arXiv subjects

Lidong Xia

Publications and source records attributed to Lidong Xia.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

An EUV jet driven by a series of transition region micro-jets

Jets are one of the most common eruptive events in the solar atmosphere, and they are believed to be important in the context of coronal heating and solar wind acceleration. We present an observational study on a sequence of jets with the data acquired with the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). This sequence is peculiar in that an EUV jet, $\sim29\arcsec$ long and with a dome-like base, appears to be a consequence of a series of transition region (TR) micro-jets that are a few arcsecs in length.We find that the occurrence of any TR micro-jets is always associated with the change of geometry of micro-loops at the footpoints of the microjets. A bundle of TR flux ropes is seen to link a TR micro-jet to the dome-like structure at the base of the EUV jet. This bundle rises as a response to the TR micro-jets, with the rising motion eventually triggering the EUV jet. We propose a scenario involving a set of magnetic reconnections, in which the series of TR micro-jets are associated with the processes to remove the constraints to the TR flux ropes and thus allow them to rise and trigger the EUV jet. Our study demonstrates that small-scale dynamics in the lower solar atmosphere are crucial in understanding the energy and mass connection between the corona and the solar lower atmosphere, even though many of them might not pump mass and energy to the corona directly.

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arXiv2021

Statistical properties of Hα jets in the polar coronal hole and their implications in coronal activities

Dynamic features, such as chromospheric jets, transition region network jets, coronal plumes and coronal jets, are abundant in the network regions of the solar polar coronal holes. We investigate the relationship between chromospheric jets and coronal activities (e.g., coronal plumes and jets).We analyze observations of a polar coronal hole including the filtergrams that were taken by the New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST) at the Hα-0.6 Åto study the Hα jets,and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 171 Å images to follow the evolution of coronal activities. Hα jets are persistent in the network regions, only some regions (denoted as R1-R5) are rooted with discernible coronal plumes.With an automated method, we identify and track 1 320 Hα jets in the network regions. We find that the average lifetime, height and ascending speed of the Hα jets are 75.38 s, 2.67 Mm, 65.60 km s$^{-1}$, respectively. The Hα jets rooted in R1-R5 are higher and faster than those in the others. We also find that propagating disturbances (PDs) in coronal plumes have a close connection with the Hα jets. The speeds of 28 out of 29 Hα jets associated with PDs are about 50 km s$^{-1}$ . In a case of coronal jet, we find that the speeds of both the coronal jet and the Hα jet are over 150 km s$^{-1}$, suggesting that both cool and hot jets can be coupled together. Based on our analyses, it is evident that more dynamic Hα jets could release the energies to the corona, which might be the results of the development of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHi) or small-scaled magnetic activities. We suggest that chromospheric jets, transition region network jets and ray-like features in the corona are coherent phenomena, and they are important tunnels for cycling energy and mass in the solar atmosphere.

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arXiv2021

Dynamics in the transition region beneath active region upflows viewed by IRIS

Coronal upflows at the edges of active regions (AR), which are a possible source of slow solar wind, have been found to connect with dynamics in the transition region. To infer at what scale transition region dynamics connect to AR upflows, we investigate the statistical properties of the small-scale dynamics in the transition region underneath the upflows at the edge of AR NOAA 11934. With observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectragraph (IRIS), we found that the Si IV 1403\,Å Doppler map consists of numerous blue-shifted and red-shifted patches mostly with sizes less than 1\,$Mm^2$. The blue-shifted structures in the transition region tend to be brighter than the red-shifted ones, but their nonthermal velocities have no significant difference. With the SWAMIS feature tracking procedure, in IRIS slit-jaw 1400\,Å images we found that dynamic bright dots with an average size of about 0.3\,$Mm^2$ and lifetimes mostly less than 200\,s spread all over the region. Most of the bright dots appear to be localised, without clear signature of propagation of plasma to a long distance on the projection plane. Surge-like motions with speeds about 15 km/s could be seen in some events at the boundaries of the upflow region, where the magnetic field appear to be inclined. We conclude that the transition region dynamics connecting to coronal upflows should occur in very fine scale, suggesting that the corresponding coronal upflows should also be highly-structured. It is also plausible that the transition region dynamics might just act as stimulation at the coronal base that then drives the upflows in the corona.

