Ultra-long and quite thin coronal loop without significant expansion

Context. Coronal loops are the basic building blocks of the solar corona. They are related to the mass supply and heating of solar plasmas in the corona. However, their fundamental magnetic structures are still not well understood. Most coronal loops do not expand significantly, but the diverging magnetic field would have an expansion factor of about 5−10 over one pressure scale height. Aims. We investigate a unique coronal loop with a roughly constant cross section. The loop is ultra long and quite thin. A coronal loop model with magnetic helicity is presented to explain the small expansion of the loop width. Methods. This coronal loop was predominantly detectable in the 171 Å channel of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA). Then, the local magnetic field line was extrapolated within a model of the potential field source-surface. Finally, the differential emission measure analysis made from six AIA bandpasses was applied to obtain the thermal properties of this loop. Results. This coronal loop has a projected length of roughly 130 Mm, a width of about 1.5 ± 0.5 Mm, and a lifetime of about 90 min. It follows an open magnetic field line. The cross section expanded very little (i.e., 1.5−2.0) along the loop length during its whole lifetime. This loop has a nearly constant temperature at about 0.7 ± 0.2 MK, but its density exhibits the typical structure of a stratified atmosphere. Conclusions. We use the theory of a thin twisted flux tube to construct a model for this nonexpanding loop and find that with sufficient twist, a coronal loop can indeed attain equilibrium. However, we cannot rule out other possibilities such as footpoint heating by small-scale reconnection or an elevated scale height by a steady flow along the loop.

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Possible Generation Mechanism for Alfvenic Velocity Spikes and Magnetic Field Switchbacks as Observed by PSP

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-18832 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Xingyu Zhu ◽

Jiansen He ◽

Die Duan ◽

Lei Zhang ◽

Liping Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Magnetic Reconnection ◽

Field Line ◽

Magnetic Field Line ◽

Small Scale ◽

The Sun ◽

Internal Temperature ◽

External Temperature ◽

Pulse Type ◽

The Magnetic Field

<div>According to Parker's theory in the 1950s, the magnetic lines of force extending from the sun to the interplanetary appear to be Archimedean spirals. From 1960 to 1970, it was found that the interplanetary magnetic field not only follows the Archimedes spiral structure, but also has the characteristics of Alfvenic turbulence. How do these Alfvenic turbulence occur? What will be the characteristics when getting close to the Sun? Parker Solar Probe at 0.17au has found that there are often intermittent Alfvenic pulses (or called Alfvenic velocity spikes) in the solar wind. These pulses are high enough that the disturbed magnetic lines may even turn back. What's more interesting is that there is always a compressibility disturbance along with the Alfven pulse: the temperature and density inside and outside the Alfven pulse are different, the internal temperature is often higher than the external temperature, some of the internal density is higher than the external and some is lower than the external. The Alfven pulse often shows asymmetry on both sides: the magnetic field and velocity on one side are "clean" jumps, while on the other side are multiple small-scale disturbances of variables in the transition boundary layer. In view of this new phenomenon of magnetic field line switch back with compressed Alfven pulse, how it is generated is raising a hot debate. It is thought that the exchange magnetic reconnection of the solar atmosphere may be the underlying physical mechanism. But in the traditional exchange magnetic reconnection image, after reconnection, the zigzag magnetic field line can easily become smooth, which can not maintain the distortion of the magnetic field line, and may not be able to explain the observed Alfven pulses. In this work, we propose a new model called "Excitation of Alfven Pulses by Continuous Intermittent Interchange Reconnection with Guide Field Discontinuity" (EAP-CIIR-GFD). By analyzing and comparing the simulation results and observation results, we find that the model can explain the following observation features: (1) Alfven disturbance is pulse type and asymmetric; (2) Alfven pulse is compressible with the enhancement of internal temperature and the increase or decrease of the internal density; (3) Alfven pulse can cause serious distortion of the magnetic field line. Improvements to the model will also be discussed in the report.</div>

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A Quantitative Method to Optimise Magnetic Field Line Fitting of Observed Coronal Loops

Solar Physics ◽

10.1023/b:sola.0000013045.65499.da ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 218 (1/2) ◽

pp. 29-40 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

L. Carcedo ◽

D.S. Brown ◽

A.W. Hood ◽

T. Neukirch ◽

T. Wiegelmann

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Field Line ◽

Magnetic Field Line ◽

Quantitative Method ◽

Coronal Loops ◽

Line Fitting

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Experimental Analysis of Merging Formation of a Field-Reversed Configuration by Use of Magnetic Field Line Tracing

IEEJ Transactions on Fundamentals and Materials ◽

10.1541/ieejfms.131.961 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 131 (11) ◽

pp. 961-962

Author(s):

