The Structure of the Solar Corona above Sunspots as Inferred from Radio, X‐Ray, and Magnetic Field Observations

Abstract

We present observations of a solar active region, NOAA/USAF no. 7123, during 1992 April 3-10. The database includes high-angular-resolution radio, soft X-ray, magnetograph, and Hα observations. The radio observations include VLA maps in the Stokes I and V parameters at 4.7 and 8.4 GHz. The soft X-ray observations were obtained by the Soft X-Ray Telescope on board the Yohkoh satellite, the magnetograms were obtained at Kitt Peak, Mt. Wilson, and Big Bear, and the Hα data were obtained at Big Bear. The lead sunspot in the active region is studied here. In particular, the polarization properties and brightness temperature spectrum are used to constrain the thermal structure of the corona over the sunspot. It is found that the 4.7 GHz emission of the sunspot is polarized in the sense of the ordinary mode, in contradiction with simple gyroresonance models that predict that the spot should be polarized in the sense of the extraordinary mode. We model the spectral and temporal evolution of the polarization structure in two frequencies, 4.7 and 8.4 GHz, using gyroresonance models to fit one-dimensional brightness temperature profiles across the spot in each polarization and frequency. The constraints provided by the X-ray and magnetic field observations help us to derive a qualitatively self-consistent picture for the daily evolution of the spot. We attribute the excess of the o-mode emission to the magnetic field configuration and to the temperature inhomogeneities across the spot. Namely, we find that (1) the umbral and penumbral environments are distinct, with the X-rays and the o-mode radio emission coming from the hotter penumbral loops, while the observed x-mode emission originates from the cooler umbral loops; (2) there exist temperature inhomogeneities in both the radial and vertical direction over the spot; and (3) the umbral magnetic field remains more confined in the corona than that predicted by a dipole model. Instead, a field configuration based on the magnetohydrostatic equilibrium model of Low gives a better agreement with the observations.