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arXiv2021

Formation of solar quiescent coronal loops through magnetic reconnection in an emerging active region

Coronal loops are building blocks of solar active regions. However, their formation mechanism is still not well understood. Here we present direct observational evidence for the formation of coronal loops through magnetic reconnection as new magnetic fluxes emerge into the solar atmosphere. Extreme-ultraviolet observations of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) clearly show the newly formed loops following magnetic reconnection within a plasma sheet. Formation of the loops is also seen in the hα line-core images taken by the New Vacuum Solar Telescope. Observations from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager onboard SDO show that a positive-polarity flux concentration moves towards a negative-polarity one with a speed of ~0.4 km/s, before the formation of coronal loops. During the loop formation process, we found signatures of flux cancellation and subsequent enhancement of the transverse field between the two polarities. The three-dimensional magnetic field structure reconstructed through a magnetohydrostatic model shows field lines consistent with the loops in AIA images. Numerous bright blobs with an average width of 1.37 Mm appear intermittently in the plasma sheet and move upward with a projected velocity of ~114 km/s. The temperature, emission measure and density of these blobs are about 3 MK, 2.0x10^(28) cm^(-5) and 1.2x10^(10) cm^(-3), respectively. A power spectral analysis of these blobs indicates that the observed reconnection is likely not dominated by a turbulent process. We have also identified flows with a velocity of 20 to 50 km/s towards the footpoints of the newly formed coronal loops.

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arXiv2021

Upflows in the upper solar atmosphere

Spectroscopic observations at extreme and far ultraviolet wavelengths have revealed systematic upflows in the solar transition region and corona. These upflows are best seen in the network structures of the quiet Sun and coronal holes, boundaries of active regions, and dimming regions associated with coronal mass ejections. They have been intensively studied in the past two decades because they are highly likely to be closely related to the formation of the solar wind and heating of the upper solar atmosphere. We present an overview of the characteristics of these upflows, introduce their possible formation mechanisms, and discuss their potential roles in the mass and energy transport in the solar atmosphere. Though past investigations have greatly improved our understanding of these upflows, they have left us with several outstanding questions and unresolved issues that should be addressed in the future. New observations from the Solar Orbiter mission, the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope and the Parker Solar Probe will likely provide critical information to advance our understanding of the generation, propagation and energization of these upflows.

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arXiv2021

Population of Bright Plume Threads in Solar Polar Coronal Holes

Coronal holes are well accepted to be source regions of the fast solar wind. As one of the common structures in coronal holes, coronal plumes might contribute to the origin of the nascent solar wind. To estimate the contribution of coronal plumes to the nascent solar wind, we make the first attempt to estimate their populations in solar polar coronal holes. By comparing the observations viewed from two different angles taken by the twin satellites of STEREO and the results of Monte Carlo simulations, we estimate about 16--27 plumes rooted in an area of $4\times10^4$ arcsec$^2$ of the polar coronal holes near the solar minimum, which occupy about 2--3.4% of the area. Based on these values, the contribution of coronal plumes to the nascent solar wind has also been discussed. A further investigation indicates that more precise number of coronal plumes can be worked out with observations from three or more viewing angles.

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arXiv2020

How eruptions of a small filament feed materials to a nearby larger-scaled filament

As one of the most common features in the solar atmosphere, filaments are significant not only in the solar physics but also in the stellar and laboratory plasma physics. With the New Vacuum Solar Telescope and the Solar Dynamics Observatory, here we report on multi-wavelength observations of eruptions of a small (30\arcsec) filament (SF) and its consequences while interacting with the ambient magnetic features including a large (300\arcsec) filament (LF). The eruptions of the SF drive a two-side-loop jet that is a result of magnetic reconnection between the SF threads and an over-lying magnetic channel. As a consequence of the eruption, the heating in the footpoints of the SF destabilises the barbs of the LF rooted nearby. Supersonic chromospheric plasma flows along the barbs of the LF are then observed in the \halpha\ passband and they apparently feed materials to the LF. We suggest they are shock-driven plasma flows or chromospheric evaporations, which both can be the consequences of the heating in the chromosphere by nonthermal particles generated in the magnetic reconnection associated with the two-side-loop jet. Our observations demonstrate that the destabilisation in the vicinity of the footpoints of a barb can drive chromospheric plasma feeding to the filament.

