14786946
The Properties of Horizontal Magnetic Elements in Quiet Solar Intranetwork
Using the data observed by the Solar Optical Telescope/Spectropolarimeter aboard the Hinode satellite, the horizontal and vertical fields are derived from the wavelength-integrated measures of Zeeman-induced linear and circular polarizations. The quiet intranetwork regions are pervaded by horizontal magnetic elements. We categorize the horizontal intranetwork magnetic elements into two types: one is the nonisolated element which is accompanied by the vertical magnetic elements during its evolution; another is the isolated element which is not accompanied by the vertical magnetic elements. Their properties, such as lifetime, size, and magnetic flux density, are studied, and the relationships among various magnetic parameters are investigated. We identify 446 horizontal intranetwork magnetic elements among them 87 elements are isolated and 359 are nonisolated. Quantitative measurements reveal that the isolated elements have relatively weaker horizontal magnetic fields, almost equal size, and shorter lifetime compared with the nonisolated elements. Most nonisolated horizontal intranetwork magnetic elements are identified to associate with the emergence of {omega}-shaped flux loops. A few nonisolated elements seem to indicate scenarios of submergence of {omega} loops or emergence of U-like loops. There is a positive correlation between the lifetime and the size for both the isolated and nonisolated horizontal intranetwork field elements (HIFs). Positivemore » correlation between the lifetime and the magnetic flux density for nonisolated HIFs is also found, but no correlation for isolated HIFs. Even though the horizontal elements show lower magnetic flux density, they could carry the total magnetic flux in the order of magnitude close to 10{sup 25} Mx to the solar surface each day.« less
15057212
Mode selection mechanism and magnetic diffusivity in a non-axisymmetric solar dynamo model
The generation of solar non-axisymmetric magnetic fields is studied based on a linear � 2 − dynamo model in a rotating spherical frame. The model consists of a solarlike differential rotation, a magnetic diffusivity varied with depth, and three types of �-effects with different locations, i.e. the tachocline, the whole convective zone and the sub-surface. Some comparisons of the critical �-values of axisymmetric (m = 0) and longitude-dependent modes (m = 1,2,3) are presented to show the roles of the magnetic diffusivity in the problem of modes selection. With the changing of diffusivity intensity for the given solar differential rotation system, the dominant mode possibly changes likewise and the stronger the diffusivity is, the easier the non-axisymmetric modes are excited. The influence of the diffusivity and differential rotation on the configurations of the dominant modes are also presented.
119110634
Solar Intranetwork Magnetic Elements: Bipolar Flux Appearance
This study aims to quantify characteristic features of the bipolar flux appearance of solar intranetwork (IN) magnetic elements. To attack this problem, we use the Narrowband Filter Imager (NFI) magnetograms from the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) on board Hinode; these data are from quiet and enhanced network areas. Cluster emergence of mixed polarities and IN ephemeral regions (ERs) are the most conspicuous forms of bipolar flux appearance within the network. Each of the clusters is characterized by a few well-developed ERs that are partially or fully coaligned in magnetic axis orientation. On average, the sampled IN ERs have a total maximum unsigned flux of several 1017 Mx, a separation of 3 – 4 arcsec, and a lifetime of 10 – 15 minutes. The smallest IN ERs have a maximum unsigned flux of several 1016 Mx, separations of less than 1 arcsec, and lifetimes as short as 5 minutes. Most IN ERs exhibit a rotation of their magnetic axis of more than 10 degrees during flux emergence. Peculiar flux appearance, e.g., bipole shrinkage followed by growth or the reverse, is not unusual. A few examples show repeated shrinkage–growth or growth–shrinkage, like magnetic floats in the dynamic photosphere. The observed bipolar behavior seems to carry rich information on magnetoconvection in the subphotospheric layer.
