the photosphere becoming more horizontal, and hence should result in a downward (towards the solar interior) force change acting on the photosphere and solar interior, as recently argued from an analysis of magnetogram data by Wang and Liu (Astrophys. J. Lett. 716, L195, 2010). We suggest the existence of an observational relationship between the force change computed from changes in the vector magnetograms, the outward momentum carried by the ejecta from the flare, and the properties of the helioseismic disturbance driven by the downward force change. We use the impulse driven by the Lorentz-force change in the outer solar atmosphere to derive an upper limit to the mass of erupting plasma that can escape from the Sun. Finally, we compare the expected Lorentz-force change at the photosphere with simple estimates from flare-driven gasdynamic disturbances and from an estimate of the perturbed pressure from radiative backwarming of the photosphere in flaring conditions.
We have analyzed multi-wavelength observations and magnetic-field data for the solar flare of May 10, 2012 (04:18 UT) and have detected a sign inversion of the signal in the line-of-sight magnetic measurements in the umbra of a small spot. This effect is associated, at least partly, with the emergence of a new magnetic field. Almost at the same time, a burst of hard X-rays was recorded, and a wave in the vacuum ultraviolet (EUV) range (a sunquake) was generated due to the impact of the disturbance in the energy release range on the photosphere. At the beginning of the event, a sigmoid flare was recorded, but it did not spread, as it usually does, along the polarity inversion (neutral) line. SDO/HMI full-vector measurements were used to extrapolate the AR 11476 magnetic field to the corona, and the distribution of vertical currents $j_z$ in the photosphere was obtained. The distribution of currents in the active region shows that the relationship between them and the occurrence of flares is very intricate. We have corroborated that the expected ideal behavior of the current system before and after the flare (e.g., see (Sharykin and Kosovichev, 2015)) is observed only in the sigmoid region. The results obtained were compared with the observations of two other flares recorded in this AR on the same day, one of which was similar to the flare under discussion and the other was of different type. Our results confirm that the formation and eruption of large-scale magnetic flux ropes in sigmoid flares are associated with the shear motions in the photosphere and the emergence of twisted magnetic tubes, as well as with the subsequent development of the torus instability.
Stealth coronal mass ejection (CMEs) are eruptions from the Sun that are not associated with appreciable low-coronal signatures. Because they often cannot be linked to a well-defined source region on the Sun, analysis of their initial magnetic configuration and eruption dynamics is particularly problematic. In this manuscript, we address this issue by undertaking the first attempt at predicting the magnetic fields of a stealth CME that erupted in 2020 June from the Earth-facing Sun. We estimate its source region with the aid of off-limb observations from a secondary viewpoint and photospheric magnetic field extrapolations. We then employ the Open Solar Physics Rapid Ensemble Information (OSPREI) modelling suite to evaluate its early evolution and forward-model its magnetic fields up to Parker Solar Probe, which detected the CME in situ at a heliocentric distance of 0.5 AU. We compare our hindcast prediction with in-situ measurements and a set of flux rope reconstructions, obtaining encouraging agreement on arrival time, spacecraft crossing location, and magnetic field profiles. This work represents a first step towards reliable understanding and forecasting of the magnetic configuration of stealth CMEs and slow, streamer-blowout events.
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