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Register a new userInvestigation of the Middle Corona with SWAP and a Data-Driven Non-Potential Coronal Magnetic Field Model
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The large field-of-view of the Sun Watcher using Active Pixel System detector and Image Processing (SWAP) instrument on board the PRoject for Onboard Autonomy 2 (PROBA2) spacecraft provides a unique opportunity to study extended coronal structures observed in EUV in conjunction with global coronal magnetic field simulations. A global non-potential magnetic field model is used to simulate the evolution of the global corona from 1 September 2014 to 31 March 2015, driven by newly emerging bipolar active regions determined from Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) magnetograms. We compare the large-scale structure of the simulated magnetic field with structures seen off-limb in SWAP EUV observations. In particular, we investigate how successful the model is in reproducing regions of closed and open structures; the scale of structures; and compare the evolution of a coronal fan observed over several rotations. The model is found to accurately reproduce observed large-scale off-limb structures. When discrepancies do arise they mainly occur off the east solar limb due to active regions emerging on the far side of the Sun, which cannot be incorporated into the model until they are observed on the Earth-facing side. When such ``late active region emergences are incorporated into the model, we find that the simulated corona self-corrects within a few days, so that simulated structures off the west limb more closely match what is observed. Where the model is less successful, we consider how this may be addressed, through model developments or additional observational products.
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We estimated the accuracy of coronal magnetic fields derived from radio observations by comparing them to potential field calculations and the DEM measurements using EUV observations. We derived line of sight component of the coronal magnetic field from polarization observations of the thermal bremsstrahlung in the NOAA active region 11150, observed around 3:00 UT on February 3, 2011 using the Nobeyama Radioheliograph at 17 GHz. Because the thermal bremsstrahlung intensity at 17 GHz includes both chromospheric and coronal components, we extracted only the coronal component by measuring the coronal emission measure in EUV observations. In addition, we derived only the radio polarization component of the corona by selecting the region of coronal loops and weak magnetic field strength in the chromosphere along the line of sight. The upper limit of the coronal longitudinal magnetic fields were determined as 100 - 210 G. We also calculated the coronal longitudinal magnetic fields from the potential field extrapolation using the photospheric magnetic field obtained from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI). However, the calculated potential fields were certainly smaller than the observed coronal longitudinal magnetic field. This discrepancy between the potential and the observed magnetic field strengths can be explained consistently by two reasons; (a) the underestimation of the coronal emission measure resulting from the limitation of the temperature range of the EUV observations, (b) the underestimation of the coronal magnetic field resulting from the potential field assumption.
We investigated the coronal properties of G-dwarf stars including the Sun over a wide range of X-ray luminosity $L_{rm X}$ ($3times 10^{26}$ to $2times 10^{30}~{rm erg~s^{-1}}$). We analyzed the archival data of ten X-ray bright ($L_{it X}>10^{28}~{rm erg~s^{-1}}$) G-dwarf stars to derive their emission measure (EM) and the coronal temperature ($T$) during the periods when no prominent stellar flares were observed. We attempted to explain the relation on the basis of our understanding of the present Sun: a steady corona model based on the so-called RTV scaling laws and the observed power-law distribution function of surface magnetic features. We derived a theoretical scaling law of the EM--$T$ relation for a star with multiple active regions, and applied it to the observations combined with data in literature. We found that with the solar parameters, our scaling law seems to be consistent with the data of slowly-rotating stars. However, more X-ray bright stars are located well above the scaling law based on the solar parameter. The scaling law may explain the observations if those stars show a power-law distribution function of active regions with the same power-law index but a 10-100 times larger coefficient. This suggests that X-ray bright stars show more active regions for a given size than the Sun. Since our samples include rapidly-rotating stars, we infer that the offset of the X-ray bright stars from the present-Sun-based scaling law is due to the enhancement of the surface magnetic field generation by their rapid rotation.
In this work we describe our implementation of a thermodynamic energy equation into the global corona model of the Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF), and its development into the new Lower Corona (LC) model. This work includes the integration of the additional energy transport terms of coronal heating, electron heat conduction, and optically thin radiative cooling into the governing magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) energy equation. We examine two different boundary conditions using this model; one set in the upper transition region (the Radiative Energy Balance model), as well as a uniform chromospheric condition where the transition region can be modeled in its entirety. Via observation synthesis from model results and the subsequent comparison to full sun extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and soft X-Ray observations of Carrington Rotation (CR) 1913 centered on Aug 27, 1996, we demonstrate the need for these additional considerations when using global MHD models to describe the unique conditions in the low corona. Through multiple simulations we examine ability of the LC model to asses and discriminate between coronal heating models, and find that a relative simple empirical heating model is adequate in reproducing structures observed in the low corona. We show that the interplay between coronal heating and electron heat conduction provides significant feedback onto the 3D magnetic topology in the low corona as compared to a potential field extrapolation, and that this feedback is largely dependent on the amount of mechanical energy introduced into the corona.
The Type-II solar radio burst recorded on 13 June 2010 by the radio spectrograph of the Hiraiso Solar Observatory was employed to estimate the magnetic-field strength in the solar corona. The burst was characterized by a well pronounced band-splitting, which we used to estimate the density jump at the shock and Alfven Mach number using the Rankine-Hugoniot relations. The plasma frequency of the Type-II bursts is converted into height [R] in solar radii using the appropriate density model, then we estimated the shock speed [Vs], coronal Alfven velocity [Va], and the magnetic-field strength at different heights. The relative bandwidth of the band-split is found to be in the range 0.2 -- 0.25, corresponding to the density jump of X = 1.44 -- 1.56, and the Alfven Mach number of MA = 1.35 -- 1.45. The inferred mean shock speed was on the order of V ~ 667 km/s. From the dependencies V(R) and MA(R) we found that Alfven speed slightly decreases at R ~ 1.3 -- 1.5. The magnetic-field strength decreases from a value between 2.7 and 1.7 G at R ~ 1.3 -- 1.5 Rs depending on the coronal-density model employed. We find that our results are in good agreement with the empirical scaling by Dulk and McLean (Solar Phys. 57, 279, 1978) and Gopalswamy et al. (Astrophys. J. 744, 72, 2012). Our result shows that Type-II band splitting method is an important tool for inferring the coronal magnetic field, especially when independent measurements were made from white light observations.
The Coronal Global Evolutionary Model (CGEM) provides data-driven simulations of the magnetic field in the solar corona to better understand the build-up of magnetic energy that leads to eruptive events. The CGEM project has developed six capabilities. CGEM modules (1) prepare time series of full-disk vector magnetic field observations to (2) derive the changing electric field in the solar photosphere over active-region scales. This local electric field is (3) incorporated into a surface flux transport model that reconstructs a global electric field that evolves magnetic flux in a consistent way. These electric fields drive a (4) 3D spherical magneto-frictional (SMF) model, either at high-resolution over a restricted range of solid angle or at lower resolution over a global domain, to determine the magnetic field and current density in the low corona. An SMF-generated initial field above an active region and the evolving electric field at the photosphere are used to drive (5) detailed magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of active regions in the low corona. SMF or MHD solutions are then used to compute emissivity proxies that can be compared with coronal observations. Finally, a lower-resolution SMF magnetic field is used to initialize (6) a global MHD model that is driven by an SMF electric-field time series to simulate the outer corona and heliosphere, ultimately connecting Sun to Earth. As a demonstration, this report features results of CGEM applied to observations of the evolution of NOAA Active Region 11158 in February 2011.
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