Radio Measurements of Coronal Magnetic Fields

1994 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 21-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. B. Gelfreikh

AbstractA review of methods of measuring magnetic fields in the solar corona using spectral-polarization observations at microwaves with high spatial resolution is presented. The methods are based on the theory of thermal bremsstrahlung, thermal cyclotron emission, propagation of radio waves in quasi-transverse magnetic field and Faraday rotation of the plane of polarization. The most explicit program of measurements of magnetic fields in the atmosphere of solar active regions has been carried out using radio observations performed on the large reflector radio telescope of the Russian Academy of Sciences — RATAN-600. This proved possible due to good wavelength coverage, multichannel spectrographs observations and high sensitivity to polarization of the instrument. Besides direct measurements of the strength of the magnetic fields in some cases the peculiar parameters of radio sources, such as very steep spectra and high brightness temperatures provide some information on a very complicated local structure of the coronal magnetic field. Of special interest are the results found from combined RATAN-600 and large antennas of aperture synthesis (VLA and WSRT), the latter giving more detailed information on twodimensional structure of radio sources. The bulk of the data obtained allows us to investigate themagnetospheresof the solar active regions as the space in the solar corona where the structures and physical processes are controlled both by the photospheric/underphotospheric currents and surrounding “quiet” corona.

1994 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 559-564
Author(s):  
P. Ambrož ◽  
J. Sýkora

AbstractWe were successful in observing the solar corona during five solar eclipses (1973-1991). For the eclipse days the coronal magnetic field was calculated by extrapolation from the photosphere. Comparison of the observed and calculated coronal structures is carried out and some peculiarities of this comparison, related to the different phases of the solar cycle, are presented.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (S320) ◽  
pp. 167-174
Author(s):  
M. S. Wheatland ◽  
S. A. Gilchrist

AbstractWe review nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) modeling of magnetic fields in active regions. The NLFFF model (in which the electric current density is parallel to the magnetic field) is often adopted to describe the coronal magnetic field, and numerical solutions to the model are constructed based on photospheric vector magnetogram boundary data. Comparative tests of NLFFF codes on sets of boundary data have revealed significant problems, in particular associated with the inconsistency of the model and the data. Nevertheless NLFFF modeling is often applied, in particular to flare-productive active regions. We examine the results, and discuss their reliability.


1993 ◽  
Vol 141 ◽  
pp. 199-202
Author(s):  
Audouin Dollfus ◽  
Jacques Moity

SummaryWe report observational studies of solar active regions n°6150 and n°6850 during cycle 22. Observations were carried out with a tunable monochromatic birefringent filter coupled with a line-shifter and a Stokesmeter as well as with a spectro-magnetograph, both at Meudon Observatory. AR n°6150 is typical of emerging flux regions, while AR n° 6850, with a complex preceding δ-spot, exhibits characteristic configurations of the transverse magnetic field for flaring activity: shear along the neutral line, and curvature coupled with anomalous Evershed mass motions.


1971 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 595-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth H. Schatten

The structure of the magnetic field of the active solar corona is discussed with reference to optical and radio observations of the solar atmosphere. Eclipse observations provide evidence of fine scale structures in the solar atmosphere that appear to relate to the coronal magnetic field. The coronal magnetic field used for comparison is that field calculated from potential theory: the influence of solar activity upon the potential theory field is discussed with reference to observations of the Faraday rotation of a microwave signal from Pioneer 6 as it was occulted by the solar atmosphere. Evidence has been found suggesting the existence of expanding magnetic bottles located at 10 R⊙ above flaring active regions. The dynamics of these events is discussed. It is further suggested that these magnetic bottles are an important component in the solar corona.


1989 ◽  
Vol 104 (1) ◽  
pp. 449-456
Author(s):  
V. V. Zheleznyakov ◽  
E. Ya. Zlotnik

AbstractIt was shown by Zheleznyakov and Zlotnik (1980a, b) that in complex configurations of solar magnetic fields (in hot loops above the active centres, in neutral current sheets in the preflare phase, in hot X-ray kernels in the initial flare phase) a system of cyclotron lines in the spectrum of microwave radiation is likely to be formed. Such a line was obtained by Willson (1985) in the VLA observations at harmonics of the electron gyrofrequency. This communication interprets these observations on the basis of an active region model in which thermal cyclotron radiation is produced by hot plasma filling the magnetic tube in the corona above a group of spots. In this model the frequency of the recorded 1658 MHz line corresponds to the third harmonic of electron gyrofrequency, which yields the magnetic field (196 + 4) G along the magnetic tube axis. The linewidth Af/f ∼ 0.1 is determined by the 10% inhomogeneity of the magnetic field over the cross-section of the tube; the line profile indicates the kinetic temperature distribution of electrons over the tube cross-section with the maximum value 4 x 106 K. Analysis shows that study of cyclotron lines can serve as an efficient tool for diagnostics of magnetic fields and plasma in the solar active regions and flares.


