scholarly journals Magnetism and the Invisible Man: The mysteries of coronal cavities

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (S300) ◽  
pp. 139-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Gibson

AbstractMagnetism defines the complex and dynamic solar corona. Twists and tangles in coronal magnetic fields build up energy and ultimately erupt, hurling plasma into interplanetary space. These coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are transient riders on the ever-outflowing solar wind, which itself possesses a three-dimensional morphology shaped by the global coronal magnetic field. Coronal magnetism is thus at the heart of any understanding of the origins of space weather at the Earth. However, we have historically been limited by the difficulty of directly measuring the magnetic fields of the corona, and have turned to observations of coronal plasma to trace out magnetic structure. This approach is complicated by the fact that plasma temperatures and densities vary among coronal magnetic structures, so that looking at any one wavelength of light only shows part of the picture. In fact, in some regimes it is the lack of plasma that is a significant indicator of the magnetic field. Such a case is the coronal cavity: a dark, elliptical region in which strong and twisted magnetism dwells. I will elucidate these enigmatic features by presenting observations of coronal cavities in multiple wavelengths and from a variety of observing vantages, including unprecedented coronal magnetic field measurements now being obtained by the Coronal Multichannel Polarimeter (CoMP). These observations demonstrate the presence of twisted magnetic fields within cavities, and also provide clues to how and why cavities ultimately erupt as CMEs.

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.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Pomoell ◽  
Emilia Kilpua ◽  
Daniel Price ◽  
Eleanna Asvestari ◽  
Ranadeep Sarkar ◽  
...  

<p>Characterizing the detailed structure of the magnetic field in the active corona is of crucial importance for determining the chain of events from the formation to the destabilisation and subsequent eruption and propagation of coronal structures in the heliosphere. A comprehensive methodology to address these dynamic processes is needed in order to advance our capabilities to predict the properties of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in interplanetary space and thereby for increasing the accuracy of space weather predictions. A promising toolset to provide the key missing information on the magnetic structure of CMEs are time-dependent data-driven simulations of active region magnetic fields. This methodology permits self-consistent modeling of the evolution of the coronal magnetic field from the emergence of flux to the birth of the eruption and beyond. </p><p>In this presentation, we discuss our modeling efforts in which time-dependent data-driven coronal modeling together with heliospheric physics-based modeling are employed to study and characterize CMEs, in particular their magnetic structure, at various stages in their evolution from the Sun to Earth. </p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 630 ◽  
pp. A65 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Bagnulo ◽  
J. D. Landstreet

We report the discovery of weak magnetic fields in three white dwarfs within the local 20 pc volume (WD 0816−310, WD 1009−184, and WD 1532+129), and we confirm the magnetic nature of a fourth star (WD 2138−332) in which we had previously detected a field at a 3σ level. The spectra of all these white dwarfs are characterised by the presence of metal lines and lack of H and He lines, that is, they belong to the spectral class DZ. The polarisation signal of the Ca II H+K lines of WD 1009−184 is particularly spectacular, with an amplitude of 20% that is due to the presence of a magnetic field with an average line-of-sight component of 40 kG. We have thus established that at least 40% of the known DZ white dwarfs with an He-rich atmosphere contained in the 20 pc volume have a magnetic field, while further observations are needed to establish whether the remaining DZ white dwarfs in the same volume are magnetic or not. Metal lines in the spectra of DZ white dwarfs are thought to have originated by accretion from rocky debris, and it might be argued that a link exists between metal accretion and higher occurrence of magnetism. However, we are not able to distinguish whether the magnetic field and the presence of a polluted atmosphere have a common origin, or if it is the presence of metal lines that allows us to detect a higher frequency of magnetic fields in cool white dwarfs, which would otherwise have featureless spectra. We argue that the new highly sensitive longitudinal field measurements that we have made in recent years are consistent with the idea that the magnetic field appears more frequently in older than in younger white dwarfs.


2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Moawad

AbstractKnowledge of the structure of coronal magnetic field originating from the photosphere is relevant to the understanding of many solar activity phenomena, e.g. flares, solar prominences, coronal loops, and coronal heating. In most of the existing literature, these loop-like magnetic structures are modeled as force-free magnetic fields (FFMF) without any plasma flow. In this paper, we present several exact solution classes for nonlinear FFMF, in both translational and axisymmetric geometries. The solutions are considered for their possible relevance to astrophysics and solar physics problems. These are used to illustrate arcade-type magnetic field structures of the photosphere and twisted magnetic flux ropes through the coronal mass ejections (CMEs), as well as magnetic confinement fusion plasmas.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weihong Shi ◽  
Xiangqian Yu ◽  
Yongfu Wang ◽  
Linghua Wang ◽  
Xin Huang ◽  
...  

