Solar EUV Images Research Articles

Multispectral analysis of solar EUV images: linking temperature to morphology

Context. Solar images taken simultaneously at different wavelengths in the EUV are widely used for understanding structures such as flares, coronal holes, loops, etc. The line-of-sight integration and the finite spectral resolution of EUV telescopes, however, hinders interpretation of these individual images in terms of temperature bands. Traditional approaches involve simple visualisation or explicit modelling. We take a more empirical approach, using statistical methods. Aims. The morphology of solar structures changes with the wavelength of observation and, therefore, with temperature. We explore the possibility of separating the different solar structures from a linear combination of images. Methods. Using a blind source separation approach, we build a new set of statistically independent “source” images from the original EUV images. Two techniques are compared: the singular value decomposition and independent component analysis. Results. The source images show more contrast than the original ones, thereby easing the characterisation of morphological structures. A comparison with the differential emission measure shows that each source image also isolates structures with specific emission temperatures.

On the Combination of Differential Emission Measure Analysis and Rotational Tomography for Three‐dimensional Solar EUV Imaging

Conventional differential emission measure (DEM) analysis allows one to determine the amount of plasma as a function of temperature along a given line of sight. A completely different technique called solar rotational tomography (SRT) exploits the view angles provided by solar rotation to determine the spatial distribution of emissivity in three dimensions. These two techniques can be combined in a procedure called differential emission measure tomography (DEMT) to determine the DEM at each point in the corona with the same spatial resolution as can normally be achieved by SRT. In this paper the theory of DEMT is presented, and numerical examples based on the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) are given. The results demonstrate promising potential for the methods to be adapted for use with other EUV and X-ray imaging and/or spectroscopy instruments.

2D Feature Recognition And 3d Reconstruction In Solar Euv Images

EUV images show the solar corona in a typical temperature range of T >rsim 1 MK, which encompasses the most common coronal structures: loops, filaments, and other magnetic structures in active regions, the quiet Sun, and coronal holes. Quantitative analysis increasingly demands automated 2D feature recognition and 3D reconstruction, in order to localize, track, and monitor the evolution of such coronal structures. We discuss numerical tools that “fingerprint” curvi-linear 1D features (e.g., loops and filaments). We discuss existing finger-printing algorithms, such as the brightness-gradient method, the oriented-connectivity method, stereoscopic methods, time-differencing, and space–time feature recognition. We discuss improved 2D feature recognition and 3D reconstruction techniques that make use of additional a priori constraints, using guidance from magnetic field extrapolations, curvature radii constraints, and acceleration and velocity constraints in time-dependent image sequences. Applications of these algorithms aid the analysis of SOHO/EIT, TRACE, and STEREO/SECCHI data, such as disentangling, 3D reconstruction, and hydrodynamic modeling of coronal loops, postflare loops, filaments, prominences, and 3D reconstruction of the coronal magnetic field in general.

A Study of a Tiny Two‐Ribbon Flare Driven by Emerging Flux

We present observations of the eruption of a miniature filament that occurred near NOAA Active Region 9537 on 2001 July 14. The eruption was observed by the Hida Observatory Domeless Solar Telescope, in the Hα line center and ±0.4 A wings, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory EUV Imaging Telescope (EIT) and Michelson Doppler Imager, and the Yohkoh Soft X-Ray Telescope (SXT). The miniature filament began to form and was clearly visible in Hα images by around 06:50 UT. It erupted about 25 minutes later, accompanied by a small two-ribbon subflare (with an area of 61 arcsec2). The two ribbons were also found to approach each other at a speed of 3.33 km s-1. We found that this event was caused by the emergence of new magnetic flux in a quiet region. The emerging flux appeared as a bright region in the EIT and SXT images taken on the previous day. It moved southward into an area of preexisting opposite-polarity flux, where a cancelling magnetic flux region was formed. The miniature filament then appeared, and we suggest that it played some role in inhibiting the release of energy by delaying reconnection between the emerging and preexisting flux, as evidenced by the disappearance of the bright region between opposite polarities in the EUV and soft X-ray images. Consequently, magnetic energy was stored as a result of the slow converging motion of the two opposite-polarity flux regions (0.17 km s-1). Reconnection below the filament provoked the filament eruption, and the two-ribbon flare occurred. Miniature filaments are thought to be small-scale analogs of large-scale filaments. Our observations also suggest some common properties between small-scale and large-scale flares. These results support the view that a unified magnetic reconnection model may be able to explain all scales of flares.