Keii Gi ◽

Toru Ii ◽

Yasushi Ono

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Field Line ◽

Magnetic Field Line ◽

Experimental Analysis ◽

Field Reversed Configuration

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Comparison of the measured and modelled electron densities and temperatures in the ionosphere and plasmasphere during 20-30 January, 1993

Annales Geophysicae ◽

10.1007/s00585-000-1257-6 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 18 (10) ◽

pp. 1257-1262 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

A. V. Pavlov ◽

T. Abe ◽

K.-I. Oyama

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Heat Flux ◽

Electron Temperature ◽

Field Line ◽

Electron Density ◽

Magnetic Field Line ◽

New Approach ◽

Additional Heating ◽

Vibrational Levels ◽

The Magnetic Field

Abstract. We present a comparison of the electron density and temperature behaviour in the ionosphere and plasmasphere measured by the Millstone Hill incoherent-scatter radar and the instruments on board of the EXOS-D satellite with numerical model calculations from a time-dependent mathematical model of the Earth's ionosphere and plasmasphere during the geomagnetically quiet and storm period on 20–30 January, 1993. We have evaluated the value of the additional heating rate that should be added to the normal photoelectron heating in the electron energy equation in the daytime plasmasphere region above 5000 km along the magnetic field line to explain the high electron temperature measured by the instruments on board of the EXOS-D satellite within the Millstone Hill magnetic field flux tube in the Northern Hemisphere. The additional heating brings the measured and modelled electron temperatures into agreement in the plasmasphere and into very large disagreement in the ionosphere if the classical electron heat flux along magnetic field line is used in the model. A new approach, based on a new effective electron thermal conductivity coefficient along the magnetic field line, is presented to model the electron temperature in the ionosphere and plasmasphere. This new approach leads to a heat flux which is less than that given by the classical Spitzer-Harm theory. The evaluated additional heating of electrons in the plasmasphere and the decrease of the thermal conductivity in the topside ionosphere and the greater part of the plasmasphere found for the first time here allow the model to accurately reproduce the electron temperatures observed by the instruments on board the EXOS-D satellite in the plasmasphere and the Millstone Hill incoherent-scatter radar in the ionosphere. The effects of the daytime additional plasmaspheric heating of electrons on the electron temperature and density are small at the F-region altitudes if the modified electron heat flux is used. The deviations from the Boltzmann distribution for the first five vibrational levels of N2(v) and O2(v) were calculated. The present study suggests that these deviations are not significant at the first vibrational levels of N2 and O2 and the second level of O2, and the calculated distributions of N2(v) and O2(v) are highly non-Boltzmann at vibrational levels v > 2. The resulting effect of N2(v > 0) and O2(v > 0) on NmF2 is the decrease of the calculated daytime NmF2 up to a factor of 1.5. The modelled electron temperature is very sensitive to the electron density, and this decrease in electron density results in the increase of the calculated daytime electron temperature up to about 580 K at the F2 peak altitude giving closer agreement between the measured and modelled electron temperatures. Both the daytime and night-time densities are not reproduced by the model without N2(v > 0) and O2(v > 0), and inclusion of vibrationally excited N2 and O2 brings the model and data into better agreement.Key words: Ionosphere (ionospheric disturbances; ionosphere-magnetosphere interactions; plasma temperature and density)

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The development of magnetic field line wander by plasma turbulence

Journal of Plasma Physics ◽

10.1017/s0022377817000617 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 83 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Gregory G. Howes ◽

Sofiane Bourouaine

Keyword(s):

Magnetic Field ◽

Field Line ◽

Magnetic Field Line ◽

Large Scale ◽

Magnetic Energy ◽

Plasma Turbulence ◽

Alfven Wave ◽

Astrophysical Plasmas ◽

Field Lines ◽

The Magnetic Field

Plasma turbulence occurs ubiquitously in space and astrophysical plasmas, mediating the nonlinear transfer of energy from large-scale electromagnetic fields and plasma flows to small scales at which the energy may be ultimately converted to plasma heat. But plasma turbulence also generically leads to a tangling of the magnetic field that threads through the plasma. The resulting wander of the magnetic field lines may significantly impact a number of important physical processes, including the propagation of cosmic rays and energetic particles, confinement in magnetic fusion devices and the fundamental processes of turbulence, magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration. The various potential impacts of magnetic field line wander are reviewed in detail, and a number of important theoretical considerations are identified that may influence the development and saturation of magnetic field line wander in astrophysical plasma turbulence. The results of nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of kinetic Alfvén wave turbulence of sub-ion length scales are evaluated to understand the development and saturation of the turbulent magnetic energy spectrum and of the magnetic field line wander. It is found that turbulent space and astrophysical plasmas are generally expected to contain a stochastic magnetic field due to the tangling of the field by strong plasma turbulence. Future work will explore how the saturated magnetic field line wander varies as a function of the amplitude of the plasma turbulence and the ratio of the thermal to magnetic pressure, known as the plasma beta.

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