Magnetic Field in the Gravitationally Stratified Coronal Loops

Abstract

We study the effect of gravitational stratification on the estimation of magnetic fields in the coronal loops. By using the method of MHD seismology of kink waves for the estimation of magnetic field of coronal loops, we derive a new formula for the magnetic field considering the effect of gravitational stratification. The fast-kink wave is a potential diagnostic tool for the estimation of magnetic field in fluxtubes. We consider the eleven kink oscillation cases observed by TRACE between July 1998 and June 2001. We calculate magnetic field in the stratified loops (B str) and compare them with the previously calculated absolute magnetic field (B abs). The gravitational stratification efficiently affects the magnetic field estimation in the coronal loops as it affects also the properties of kink waves. We find ≈22% increment in the magnetic field for the smallest (L = 72 Mm) while ≈ 42% increment in the absolute magnetic field for the longest (L = 406 Mm) coronal loops. The magnetic fields B str and B abs also increase with the number density, if the loop length does not vary much. The increment in the magnetic field due to gravitational stratification is small at the lower number densities, however, it is large at the higher number densities. We find that damping time of kink waves due to phase-mixing is less in the case of gravitationally stratified loops compared to nonstratified ones. This indicates the more rapid damping of kink waves in the stratified loops. In conclusion, we find that the gravitational stratification efficiently affects the estimation of magnetic field and damping time estimation especially in the longer coronal loops.