17485528
Periodicities in Solar Coronal Mass Ejections
ABSTRACT Mid-term quasi-periodicities in solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) during the mostrecent solar maximum cycle 23 are reported here for the ﬁrst time using the four-year data (February 5, 1999 to February 10, 2003) of the Large Angle SpectrometricCoronagraph (LASCO) onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Inparallel, mid-term quasi-periodicities in solar X-ray ﬂares (class >M5.0) from theGeosynchronous Operational Environment Satellites (GOES) and in daily averages ofAp index for geomagnetic disturbances from the World Data Center (WDC) at theInternationalAssociation for Geomagnetism andAeronomy (IAGA)are alsoexaminedfor the same four-year time span. By Fourier power spectral analyses, the CME dataappears to contain signiﬁcant power peaks at periods of ∼ 358 ± 38, ∼ 272 ± 26,∼ 196±13 days and so forth, while except for the ∼ 259±24-day period, X-ray solarﬂares of class >∼ M5.0 show the familiar Rieger-type quasi-periods at ∼ 157 ± 11,∼ 122± 5, ∼ 98±3 days and shorter ones until ∼ 34±0.5 days. In the data of dailyaverages of Ap index, the two signiﬁcant peaks at periods ∼ 273±26 and ∼ 187±12days (the latter is most prominent) could imply that CMEs (periods at ∼ 272±26and∼ 196 ± 13 days) may be proportionally correlated with quasi-periodic geomagneticstorm disturbances; at the speculative level, the ∼ 138 ± 6-day period might implythat X-ray ﬂares of class >∼ M5.0 (period at ∼ 157±11 days) may drive certain typesof geomagnetic disturbances; and the ∼ 28±0.2-day periodicity is most likely causedby recurrent high-speed solar winds at the Earth’s magnetosphere. For the same threedata sets, we further perform Morlet wavelet analysis to derive period-time contoursand identify wavelet power peaks and timescales at the 99 percent conﬁdence level forcomparisons. Several conceptual aspects of possible equatorially trapped Rossby-typewaves at and beneath the solar photosphere are discussed.Key words: oscillations — space weather — Sun: activities — corona — coronalmass ejections — magnetic ﬁelds
16400877
VECTOR MAGNETIC FIELDS OF SOLAR GRANULATION
Observations of the quiet Sun from the Solar Optical Telescope/Spectro-Polarimeter aboard the Hinode spacecraft reveal the magnetic characteristics of the solar photosphere. By making use of the deep-mode observations of three quiet regions, we have statistically studied the vector magnetic fields of solar granulation. More than 2000 normal granules are manually selected to form a sample. It is recognized that some granules are even darker than the mean photosphere in intensity, and there is a linear correlation between intensity and Doppler velocity in the granules. The distributions of longitudinal and transverse apparent magnetic flux densities, Doppler velocity, and continuum intensity of granules are obtained, and their unsigned magnetic flux measured. Two approaches are used in this study. First, we obtained the magnetic properties of granulation by averaging the measurements for all the sampling granules. Second, we reconstructed an average granular cell based on a subsample, and obtained the detailed distribution of apparent magnetic flux density within the model granular cell. All the results have been compared with those for intergranular lanes and a few typical abnormal granules. Our statistical analysis reveals the following results. (1) The unsigned magnetic flux of individual granules spans the range from 1.1 × 1015 Mx to 3.3 × 1018 Mx with a peak distribution at 1.6 × 1016 Mx. (2) The unsigned longitudinal apparent flux density of granules ranges from almost 0 to 212 Mx cm–2 with a mean longitudinal apparent flux density of 12 Mx cm–2, while the transverse apparent flux density of granules ranges from 4 to 218 Mx cm–2 with a mean transverse apparent flux density of 79 Mx cm–2. The longitudinal and transverse apparent magnetic flux densities of granules are positively correlated, and the longitudinal apparent flux density of granules is weaker than the corresponding transverse apparent flux density. (3) The magnetic inclination of granules with respect to the surface that is perpendicular to the line of sight falls in the range of 4.8-76.7 degrees with a peak distribution at 25 degrees. On average, the magnetic vectors in granules are more vertical than those in the intergranular lanes. (4) There is a strong preference that both the vertical and horizontal fields on the quiet Sun reside in the intergranular lanes. (5) The detailed distributions of apparent flux density, Doppler velocity, and continuum intensity within an average granular cell are presented. These distributions can be empirically formulated well.
54883621
The X-ray reflector in NGC 4945: a time- and space-resolved portrait
We present a time, spectral and imaging analysis of the X-ray reflector in NGC 4945, which reveals its geometrical and physical structure with unprecedented detail. NGC 4945 hosts one of the brightest AGN in the sky above 10 keV, but it is only visible through its reflected/scattered emission below 10 keV, due to absorption by a column density of ∼4 × 10 24 cm −2 .An ew Suzaku campaign of five observations spanning ∼6 months, together with past XMM–Newton and Chandra observations, shows a remarkable constancy (within <10 per cent) of the reflected component. Instead, Swift-BAT reveals strong intrinsic variability on time-scales longer than 1 yr. Modelling the circumnuclear gas as a thin cylinder with the axis on the plane of the sky, we show that the reflector is at a distance ≥30–50 pc, well within the imaging capabilities of Chandra at the distance of NGC 4945 (1 arcsec ∼18 pc). Accordingly, the Chandra imaging reveals a resolved, flattened, ∼150 pc long clumpy structure, whose spectrum is fully due to cold reflection of the primary AGN emission. The clumpiness may explain the small covering factor derived from the spectral and variability properties.