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arXiv2020

Heating at the remote footpoints as a brake on jet flows along loops in the solar atmosphere

We report on observations of a solar jet propagating along coronal loops taken by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), the Interface Region Imaging Spectragraph (IRIS) and 1-m New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST). The ejecta of the jet consist of multi-thermal components and propagate with a speed greater than 100 km/s. Brightenings are found in the remote footpoints of the coronal loops having compact and round-shape in the Halpha images. The emission peak of the remote brightening in the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 94 Åpassband lags 60 s behind that in the jet base. The brightenings in the remote footpoints are believed to be consequences of heating by nonthermal electrons, MHD waves and/or conduction front generated by the magnetic reconnection processes of the jet. The heating in the remote footpoints leads to extension of the brightening along the loops toward the jet base, which is believed to be the chromospheric evaporation. This apparently acts as a brake on the ejecta, leading to a deceleration in the range from 1.5 to 3 km s$^{-2}$ with an error of $\sim1.0$\,km s$^{-2}$ when the chromospheric evaporation and the ejecta meet at locations near the loop apexes. The dynamics of this jet allows a unique opportunity to diagnose the chromospheric evaporation from the remote footpoints, from which we deduce a velocity in the range of 330--880 km/s.

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arXiv2020

Concept of the Solar Ring Mission: Overview

The concept of the Solar Ring mission was gradually formed from L5/L4 mission concept, and the proposal of its pre-phase study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China in November 2018 and then by the Strategic Priority Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences in space sciences in May 2019. Solar Ring mission will be the first attempt to routinely monitor and study the Sun and inner heliosphere from a full 360-degree perspective in the ecliptic plane. The current preliminary design of the Solar Ring mission is to deploy six spacecraft, grouped in three pairs, on a sub-AU orbit around the Sun. The two spacecraft in each group are separated by about 30 degrees and every two groups by about 120 degrees. This configuration with necessary science payloads will allow us to establish three unprecedented capabilities: (1) determine the photospheric vector magnetic field with unambiguity, (2) provide 360-degree maps of the Sun and the inner heliosphere routinely, and (3) resolve the solar wind structures at multiple scales and multiple longitudes. With these capabilities, the Solar Ring mission aims to address the origin of solar cycle, the origin of solar eruptions, the origin of solar wind structures and the origin of severe space weather events. The successful accomplishment of the mission will advance our understanding of the star and the space environment that hold our life and enhance our capability of expanding the next new territory of human.

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arXiv2019

Transition region loops in the very late phase of flux-emergence in IRIS sit-and-stare observations

Loops are one of the fundamental structures that trace the geometry of the magnetic field in the solar atmosphere. Their evolution and dynamics provide a crucial proxy for studying how the magnetized structures are formed and heated in the solar atmosphere. Here, we report on spectroscopic observations of a set of transition region loops taken by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) at Si IV 1394 Å with a sit-and-stare mode. The loops are corresponding to the flux emergence at its very late phase when the emerged magentic features in the photosphere have fully developed. We find the transition region loops are still expanding and moving upward with a velocity of a few kilometers per second ($\lesssim$10 km/s) at this stage. The expansion of the loops leads to interactions between themselves and the ambient field, which can drive magnetic reconnection evidenced by multiple intense brightenings, including transition region explosive events and IRIS bombs in the footpoint region associated with the moving polarity. A set of quasi-periodic brightenings with a period of about 130 s is found at the loop apex, from which the Si IV 1394 Å profiles are significantly non-Gaussian with enhancements at both blue and red wings at Doppler velocities of about 50 km/s. We suggest that the transition region loops in the very late phase of flux emergence can be powered by heating events generated by the interactions between the expanding loops and the ambient fields and also by (quasi-)periodic processes, such as oscillation-modulated braiding reconnection.

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arXiv2019

On the relation between transition region network jets and coronal plumes

Both coronal plumes and network jets are rooted in network lanes. The relationship between the two, however, has yet to be addressed. For this purpose, we perform an observational analysis using images acquired with the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 171Å passband to follow the evolution of coronal plumes, the observations taken by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) slit-jaw 1330Å to study the network jets, and the line-of-sight magnetograms taken by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) to overview the the photospheric magnetic features in the regions. Four regions in the network lanes are identified, and labeled ``R1--R4''. We find that coronal plumes are clearly seen only in ``R1''&''R2'' but not in ``R3''&``R4'', even though network jets abound in all these regions. Furthermore, while magnetic features in all these regions are dominated by positive polarity, they are more compact (suggesting stronger convergence) in ``R1''&``R2'' than that in ``R3''&``R4''. We develop an automated method to identify and track the network jets in the regions. We find that the network jets rooted in ``R1''&``R2'' are higher and faster than that in ``R3''&``R4'',indicating that network regions producing stronger coronal plumes also tend to produce more dynamic network jets. We suggest that the stronger convergence in ``R1''&``R2'' might provide a condition for faster shocks and/or more small-scale magnetic reconnection events that power more dynamic network jets and coronal plumes.

