arXiv subjects

Muthu Priyal

Publications and source records attributed to Muthu Priyal.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Equator to Pole Solar Chromospheric Differential Rotation using Ca-K Features Derived from Kodaikanal Data

Differential rotation is one of the basic characteristics of the Sun, and it plays an important role in generating the magnetic fields and its activities. We investigated rotation rate using chromospheric features such as plages, enhanced network, active network, and quiet network separately (for the first time). The digitized Ca-K images from Kodaikanal Observatory for 1907-1996 are used to study rotation over 0-80 degrees latitudes at an interval of 10$^{\circ}$ . We find that plages and all types of networks exhibit the differential rotation of the chromosphere. Furthermore, the rotation rate shows a decreasing pattern as one move from the equator to the higher polar latitudes for all the features used in the study. By analyzing how the area of chromospheric features varies over time, we can effectively map the Sun's rotation rate at all latitudes, including the polar regions. Interestingly, both plages and small-scale networks exhibit similar differential rotation rate. This suggests these features likely rooted at the same layer below the visible surface of the Sun. Therefore, the long-term Ca-K data is very useful to study the solar rotation rate at all latitudes including the polar regions.

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arXiv2023

Data processing of Visible Emission Line Coronagraph Onboard ADITYA L1

ADITYA-L1 is India's first dedicated mission to observe the sun and its atmosphere from a halo orbit around L1 point. Visible emission line coronagraph (VELC) is the prime payload on board at Aditya-L1 to observe the sun's corona. VELC is designed as an internally occulted reflective coronagraph to meet the observational requirements of wide wavelength band and close to the solar limb (1.05 Ro). Images of the solar corona in continuum and spectra in three emission lines 5303Å [Fe xiv], 7892Å [Fe xi] and 10747 [Fe xiii] obtained with high cadence to be analyzed using software algorithms automatically. A reasonable part of observations will be made in synoptic mode, those, need to be analyzed and results made available for public use. The procedure involves the calibration of instrument and detectors, converting the images into fits format, correcting the images and spectra for the instrumental effects, align the images etc. Then, develop image processing algorithms to detect the occurrence of energetic events using continuum images. Also derive physical parameters, such as temperature and velocity structure of solar corona using emission line observations. Here, we describe the calibration of detectors and the development of software algorithms to detect the occurrence of CMEs and analyze the spectroscopic data.

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arXiv2023

Variation of small scale magnetic fields over a century using Ca-K images as proxy

A combined uniform and long-time series of Ca-K images from the Kodaikanal Observatory (KO), Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO), and Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO) were used to identify and study the Ca-K small-scale features and their solar cycle variations over a century. The small scale features are classified into three distinct categories: enhanced network (EN), active network (AN), and quiet network (QN). All these features show that their areas vary according to the 11-year solar cycle. The relative amplitude of the Ca-K network variations agree with that of the sunspot cycle. The total area of these small-scale features varies from about 5% during the minimum phase of the solar cycle to about 20% during its maximum phase. Considering the average intensity and the amplitude of their area variations, we find that the total contribution of EN, AN and QN to the irradiance variation of the Sun is about 3%.

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arXiv2022

Temporal and latitudinal variations of Ca-K plage and network area: An implication to meridional flows

The Ca-K spectroheliograms obtained at the Kodaikanal observatory (KO) are used to generate a uniform time series using the equal contrast technique (ECT) to study the long and short-term variation in the solar chromosphere. The percentage of plage, Enhanced network (EN), Active network (AN), and Quiet network (QN) area at various latitudes is compared with the activity at 35$^{\circ}$ latitude and also with the sunspot number for the period of 1907 -- 1984. The values of phase differences indicate that the activity begins at $\sim$45$^{\circ}$ latitude and shift progressively to the lower latitude at a speed of $\sim$~9.4~m~sec$^{-1}$ . The shift speed slows down gradually and reaches $\sim$~3~m~sec$^{-1}$ at $\sim$5$^{\circ}$ latitude. No phase difference between the variations of Ca-K activity at 55$^{\circ}$, 65$^{\circ}$, and 75$^{\circ}$ latitude belts implies that changes in the activity are happening simultaneously. The analysis shows that the activity at polar latitude belts is anti-correlated with the sunspot number. This study indicates that a multi-cell meridional flow pattern could exist in the solar convection zone. One type of cell could transport the magnetic elements from mid-latitude to low-latitude belts through meridional flows, and the other one could be operating in the polar region.

