Search Publications
A Critical Assessment of Nonlinear Force-Free Field Modeling of the Solar Corona for Active Region 10953
Leka, K. D.; Cheung, Mark C. M.; Lites, Bruce W. +16 more
Nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) models are thought to be viable tools for investigating the structure, dynamics, and evolution of the coronae of solar active regions. In a series of NLFFF modeling studies, we have found that NLFFF models are successful in application to analytic test cases, and relatively successful when applied to numerically …
Observing the Roots of Solar Coronal Heating—in the Chromosphere
De Pontieu, Bart; McIntosh, Scott W.; Hansteen, Viggo H. +1 more
The Sun's corona is millions of degrees hotter than its 5000 K photosphere. This heating enigma is typically addressed by invoking the deposition at coronal heights of nonthermal energy generated by the interplay between convection and magnetic field near the photosphere. However, it remains unclear how and where coronal heating occurs and how the…
Resolving the 180° Ambiguity in Solar Vector Magnetic Field Data: Evaluating the Effects of Noise, Spatial Resolution, and Method Assumptions
Liu, Y.; Jing, Ju; Leka, K. D. +4 more
The objective testing of algorithms for performing ambiguity resolution in vector magnetic field data is continued, with an examination of the effects of noise in the data. Through the use of analytic magnetic field models, two types of noise are "added" prior to resolving: noise to simulate Poisson photon noise in the observed polarization spectr…
Velocity Characteristics of Evaporated Plasma Using Hinode/EUV Imaging Spectrometer
Milligan, Ryan O.; Dennis, Brian R.
This paper presents a detailed study of chromospheric evaporation using the EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) onboard Hinode in conjunction with hard X-ray (HXR) observations from Reuven Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI). The advanced capabilities of EIS were used to measure Doppler shifts in 15 emission lines covering the temper…
High-precision density measurements in the solar corona. I. Analysis methods and results for Fe XII and Fe XIII
Young, P. R.; Mariska, J. T.; Hara, H. +1 more
Aims: The EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) instrument on board the Hinode satellite has access to some of the best coronal density diagnostics, and the high sensitivity of the instrument now allows electron number density, N_e, measurements to an unprecedented precision of up to ±5% in active regions. This paper gives a thorough overview of data ana…
Longitudinal Waves in Coronal Loops
de Moortel, I.
Outwardly propagating intensity disturbances are a common feature in large, quiescent coronal loop structures. In this paper, an overview is given of the observed properties and the theoretical modelling. As a large number of events have been observed and analysed, good statistical results on the estimated parameters have now been obtained. The th…
Emergence of Small-scale Magnetic Loops Through the Quiet Solar Atmosphere
Bellot Rubio, L. R.; Martínez González, M. J.
We investigate the emergence of magnetic flux in the quiet Sun at very small spatial scales, focusing on the magnetic connection between the photosphere and chromosphere. The observational data consist of spectropolarimetric measurements and filtergrams taken with the Hinode satellite and the Dutch Open Telescope. We find that a significant fracti…
A Power-Law Distribution of Solar Magnetic Fields Over More Than Five Decades in Flux
Lamb, D. A.; DeForest, C. E.; Hagenaar, H. J. +3 more
Solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and indeed phenomena on all scales observed on the Sun, are inextricably linked with the Sun's magnetic field. The solar surface is covered with magnetic features observed on many spatial scales, which evolve on differing timescales: the largest features, sunspots, follow an 11-year cycle; the smallest seem to…
Fan-Spine Topology Formation Through Two-Step Reconnection Driven by Twisted Flux Emergence
Golub, L.; Aulanier, G.; Schmieder, B. +2 more
We address the formation of three-dimensional nullpoint topologies in the solar corona by combining Hinode/X-ray Telescope (XRT) observations of a small dynamic limb event, which occurred beside a non-erupting prominence cavity, with a three-dimensional (3D) zero-β magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulation. To this end, we model the boundary-driven "k…
Active Region Loops: Hinode/Extreme-Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer Observations
Young, Peter R.; Dwivedi, Bhola N.; Tripathi, Durgesh +2 more
We have carried out a study of active region loops using observations from the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on board Hinode using 1'' raster data for an active region observed on 2007 May 19. We find that active region structures which are clearly discernible in cooler lines (≈1 MK) become "fuzzy" at higher temperatures (≈2 MK). …