118359510
THE VARIABILITY OF OPTICAL Fe II EMISSION IN PG QSO 1700+518
It is found that Fe II emission contributes significantly to the optical and ultraviolet spectra of most active galactic nuclei. The origin of the optical/UV Fe II emission is still open to debate. The variability of Fe II would give clues to this origin. Using 7.5 yr spectroscopic monitoring data of one Palomar-Green (PG) quasi-stellar object (QSO), PG 1700+518, with strong optical Fe II emission, we obtain the light curves of the continuum f λ(5100 A), Fe II, the broad component of Hβ, and the narrow component of Hβ by spectral decomposition. Through the interpolation cross-correlation method, we calculate the time lags for the light curves of Fe II, the total Hβ, the broad component of Hβ, and the narrow component of Hβ with respect to the continuum light curve. We find that the Fe II time lag in PG 1700+518 is 209+100 –147 days, while the Hβ time lag cannot be determined. Assuming that the Fe II and Hβ emission regions follow the virial relation between the time lag and the FWHM for the Hβ and Fe II emission lines, we can derive the Hβ time lag to be 148+72 –104 days. The Hβ time lag calculated from the empirical luminosity-size relation is 222 days, which is consistent with our measured Fe II time lag. Considering the optical Fe II contribution, PG 1700+518 shares the same spectral slope variability characteristic, i.e., harder spectrum during brighter phase, as the other 15 PG QSOs in our previous work.
17167816
Two-Current-Sheet Reconnection Model of Interdependent Flare and Coronal Mass Ejection
Time-dependent resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations are carried out to study a flux rope eruption caused by magnetic reconnection with implication in coexistent flare-CME (coronal mass ejection) events. An early result obtained in a recent analysis of double catastrophe of a flux rope system is used as the initial condition, in which an isolated flux rope coexists with two current sheets: a vertical one below and a transverse one above the flux rope. The flux rope erupts when reconnection takes place in the current sheets, and the flux rope dynamics depends on the reconnection sequence in the two current sheets. Three cases are discussed: reconnection occurs (1) simultaneously in the two current sheets, (2) first in the transverse one and then in the vertical one, and (3) in an order opposite that of case 2. Such a two-current-sheet reconnection exhibits characteristics of both magnetic breakout for CME initiation and the standard flare model. We argue that both breakout-like and tether-cutting reconnections could be important for CME eruptions and associated surface activities.
59132262
Quantifying solar superactive regions with vector magnetic field observations
Context. The vector magnetic field characteristics of superactive regions (SARs) hold the key for understanding why SARs are extremely active and provide the guidance in space weather prediction. Aims. We aim to quantify the characteristics of SARs using the vector magnetograms taken by the Solar Magnetic Field Telescope at Huairou Solar Observatory Station. Methods. The vector magnetic field characteristics of 14 SARs in solar cycles 22 and 23 were analyzed using the following four parameters: 1) the magnetic flux imbalance between opposite polarities; 2) the total photospheric free magnetic energy; 3) the length of the magnetic neutral line with its steep horizontal magnetic gradient; and 4) the area with strong magnetic shear. Furthermore, we selected another eight large and inactive active regions (ARs), which are called fallow ARs (FARs), to compare them with the SARs. Results. We found that most of the SARs have a net magnetic flux higher than 7.0×10 21 Mx, a total photospheric free magnetic energy higher than 1.0 ×10 24 ergcm −1 , a magnetic neutral line with a steep horizontal magnetic gradient (≥300 GMm −1 ) longer than 30 Mm, and an area with strong magnetic shear (shear angle ≥80 ◦ ) greater than 100 Mm 2 . In contrast, the values of these parameters for the FARs are mostly very low. The Pearson χ 2 test was used to examine the significance of the difference between the SARs and FARs, and the results indicate that these two types of ARs can be fairly distinguished by each of these parameters. The significance levels are 99.55%, 99.98%, 99.98%, and 99.96%, respectively. However, no single parameter can distinguish them perfectly. Therefore we propose a composite index based on these parameters, and find that the distinction between the two types of ARs is also significant with a significance level of 99.96%. These results are useful for a better physical understanding of the SAR and FAR.
209834953
Commissioning of the CMS High-Level Trigger with Cosmic Rays
The CMS High-Level Trigger (HLT) is responsible for ensuring that data samples with potentially interesting events are recorded with high efficiency and good quality. This paper gives an overview of the HLT and focuses on its commissioning using cosmic rays. The selection of triggers that were deployed is presented and the online grouping of triggered events into streams and primary datasets is discussed. Tools for online and offline data quality monitoring for the HLT are described, and the operational performance of the muon HLT algorithms is reviewed. The average time taken for the HLT selection and its dependence on detector and operating conditions are presented. The HLT performed reliably and helped provide a large dataset. This dataset has proven to be invaluable for understanding the performance of the trigger and the CMS experiment as a whole.