arXiv subjects

Nariaki Nitta

Publications and source records attributed to Nariaki Nitta.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Comparison of Polar Magnetic Fields Derived from MILOS and MERLIN Inversions with Hinode/SOT-SP Data

The detailed investigation of the polar magnetic field and its time evolution is one of the major achievements of Hinode. Precise measurements of the polar magnetic field are essential for understanding the solar cycle, as they provide important constraints for identifying the source regions of the solar wind. The Spectropolarimeter (SP) of the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) on board Hinode has been the instrument best suited to make such measurements. In this study, we compare the SOT-SP data for the polar regions, processed using two representative Milne-Eddington inversion codes, MILOS and MERLIN. These codes are applied to the same level-1 SOT-SP data, and the same disambiguation algorithm is used on the maps that go through the two inversions. We find that the radial magnetic-flux density (the magnetic-flux density with respect to the local vertical) provided by the MERLIN inversion tends to be approximately 7%-10% larger than that obtained from the MILOS inversion. The slightly higher radial magnetic-flux density from MERLIN appears to be common to the polar magnetic fields observed at different phases of the solar cycle. When MILOS is run with the same scattered-light profile and the same magnetic filling factor that are derived with the MERLIN inversion, the radial magnetic-flux density derived from the two inversions is almost the same. We attribute the difference in the radial magnetic-flux density to different filling factors adopted by the two inversions, based on whether the scattered-light profiles are assumed to be the Stokes I profiles averaged over the neighboring pixels or over the entire field of view. The relationship between the radial magnetic-flux density and magnetic filling factor could be more complex in the polar (limb) observations due to the possible contributions of the transverse magnetic-field component to the estimation of the radial magnetic-flux density.

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arXiv2024

Exploring the Dynamics of CME-Driven Shocks by Comparing Numerical Modeling and Observations

Shocks driven by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are primary drivers of gradual solar energetic particle (SEP) events, posing significant risks to space technology and astronauts. Concurrently, particles accelerated at these shocks may also propagate back to the Sun, potentially generating gamma-ray emissions through pion decay. We incorporated advanced modeling and multi-messenger observations to explore the role of CME-driven shocks in gamma-ray emissions and SEPs. Motivated by Fermi-LAT long-duration solar flares, we used the AWSoM MHD model to investigate the connection between the shocks and the properties of observed gamma-ray emissions. By coupling the AWSoM with iPATH model, we evaluate the impact of shock evolution complexity near the Sun on SEP intensity and spectra. Our result points to the importance of accurate background coronal and solar wind modeling, as well as detailed observations of CME source regions, in advancing our understanding of CME-driven shocks and the dynamics of associated energetic particles.

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arXiv2022

Galactic Cosmic Rays and Solar Energetic Particles in Cis-Lunar Space: Need for contextual energetic particle measurements at Earth and supporting distributed observations

The particle and radiation environment in cis-lunar space is becoming increasingly important as more hardware and human assets occupy various orbits around the Earth and space exploration efforts turn to the Moon and beyond. Since 2020, the total number of satellites in orbit has approximately doubled, highlighting the growing dependence on space-based resources. Through NASA's upcoming Artemis missions, humans will spend more time in cis-lunar space than ever before supported by the expansive infrastructure required for extended missions to the Moon, including a surface habitat, a communications network, and the Lunar Gateway. This paper focuses on galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) and solar energetic particles (SEPs) that create a dynamic and varying radiation environment within these regions. GCRs are particles of hundreds of MeV/nucleon (MeV/n) and above generated in highly energetic astrophysical environments in the Milky Way Galaxy, such as supernovae and pulsars, and beyond. These particles impinge isotropically on the heliosphere and are filtered down to 1 AU, experiencing modulation in energy and intensity on multiple timescales, from hours to decades, due to the solar magnetic cycle and other transient phenomena. SEPs are particles with energies up to thousands of MeV/n that are accelerated in eruptive events on the Sun and flood the inner heliosphere causing sudden and drastic increases in the particle environment on timescales of minutes to days. This paper highlights a current and prospective future gap in energetic particle measurements in the hundreds of MeV/n. We recommend key observations near Earth to act as a baseline as well as distributed measurements in the heliosphere, magnetosphere, and lunar surface to improve the scientific understanding of these particle populations and sources.