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arXiv2019

Observations of small-scale energetic events in the solar transition region: explosive events, UV bursts and network jets

In this paper, we review observational aspects of three common small-scale energetic events in the solar transition region (TR), namely: TR explosive events, ultraviolet bursts and jets. These events are defined in either (both) spectral or (and) imaging data. The development of multiple instruments capable of observing the TR has allowed researchers to gain numerous insights into these phenomena in recent years. These events have provided a proxy to study how mass and energy are transported between the solar chromosphere and the corona. As the physical mechanisms responsible for these small-scale events might be similar to the mechanisms responsible for large-scale phenomena, such as flares and coronal mass ejections, analysis of these events could also help our understanding of the solar atmosphere from small to large scales. The observations of these small-scale energetic events demonstrate that the TR is extremely dynamic and is a crucial layer in the solar atmosphere between the chromosphere and the corona.

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arXiv2018

Eruptions from quiet Sun coronal bright points. I. Observations

Observations of the full lifetime of CBPs in data taken with the AIA on board SDO in four passbands, He II 304 A, Fe IX/X 171 A, Fe XII 193 A, and Fe XVIII 94 A are investigated for the occurrence of plasma ejections, micro-flaring, mini-filament eruptions and mini coronal mass ejections (mini-CMEs). First and foremost, our study shows that the majority (76%) of quiet Sun CBPs (31 out of 42 CBPs) produce at least one eruption during their lifetime. From 21 eruptions in 11 CBPs, 18 occur in average ~17 hrs after the CBP formation for an average lifetime of the CBPs in AIA 193 A of ~21 hrs. This time delay in the eruption occurrence coincides in each BP with the convergence and cancellation phase of the CBP bipole evolution during which the CBPs become smaller until they fully disappear. The remaining three happen 4 - 6 hrs after the CBP formation. In sixteen out of 21 eruptions the magnetic convergence and cancellation involve the CBP main bipoles, while in three eruptions one of the BP magnetic fragments and a pre-existing fragment of opposite polarity converge and cancel. In one BP with two eruptions cancellation was not observed. The CBP eruptions involve in most cases the expulsion of chromospheric material either as elongated filamentary structure (mini-filament, MF) or a volume of cool material (cool plasma cloud, CPC), together with the CBP or higher overlying hot loops. Coronal waves were identified during three eruptions. A micro-flaring is observed beneath all erupting MFs/CPCs. It remains uncertain whether the destabilised MF causes the micro-flaring or the destabilisation and eruption of the MF is triggered by reconnection beneath the filament. In most eruptions, the cool erupting plasma obscures partially or fully the micro-flare until the erupting material moves away from the CBP. From 21 eruptions 11 are found to produce mini-CMEs.

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arXiv2018

Transition region bright dots in active regions observed by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph

The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) reveals numerous small-scale (sub-arcsecond) brightenings that appear as bright dots sparkling the solar transition region in active regions. Here, we report a statistical study on these transition region bright dots. We use an automatic approach to identify 2742 dots in a Si IV raster image. We find that the average spatial size of the dots is 0.8 arcsec$^2$ and most of them are located in the faculae area. Their Doppler velocities obtained from the Si IV 1394 Å line range from -20 to 20 km/s. Among these 2742 dots, 1224 are predominantly blue-shifted and 1518 are red-shifted. Their nonthermal velocities range from 4 to 50 km/s with an average of 24 km/s. We speculate that the bright dots studied here are small-scale impulsive energetic events that can heat the active region corona.

