Extensive Study of a Coronal Mass Ejection with UV and White-light Coronagraphs: The Need for Multiwavelength Observations

Abstract

Abstract Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) often show different features in different bandpasses. By combining data in white-light (WL) and ultraviolet (UV) bands, we have applied different techniques to derive plasma temperatures, electron density, internal radial speed, and so on, within a fast CME. They serve as extensive tests of the diagnostic capabilities developed for the observations provided by future multichannel coronagraphs (such as Solar Orbiter/Metis, Chinese Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory/Lyα Solar Telescope (LST), and PROBA-3/ASPIICS). The data involved include WL images acquired by Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)/Large Angle Spectroscopic Coronagraph (LASCO) coronagraphs, and intensities measured by the SOHO/UV Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) at 2.45 R ⊙ in the UV (H i Lyα and O vi 1032 Å lines) and WL channels. Data from the UVCS WL channel have been employed for the first time to measure the CME position angle with the polarization-ratio technique. Plasma electron and effective temperatures of the CME core and void are estimated by combining UV and WL data. Due to the CME expansion and the possible existence of prominence segments, the transit of the CME core results in decreases in the electron temperature down to 105 K. The front is observed as a significant dimming in the Lyα intensity, associated with a line broadening due to plasma heating and flows along the line of sight. The 2D distribution of plasma speeds within the CME body is reconstructed from LASCO images and employed to constrain the Doppler dimming of the Lyα line and simulate future CME observations by Metis and LST.