Evidence for the Formation of a Large-Scale Current Sheet in a Solar Flare

We present X-ray evidence for the formation of a large-scale current sheet in a flare observed by the Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager on 2002 April 15. The flare occurred on the northwest limb, showing a cusp-shaped flare loop in the rise phase. When the impulsive rise in hard X-rays (>25 keV) began, the cusp part of the coronal source separated from the underlying flare loop and remained stationary for about 2 minutes. During this time, the underlying flare loops shrank at ~9 km s-1. The temperature of the underlying loops increased toward higher altitudes, while the temperature of the coronal source increased toward lower altitudes. These results indicate that a current sheet formed between the top of the flare loops and the coronal source during the early impulsive phase. After the hard X-ray peak, the flare loops grew outward at ~8 km s-1, and the coronal source moved outward at ~300 km s-1, indicating an upward expansion of the current sheet. About 30 minutes later, postflare loops seen in the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) EUV Imaging Telescope 195 A passband rose at ~10 km s-1. A large coronal looplike structure, observed by the SOHO Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph C2 and C3 detectors, also propagated outward at ~300 km s-1. These observations are all consistent with the continued expansion of the current sheet.

A Hertzsprung‐Russell–like Diagram for Solar/Stellar Flares and Corona: Emission Measure versus Temperature Diagram

In our previous paper, we presented a theory to explain the observed universal correlation between the emission measure (EM = n2V) and temperature (T) for solar/stellar flares on the basis of the magnetic reconnection model with heat conduction and chromospheric evaporation. Here n is the electron density and V is the volume. By extending our theory to general situations, we examined the EM-T diagram in detail and found the following properties: (1) The universal correlation sequence ("main-sequence flares") with EM ∝ T17/2 corresponds to the case of constant heating flux or, equivalently, the case of constant magnetic field strength in the reconnection model. (2) The EM-T diagram has a forbidden region, in which gas pressure of flares exceeds magnetic pressure. (3) There is a coronal branch with EM ∝ T15/2 for T < 107 K and EM ∝ T13/2 for T > 107 K. This branch is situated on the left side of the main-sequence flares in the EM-T diagram. (4) There is another forbidden region determined by the length of flare loop; the lower limit of the flare loop is 107 cm. Small flares near this limit correspond to nanoflares observed by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory EUV Imaging Telescope. (5) We can plot the flare evolution track on the EM-T diagram. A flare evolves from the coronal branch to main-sequence flares, then returns to the coronal branch eventually. These properties of the EM-T diagram are similar to those of the H-R diagram for stars, and thus we propose that the EM-T diagram is quite useful for estimating the physical quantities (loop length, heating flux, magnetic field strength, total energy, and so on) of flares and coronae when there are no spatially resolved imaging observations.

Evidence of a Flux‐Rope Model for Corona Mass Ejections Based on Observations of the Limb Prominence Eruption on 2002 January 4

We report on a prominence eruption as seen in Kanzelhöhe Solar Observatory Hα images, Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) EUV Imaging Telescope (EIT) 195 Å images, and coronal SOHO Large Angle Spectrometric Coronograph C2 images. Our data favor the flux-rope model for coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which suggests that a flux rope is formed long before the eruption. Our conclusion is based on a three-part structure of the pre-erupted configuration of the magnetic field and on the fact that the first Hα, SOHO EIT 195 Å brightenings occurred some 15 minutes after the filament began to ascend. The data also clearly demonstrate two rarely observed components of the standard flare model: (1) magnetic loops that overlay the pre-erupted filament and (2) magnetic field lines stretched vertically by the ascending filament. These field lines are compressed horizontally and move toward each other where they reconnect to form an apparently growing post-flare loop system.

Large-Scale Solar Coronal Structures in Soft X-Rays and Their Relationship to the Magnetic Flux

We have investigated the relationship between magnetic activity and coronal structures using soft X-ray data from the Yohkoh soft X-ray telescope and magnetic field data from the Kitt Peak Solar Observatory for the period of 1991-2001 and EUV data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory EUV Imaging Telescope for 1996-2001. The data are reduced to Carrington synoptic maps, which reveal two types of migrating structures of coronal activity at low and high latitudes in the time-latitudinal distribution. The low-latitude coronal structures, migrating equatorward, correspond to photospheric sunspot activity, and the high-latitude structures migrating toward the poles reflect polar activity of the Sun. We present the following new results:

Observations of Coronal Structures Above an Active Region by Eit and Implications for Coronal Energy Deposition

Solar EUV images recorded by the EUV Imaging Telescope (EIT) on SOHO have been used to evaluate temperature and density as a function of position in two largescale features in the corona observed in the temperature range of 1.0–2.0 MK. Such observations permit estimates of longitudinal temperature gradients (if present) in the corona and, consequently, estimates of thermal conduction and radiative losses as a function of position in the features. We examine two relatively cool features as recorded in EIT's Fe ix/x (171 Å) and Fe xii (195 Å) bands in a decaying active region. The first is a long-lived loop-like feature with one leg, ending in the active region, much more prominent than one or more distant footpoints assumed to be rooted in regions of weakly enhanced field. The other is a near-radial feature, observed at the West limb, which may be either the base of a very high loop or the base of a helmet streamer. We evaluate energy requirements to support a steady-state energy balance in these features and find in both instances that downward thermal conductive losses (at heights above the transition region) are inadequate to support local radiative losses, which are the predominant loss mechanism. The requirement that a coronal energy deposition rate proportional to the square of the ambient electron density (or pressure) is present in these cool coronal features provides an additional constraint on coronal heating mechanisms.