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arXiv2018

Observations of upward propagating waves in the transition region and corona above Sunspots

We present observations of persistent oscillations of some bright features in the upper-chromosphere/transition-region above sunspots taken by IRIS SJ 1400 Å and upward propagating quasi-periodic disturbances along coronal loops rooted in the same region taken by AIA 171 Å passband. The oscillations of the features are cyclic oscillatory motions without any obvious damping. The amplitudes of the spatial displacements of the oscillations are about 1 $^{"}$. The apparent velocities of the oscillations are comparable to the sound speed in the chromosphere, but the upward motions are slightly larger than that of the downward. The intensity variations can take 24-53% of the background, suggesting nonlinearity of the oscillations. The FFT power spectra of the oscillations show dominant peak at a period of about 3 minutes, in consistent with the omnipresent 3 minute oscillations in sunspots. The amplitudes of the intensity variations of the upward propagating coronal disturbances are 10-15% of the background. The coronal disturbances have a period of about 3 minutes, and propagate upward along the coronal loops with apparent velocities in a range of 30-80 km/s. We propose a scenario that the observed transition region oscillations are powered continuously by upward propagating shocks, and the upward propagating coronal disturbances can be the recurrent plasma flows driven by shocks or responses of degenerated shocks that become slow magnetic-acoustic waves after heating the plasma in the coronal loops at their transition-region bases.

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arXiv2018

Magnetic braids in eruptions of a spiral structure in the solar atmosphere

We report on high-resolution imaging and spectral observations of eruptions of a spiral structure in the transition region, which were taken with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrometer (IRIS), the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI). The eruption coincided with the appearance of two series of jets, with velocities comparable to the Alfvén speeds in their footpoints. Several pieces of evidence of magnetic braiding in the eruption are revealed, including localized bright knots, multiple well-separated jet threads, transition region explosive events and the fact that all these three are falling into the same locations within the eruptive structures. Through analysis of the extrapolated three-dimensional magnetic field in the region, we found that the eruptive spiral structure corresponded well to locations of twisted magnetic flux tubes with varying curl values along their lengths. The eruption occurred where strong parallel currents, high squashing factors, and large twist numbers were obtained. The electron number density of the eruptive structure is found to be $\sim3\times10^{12}$ cm$^{-3}$, indicating that significant amount of mass could be pumped into the corona by the jets. Following the eruption, the extrapolations revealed a set of seemingly relaxed loops, which were visible in the AIA 94 Å channel indicating temperatures of around 6.3 MK. With these observations, we suggest that magnetic braiding could be part of the mechanisms explaining the formation of solar eruption and the mass and energy supplement to the corona.

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arXiv2018

A magnetic reconnection event in the solar atmosphere driven by relaxation of a twisted arch filament system

We present high-resolution observations of a magnetic reconnection event in the solar atmosphere taken with the New Vacuum Solar Telescope, AIA and HMI. The reconnection event occurred between the threads of a twisted arch filament system (AFS) and coronal loops. Our observations reveal that the relaxation of the twisted AFS drives some of its threads to encounter the coronal loops, providing inflows of the reconnection. The reconnection is evidenced by flared X-shape features in the AIA images, a current-sheet-like feature apparently connecting post-reconnection loops in the \halpha$+$1 Å images, small-scale magnetic cancellation in the HMI magnetograms and flows with speeds of 40--80 km/s along the coronal loops. The post-reconnection coronal loops seen in AIA 94 Å passband appear to remain bright for a relatively long time, suggesting that they have been heated and/or filled up by dense plasmas previously stored in the AFS threads. Our observations suggest that the twisted magnetic system could release its free magnetic energy into the upper solar atmosphere through reconnection processes. While the plasma pressure in the reconnecting flux tubes are significantly different, the reconfiguration of field lines could result in transferring of mass among them and induce heating therein.

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arXiv2017

Plasma parameters and geometry of cool and warm active region loops

How the solar corona is heated to high temperatures remains an unsolved mystery in solar physics. In the present study we analyse observations of 50 whole active-region loops taken with the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on board the Hinode satellite. Eleven loops were classified as cool (<1 MK) and 39 as warm (1-2 MK) loops. We study their plasma parameters such as densities, temperatures, filling factors, non-thermal velocities and Doppler velocities. We combine spectroscopic analysis with linear force-free magnetic-field extrapolation to derive the three-dimensional structure and positioning of the loops, their lengths and heights as well as the magnetic field strength along the loops. We use density-sensitive line pairs from Fe XII, Fe XIII, Si X and Mg VII ions to obtain electron densities by taking special care of intensity background-subtraction. The emission-measure loci method is used to obtain the loop temperatures. We find that the loops are nearly isothermal along the line-of-sight. Their filling factors are between 8% and 89%. We also compare the observed parameters with the theoretical RTV scaling law. We find that most of the loops are in an overpressure state relative to the RTV predictions. In a followup study, we will report a heating model of a parallel-cascade-based mechanism and will compare the model parameters with the loop plasma and structural parameters derived here.

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