<p>The Energetic Particle Instrument (EPI), proposed by Peking University for a L1 mission, is designed to provide the three-dimensional distribution of suprathermal electrons and ions with good time, energy and angular resolutions in the interplanetary space, respectively, at energies from 20 keV to 1 MeV and from 20 keV to 11 MeV.  The EPI consists of four dual-double-ended foil/magnet semi-conductor telescopes, which cleanly separate electrons in the energy range from 20 to 400 keV and ions from 20 keV to 6 MeV.</p><p>The magnet of semi-conductor telescopes consists of four type 677H rare earth permanent magnets and a soft iron frame. Due to the high saturation polarization and high magnetic anisotropy of the Nd<sub>2</sub>Fe<sub>14</sub>B strongly magnetic matrix phase, this system can make the magnetic field strong enough to make the electrons deflected.</p><p>A frame made of iron-cobalt alloy VACOFLUX 50 will be able to combine two pairs of magnets and cause the magnetic field to decay rapidly in the far field. In this way, the two air gaps in the system can simultaneously provide a deflecting magnetic field for a pair of anti-parallel sensor systems.</p>


2012 ◽  
Vol 457-458 ◽  
pp. 884-890
Author(s):  
Megumi Uryu ◽  
Katsuyuki Kida ◽  
Takashi Honda ◽  
Kenichi Saruwatari ◽  
Edson Costa Santos ◽  
...  

Fatigue failure of machine components occurs when cracks form in the stress concentration area and propagate under continued loading during component work. In order to understand the relation between the phenomena of stress concentration and crack propagation, non-destructive evaluation methods using in-situ measurements in the stress concentration areas are necessary. In the present work, a scanning Hall probe microscope (SHPM) equipped with a GaAs film sensor was developed and the three dimensional magnetic fields were observed at room temperature in air. The effect of stress on the changes in the magnetic field in steel components is reported. A steel specimen (JIS SKS93) embedded in acrylic resin were strained at different loads and the magnetic field before and after straining were observed. The obtained magnetic images clearly corresponded with the shape of the steel plate. It was possible to measure the changes in the magnetic field of the steel sample after straining under tensile loading, by neutralizing the initial magnetic field of the specimens prior to testing.


The first part of the paper is a physical discussion of the way in which a magnetic field affects the stability of a fluid in motion. Particular emphasis is given to how the magnetic field affects the interaction of the disturbance with the mean motion. The second part is an analysis of the stability of plane parallel flows of fluids with finite viscosity and conductivity under the action of uniform parallel magnetic fields. We show that, in general, three-dimensional disturbances are the most unstable, thus disagreeing with the conclusion of Michael (1953) and Stuart (1954). We show how results obtained for two-dimensional disturbances can be used to calculate the most unstable three-dimensional disturbances and thence we prove that a parallel magnetic field can never completely stabilize a parallel flow.


2003 ◽  
Vol 10 (4/5) ◽  
pp. 313-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Wiegelmann ◽  
T. Neukirch

Abstract. Knowledge of the structure of the coronal magnetic field is important for our understanding of many solar activity phenomena, e.g. flares and CMEs. However, the direct measurement of coronal magnetic fields is not possible with present methods, and therefore the coronal field has to be extrapolated from photospheric measurements. Due to the low plasma beta the coronal magnetic field can usually be assumed to be approximately force free, with electric currents flowing along the magnetic field lines. There are both observational and theoretical reasons which suggest that at least prior to an eruption the coronal magnetic field is in a nonlinear force free state. Unfortunately the computation of nonlinear force free fields is way more difficult than potential or linear force free fields and analytic solutions are not generally available. We discuss several methods which have been proposed to compute nonlinear force free fields and focus particularly on an optimization method which has been suggested recently. We compare the numerical performance of a newly developed numerical code based on the optimization method with the performance of another code based on an MHD relaxation method if both codes are applied to the reconstruction of a semi-analytic nonlinear force-free solution. The optimization method has also been tested for cases where we add random noise to the perfect boundary conditions of the analytic solution, in this way mimicking the more realistic case where the boundary conditions are given by vector magnetogram data. We find that the convergence properties of the optimization method are affected by adding noise to the boundary data and we discuss possibilities to overcome this difficulty.


Electricity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 342-358
Author(s):  
Marco Landini ◽  
Giovanni Mazzanti ◽  
Riccardo Mandrioli

The verification of the limits of the population’s exposure to the magnetic field generated by double-circuit power lines from field measurements carried out on site is not trivial. It requires knowledge of the power line current instant values during the measurement period, the determination of the relationship between current and field at the measurement points (made more complex by the double-circuit overhead line configuration) and the use of that relationship to extrapolate the field values. Nevertheless, the verification of exposure limits for double-circuit power lines from on-site measurements is often conducted with rough, or not particularly stringent, procedures. A practical and straightforward procedure of general validity for non-optimized double-circuit lines is proposed here. No specific measurement position or conductors disposition knowledge is required as well as no complex three-dimensional finite element method code is necessary. The procedure, potentially also applicable to high- and extra-high-voltage lines, is validated on a medium-voltage (15 kV) double-circuit overhead power line study case. Exposure limits assessment suggests that if the line is operated at its rated capacity (230/285 A), the 3 μT quality target is missed. Results are provided with a 95% confidence interval ranging from ±100 nT to ±140 nT in all the cases.


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