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arXiv2022

Data Pipeline Architecture and Development for VELC onboard Space Solar Mission AdityaL1

ADITYA L-1 is India's first dedicated mission to study Sun and its atmosphere with Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), a major payload on ADITYA-L1. VELC has provision to make imaging and spectroscopic observations of the corona, simultaneously. Imaging with the Field of View (FOV) from 1.05Ro to 3Ro will be done in continuum at 500nm. The spectroscopic observations of solar corona in three emission lines, namely 5303 Å [Fe XIV], 7892 Å [Fe XI], 10747 Å [Fe XIII], and Spectro-polarimetry at 10747 Å [Fe XIII] will be performed with FOV of 1.05-1.5Ro. In this work, the end-to-end data pipeline architecture and development of the VELC payload are presented. The VELC proposal submission form, satellite observation parameters, data products, level definitions, data pipeline and analysis software to process the big raw data sets obtained using VELC instruments onboard satellite to science-ready data are discussed.

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arXiv2021

Variation of Chromospheric Features as a Function of Latitude and Time using Ca-K Spectroheliograms for Solar Cycles 15-23: Implications for Meridional Flow

We have analysed the Ca-K images obtained at Kodaikanal Observatory as a function of latitude and time for the period of 1913 - 2004 covering the Solar Cycle 15 to 23. We have classified the chromospheric activity into plage, Enhanced Network (EN), Active Network (AN), and Quiet Network (QN) areas to differentiate between large strong active and small weak active regions. The strong active regions represent toroidal and weak active regions poloidal component of the magnetic field. We find that plages areas mostly up to 50 deg latitude belt vary with about 11-year Solar Cycle. We also find that weak activity represented by EN, AN and QN varies with about 11-year with significant amplitude up to about 50 deg latitude in both the hemispheres. The amplitude of variation is minimum around 50 deg latitude and again increases by small amount in the polar region. In addition, the plots of plages, EN, AN and QN as a function of time indicate the maximum of activity at different latitude occur at different epoch. To determine the phase difference for the different latitude belts, we have computed the cross-correlation coefficients of other latitude belts with 35 deg latitude belt. We find that activity shifts from mid-latitude belts towards equatorial belts at fast speed at the beginning of Solar Cycle and at slower speed as the cycle progresses. The speed of shift varies between approximately 19 and 3 m/s considering all the data for the observed period. This speed can be linked with speed of meridional flows those believed to occur between convection zone and the surface of the Sun.

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arXiv2020

Determining the Variations of Ca-K index and Features using a Century Long Equal Contrast Images from Kodaikanal Observatory

In the earlier analysis of Ca-K spectroheliograms obtained at Kodaikanal Observatory, the "Good" images were used to investigate variations in the chromosphere. Still, the contrast of the images varied on a day-to-day basis. We developed a new methodology to generate images to form a uniform time series. We adjusted each image's contrast until the FWHM of the normalized intensity distribution attained a value between 0.10 and 0.11. This methodology of the "Equal Contrast technique" is expected to compensate for the change of emulsion, development, contrast of the images due to centering of Ca-K line on the exit slit and sky transparency. Besides, this procedure will correct variations in density-to-intensity conversion for different images. We find that the correlation between sunspot and Ca-K line data improves by a large amount. For example, correlation coefficient (CC) between monthly averaged sunspots and Ca-K plage areas for the equal contrast data improves to 0.9 compared to 0.75 for the "Good" data with unequal contrast. The CC for equal contrast images improves to $\sim$0.78 from $\sim$0.46 for the "Okay" data with unequal contrast. Even the CC between the plage area and the daily sunspot number is 0.85 for 100 years of data. This methodology also permits us to study the variations in Enhanced, Active, and Quiet networks with time along with good accuracy for about a century, for the first time. Further, this procedure can be used to combine data from different observatories to make a long time series.