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arXiv2021

Probing the Physics of the Solar Atmosphere with the Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE): II. Flares and Eruptions

Current state-of-the-art spectrographs cannot resolve the fundamental spatial (sub-arcseconds) and temporal scales (less than a few tens of seconds) of the coronal dynamics of solar flares and eruptive phenomena. The highest resolution coronal data to date are based on imaging, which is blind to many of the processes that drive coronal energetics and dynamics. As shown by IRIS for the low solar atmosphere, we need high-resolution spectroscopic measurements with simultaneous imaging to understand the dominant processes. In this paper: (1) we introduce the Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE), a spaceborne observatory to fill this observational gap by providing high-cadence (<20 s), sub-arcsecond resolution spectroscopic rasters over an active region size of the solar transition region and corona; (2) using advanced numerical models, we demonstrate the unique diagnostic capabilities of MUSE for exploring solar coronal dynamics, and for constraining and discriminating models of solar flares and eruptions; (3) we discuss the key contributions MUSE would make in addressing the science objectives of the Next Generation Solar Physics Mission (NGSPM), and how MUSE, the high-throughput EUV Solar Telescope (EUVST) and the Daniel K Inouye Solar Telescope (and other ground-based observatories) can operate as a distributed implementation of the NGSPM. This is a companion paper to De Pontieu et al. (2021; arXiv:2106.15584), which focuses on investigating coronal heating with MUSE.

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arXiv2016

Observations of solar X-ray and EUV jets and their related phenomena

Solar jets are fast-moving, elongated brightenings related to ejections seen in both images and spectra on all scales from barely visible chromospheric jets to coronal jets extending up to a few solar radii. The largest, most powerful jets are the source of type III radio bursts, energetic electrons and ions with greatly enhanced $^3$He and heavy element abundances. The frequent coronal jets from polar and equatorial coronal holes may contribute to the solar wind. The primary acceleration mechanism for all jets is believed to be release of magnetic stress via reconnection; however the energy buildup depends on the jets' source environment. In this review, we discuss how certain features of X-ray and EUV jets, such as their repetition rate and association with radio emission, depends on their underlying photospheric field configurations (active regions, polar and equatorial coronal holes, and quiet Sun).

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arXiv2014

Interplanetary Propagation Behavior of the Fast Coronal Mass Ejection from 23 July 2012

The fast coronal mass ejection (CME) from 23 July 2012 raised attention due to its extremely short transit time from Sun to 1 AU of less than 21 h. In-situ data from STEREO-A revealed the arrival of a fast forward shock with a speed of more than 2200 km s$^{-1}$ followed by a magnetic structure moving with almost 1900 km s$^{-1}$. We investigate the propagation behavior of the CME shock and magnetic structure with the aim to reproduce the short transit time and high impact speed as derived from in-situ data. We carefully measure the 3D kinematics of the CME using the graduated cylindrical shell model, and obtain a maximum speed of 2580$\pm$280 km s$^{-1}$ for the CME shock and of 2270$\pm$420 km s$^{-1}$ for its magnetic structure. Based on the 3D kinematics, the drag-based model (DBM) reproduces the observational data reasonably well. To successfully simulate the CME shock, we find that the ambient flow speed should be of average value close to the slow solar wind speed (450 km s$^{-1}$), and the initial shock speed at a distance of 30 $R_{\odot}$ should not exceed $\approx$2300 km s$^{-1}$, otherwise it would arrive much too early at STEREO-A. The model results indicate that an extremely low aerodynamic drag force is exerted on the shock, smaller by one order of magnitude compared to the average. As a consequence, the CME hardly decelerates in interplanetary space and maintains its high initial speed. The low aerodynamic drag can only be reproduced when reducing the density of the ambient solar wind flow, in which the massive CME propagates, to $ρ_{\rm sw}$=1-2 cm$^{-3}$ at the distance of 1 AU. This result is consistent with the preconditioning of interplanetary space owing to a previous CME.