1993 ◽  
Vol 141 ◽  
pp. 461-464
Author(s):  
Wang Huaning ◽  
Lin Yuanzhang

The 180° ambiguity of the transverse magnetic field measured by a heliomagnetograph is an intrinsic problem due to the linear polarization in Zeeman effect(Harvey, 1969). Thus we have to make use of some criteria for calibrating the transverse magnetic fields in vector magnetograms. Up to now, a few criteria have been suggested by some solar physicists (Harvey, 1969; Krall et al., 1982; Sakurai et al., 1985; Aly, 1989; Wu and Ai, 1990; Canfield et al., 1991. The existing criteria could be classified as observational criteria and mathematical criteria. The former is based on the observation facts, such as the fibrils and the filaments in solar filtergrams, and the latter is derived from the mathematical model of solar magnetic field, such as divergence equation (∆. B = 0), potential field model and force-free field model. These criteria, however, are not applicable to all solar active regions, especially to those with complicated magnetic fields. For this reason, we suggest a synthesized method for calibrating the transverse magnetic fields in solar vector magnetograms.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zihao Yang ◽  
Christian Bethge ◽  
Hui Tian ◽  
Steven Tomczyk ◽  
Richard Morton ◽  
...  

<p>Magnetoseismology, a technique of magnetic field diagnostics based on observations of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves, has been widely used to estimate the field strengths of oscillating structures in the solar corona. However, previously magnetoseismology was mostly applied to occasionally occurring oscillation events, providing an estimate of only the average field strength or one-dimensional distribution of field strength along an oscillating structure. This restriction could be eliminated if we apply magnetoseismology to the pervasive propagating transverse MHD waves discovered with the Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter (CoMP). Using several CoMP observations of the Fe XIII 1074.7 nm and 1079.8 nm spectral lines, we obtained maps of the plasma density and wave phase speed in the corona, which allow us to map both the strength and direction of the coronal magnetic field in the plane of sky. We also examined distributions of the electron density and magnetic field strength, and compared their variations with height in the quiet Sun and active regions. Such measurements could provide critical information to advance our understanding of the Sun's magnetism and the magnetic coupling of the whole solar atmosphere.</p>


1968 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 201-201
Author(s):  
N. V. Steshenko

1.The fine structure of the proton sunspot group of July 4–8, 1966 was studied on the basis of high-resolution heliograms. The comparison of the orientation between penumbral filaments and the transverse magnetic fields (observed by A.B. Severny and T.T. Tsap) shows that the direction of the filaments coincides in general with that of the magnetic field.2.Measurements of the magnetic fields of smallest pores (1·5″-2″) showed that the pores are always connected with strong magnetic field (in average 1400 gauss), which is localized at the same small area as the pore.3.Magnetic fields of faculae are concentrated in small elements with the dimension not exceeding 1·5″-3″. Magnetic-field strength H|| of about 45% of facular granules is within the limits of photographic measuring errors (approximately 25 gauss). For a quarter of all facular granules the strength H|| is from 25–50 gauss; about 30% of facular granules have H|| > 50 gauss, and sometimes there appear faculae with field strength of about 200 gauss. The magnetic-field strength of facular granules, which are found directly above spots, is 10–20 times less than the field strength of spots. This field is 80–210 gauss only.4.All observational data mentioned above show that the appearance of the fine-structure features in active regions is directly connected with the fine structure of magnetic field of different strength and different orientation. The study of high-resolution heliograms gives additional information about the fine structure of the magnetic field.


2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (S273) ◽  
pp. 487-490
Author(s):  
Jeongwoo Lee ◽  
Stephen M. White

AbstractMicrowave emissions from sunspots are circularly polarized in the sense of rotation (right or left) determined by the polarity (north or south) of coronal magnetic fields. However, they may convert into unpolarized emissions under certain conditions of magnetic field and electron density in the corona, and this phenomenon of depolarization could be used to derive those parameters. We propose another diagnostic use of microwave depolarization based on the fact that an observed depolarization strip actually represents the coronal magnetic polarity inversion line (PIL) at the heights of effective mode coupling, and its location itself carries information on the distribution of magnetic polarity in the corona. To demonstrate this diagnostic utility we generate a set of magnetic field models for a complex active region with the observed line-of-sight magnetic fields but varying current density distribution and compare them with the 4.9 GHz polarization map obtained with the Very Large Array (VLA). The field extrapolation predicts very different locations of the depolarization strip in the corona depending on the amount of electric currents assumed to exist in the photosphere. Such high sensitivity of microwave depolarization to the coronal magnetic field can therefore be useful for validating electric current density maps inferred from vector magnetic fields observed in the photosphere.


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