The details of the mechanism(s) responsible for the observed heating and dynamics of the solar atmosphere still remain a mystery. Magnetohydrodynamic waves are thought to have a vital role in this process. Although it has been shown that incompressible waves are ubiquitous in off-limb solar atmospheric observations, their energy cannot be readily dissipated. Here we provide, for the first time, on-disk observation and identification of concurrent magnetohydrodynamic wave modes, both compressible and incompressible, in the solar chromosphere. The observed ubiquity and estimated energy flux associated with the detected magnetohydrodynamic waves suggest the chromosphere is a vast reservoir of wave energy with the potential to meet chromospheric and coronal heating requirements. We are also able to propose an upper bound on the flux of the observed wave energy that is able to reach the corona based on observational constraints, which has important implications for the suggested mechanism(s) for quiescent coronal heating.
The detection of overtones of coronal loop kink oscillations has been an important advance in the development of coronal seismology. It has significantly increased the potential of coronal seismology and has thus initiated important theoretical and observational J. Andries is Postdoctoral Fellow of the National Fund for Scientific Research -Flanders (Belgium) (FWO-Vlaanderen). 4 J. Andries et al.improvements. New detections of overtones have been made and a reduction of the error bars has been obtained. The efforts of theoreticians to extend eigenmode studies to more general coronal loop models is no longer a matter of checking the robustness of the model but now also allows for the estimation of certain equilibrium parameters. The frequencies of the detected (longitudinal) overtones are in particular sensitive to changes in the equilibrium properties along the loop, especially the density and the magnetic field expansion. Also, attempts have been made to use the limited longitudinal resolution in combination with the theoretical eigenmodes as an additional seismological tool.
The chromosphere is a thin layer of the solar atmosphere that bridges the relatively cool photosphere and the intensely heated transition region and corona. Compressible and incompressible waves propagating through the chromosphere can supply significant amounts of energy to the interface region and corona. In recent years an abundance of high-resolution observations from state-of-the-art facilities have provided new and exciting ways of disentangling the characteristics of oscillatory phenomena propagating through the dynamic chromosphere. Coupled with rapid advancements in magnetohydrodynamic wave theory, we are now in an ideal position to thoroughly investigate the role waves play in supplying energy to sustain chromospheric and coronal heating. Here, we review the recent progress made in characterising, categorising and interpreting oscillations manifesting in the solar chromosphere, with an impetus placed on their intrinsic energetics.
We present observational evidence of compressible magnetohydrodynamic wave modes propagating from the solar photosphere through to the base of the transition region in a solar magnetic pore. High cadence images were obtained simultaneously across four wavelength bands using the Dunn Solar Telescope. Employing Fourier and wavelet techniques, sausage-mode oscillations displaying significant power were detected in both intensity and area fluctuations. The intensity and area fluctuations exhibit a range of periods from 181 − 412 s, with an average period ∼290 s, consistent with the global p-mode spectrum. Intensity and area oscillations present in adjacent bandpasses were found to be out-of-phase with one another, displaying phase angles of 6.12 • , 5.82 • and 15.97 • between 4170Å continuum -G-band, G-band -Na I D 1 and Na I D 1 -Ca II K heights, respectively, reiterating the presence of upwardly-propagating sausage-mode waves. A phase relationship of ∼0 • between same-bandpass emission and area perturbations of the pore best categorises the waves as belonging to the 'slow' regime of a dispersion diagram. Theoretical calculations reveal that the waves are surface modes, with initial photospheric energies in excess of 35 000 W m −2 . The wave energetics indicate a substantial decrease in energy with atmospheric height, confirming that magnetic pores are able to transport waves that exhibit appreciable energy damping, which may release considerable energy into the local chromospheric plasma.
In this Letter we establish clear evidence for the resonant absorption damping mechanism by analyzing observational data from the novel Coronal Multi-Channel Polarimeter (CoMP). This instrument has established that in the solar corona there are ubiquitous propagating low amplitude (≈1 km s −1 ) Alfvénic waves with a wide range of frequencies. Realistically interpreting these waves as the kink mode from magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) wave theory, they should exhibit a frequency dependent damping length due to resonant absorption, governed by the TGV relation showing that transversal plasma inhomogeneity in coronal magnetic flux tubes causes them to act as natural low-pass filters. It is found that observed frequency dependence on damping length (up to about 8 mHz) can be explained by the kink wave interpretation and furthermore, the spatially averaged equilibrium parameter describing the length scale of transverse plasma density inhomogeneity over a system of coronal loops is consistent with the range of values estimated from TRACE observations of standing kink modes.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.