Geometric properties of the coronal neutral surface

Abstract

The interrelation between the density inhomogeneity and the magnetic field configuration in the solar corona has been studied. The situation of consistency with the regular cellular magnetic field organization, established by the authors based on polarization data, and helmet-shaped coronal structures has been analyzed. Consistency was found when coronal helmets appeared as projections on the plane of the sky of dense layer folds. It turned out that a dense layer on a regularly deformed neutral surface on a scale of 60° generates coronal shapes typical of solar activity minimum epochs. Threby, a weighty argument for the Molodenskii hypothesis that a dense layer is formed on the neutral surface has been obtained and it has been determined that one can find the 3D geometry of the coronal neutral surface based on modeling the visible shape of coronal helmets. The study of this geometry based on the observed coronal structures in the epoch of minimum and low solar activity indicated that the neutral surface longitudinal deformation scale remains stable and the surface latitudinal amplitude at the corona base reaches 50°–70° latitudes and tends to increase with increasing solar activity. This amplitude decreases as a power function with a variable index close to −1 with increasing distance from the Sun. In addition, a 10° small-scale deformation of the studied surface with a predominant latitudinal flexure direction has been revealed.