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arXiv2017

Long-term Variations in the Intensity of Plages and Networks as Observed in Kodaikanal Ca-K Digitized Data

In our previous article (Priyal et al. in Solar Phys. 289, 127, 2014) we have discussed the details of observations and methodology adopted to analyze the Ca-K spectroheliograms obtained at the Kodaikanal Observatory (KO) to study the variation of Ca-K plage areas, enhanced network (EN), and active network (AN) for Solar Cycles, namely 19, 20, and 21. Now, we have derived the areas of chromospheric features using KO Ca-K spectroheliograms to study the long-term variations of Solar Cycles 14 to 21. The comparison of the derived plage areas from the data obtained at the KO observatory for the period 1906-1985 with that of MWO, NSO for the period 1965-2002, earlier measurements made by Tlatov, Pevtsov, and Singh (Solar Phys. 255, 239, 2009) for KO data, and the SIDC sunspot numbers shows a good correlation. The uniformity of the data obtained with the same instrument remaining with the same specifications provided a unique opportunity to study long-term intensity variations in plages and network regions. Therefore, we have investigated the variation of the intensity contrast of these features with time at a temporal resolution of six months assuming that the quiet-background chromosphere remains unchanged during the period 1906-2005 and found that the average intensity of the AN, representing the changes in small-scale activity over solar surface, varies with solar cycle being less during the minimum phase. In addition, the average intensity of plages and EN varies with a very long period having a maximum value during Solar Cycle 19, which was the strongest solar cycle of twentieth century.

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arXiv2016

A Statistical Analysis of Solar Surface Indices Through the Solar Activity Cycles 21-23

Variations of total solar irradiance (TSI), magnetic field, Ca II K-flux, faculae and plage areas due to the number and the type of sunspots/sunspot groups (SGs) are well established by using Solar Irradiance Platform and ground based data from various centers such as Stanford Data (SFO), Kodaikanal data (KKL) and National Geographical Data Center (NGDC) Homepage, respectively. We applied time series analysis for extracting the data over the descending phases of solar activity cycles (SACs) 21, 22 and 23, and the ascending phases 22 and 23 of SACs, and analyzed the selected data using the Python programming language. Our detailed analysis results suggest that there is a stronger correlation between solar surface indices and the changes in the relative portion of the small and large SGs. This somewhat unexpected finding suggest that plage regions decreased in a lower values in spite of the higher number of large SGs in SAC 23 while Ca II K-flux did not decrease by large amount or it was comparable with SAC 22 for some years and relates with C type and DEF type SGs. Thus, increase of facular areas which are influenced by large SGs caused a small percentage decrease in TSI while decrement of plage areas triggered a higher decrease in the flux of magnetic field. Our results thus reveal the potential of such detailed comparison of SG analysis with solar surface indices for understanding and predicting future trends in the SAC.

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arXiv2014

Polar Network Index as a magnetic proxy for the solar cycle studies

The Sun has a polar magnetic field which oscillates with the 11 year sunspot cycle. This polar magnetic field is an important component of the dynamo process which is operating in the solar convection zone and produces the sunspot cycle. We have systematic direct measurements of the Sun's polar magnetic field only from about mid 1970s. There are, however, indirect proxies which give us information about this field at earlier times. The Ca K spectroheliograms taken in Kodaikanal Solar Observatory during 1904 - 2007 have now been digitized with the 4k x 4k CCD and have higher resolution (0.86 arcsec) than the other available historical datasets. From these Ca-K spectroheliograms, we have developed a completely new proxy (Polar Network Index, PNI) for the Sun's polar magnetic field. We calculate the PNI from the digitized images using an automated algorithm and calibrate our measured PNI against the polar field as measured by the Wilcox Solar Observatory for the period of 1976 - 1990. This calibration allows us to estimate polar fields for the earlier period up to 1904. The dynamo calculations done with this proxy as input data reproduce the Sun's magnetic behavior for the past century reasonably well.

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