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arXiv2012

Solar Stereoscopy with STEREO/EUVI A and B spacecraft from small (6 deg) to large (170 deg) spacecraft separation angles

We performed for the first time stereoscopic triangulation of coronal loops in active regions over the entire range of spacecraft separation angles ($α_{sep}\approx 6^\circ, 43^\circ, 89^\circ, 127^\circ$, and $170^\circ$). The accuracy of stereoscopic correlation depends mostly on the viewing angle with respect to the solar surface for each spacecraft, which affects the stereoscopic correspondence identification of loops in image pairs. From a simple theoretical model we predict an optimum range of $α_{sep} \approx 22^\circ-125^\circ$, which is also experimentally confirmed. The best accuracy is generally obtained when an active region passes the central meridian (viewed from Earth), which yields a symmetric view for both STEREO spacecraft and causes minimum horizontal foreshortening. For the extended angular range of $α_{sep}\approx 6^\circ-127^{\circ}$ we find a mean 3D misalignment angle of $μ_{PF} \approx 21^\circ-39^\circ$ of stereoscopically triangulated loops with magnetic potential field models, and $μ_{FFF} \approx 15^\circ-21^\circ$ for a force-free field model, which is partly caused by stereoscopic uncertainties $μ_{SE} \approx 9^\circ$. We predict optimum conditions for solar stereoscopy during the time intervals of 2012--2014, 2016--2017, and 2021--2023.

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arXiv2012

Characteristics of kinematics of a coronal mass ejection during the 2010 August 1 CME-CME interaction event

We study the interaction of two successive coronal mass ejections (CMEs) during the 2010 August 1 events using STEREO/SECCHI COR and HI data. We obtain the direction of motion for both CMEs by applying several independent reconstruction methods and find that the CMEs head in similar directions. This provides evidence that a full interaction takes place between the two CMEs that can be observed in the HI1 field-of-view. The full de-projected kinematics of the faster CME from Sun to Earth is derived by combining remote observations with in situ measurements of the CME at 1 AU. The speed profile of the faster CME (CME2; ~1200 km/s) shows a strong deceleration over the distance range at which it reaches the slower, preceding CME (CME1; ~700 km/s). By applying a drag-based model we are able to reproduce the kinematical profile of CME2 suggesting that CME1 represents a magnetohydrodynamic obstacle for CME2 and that, after the interaction, the merged entity propagates as a single structure in an ambient flow of speed and density typical for quiet solar wind conditions. Observational facts show that magnetic forces may contribute to the enhanced deceleration of CME2. We speculate that the increase in magnetic tension and pressure, when CME2 bends and compresses the magnetic field lines of CME1, increases the efficiency of drag.

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arXiv2011

Coronal Magnetic Field Measurement from EUV Images made by the Solar Dynamics Observatory

By measuring the geometrical properties of the coronal mass ejection (CME) flux rope and the leading shock observed on 2010 June 13 by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission's Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) we determine the Alfvén speed and the magnetic field strength in the inner corona at a heliocentric distance of ~ 1.4 Rs. The basic measurements are the shock standoff distance (deltaR) ahead of the CME flux rope, the radius of curvature of the flux rope (Rc), and the shock speed. We first derive the Alfvénic Mach number (M) using the relationship, deltaR/Rc = 0.81[(gamma-1) M^2 + 2]/[(gamma+1)(M^2-1)], where gamma is the only parameter that needed to be assumed. For gamma =4/3, the Mach number declined from 3.7 to 1.5 indicating shock weakening within the field of view of the imager. The shock formation coincided with the appearance of a type II radio burst at a frequency of ~300 MHz (harmonic component), providing an independent confirmation of the shock. The shock compression ratio derived from the radio dynamic spectrum was found to be consistent with that derived from the theory of fast mode MHD shocks. From the measured shock speed and the derived Mach number, we found the Alfvén speed to increase from ~140 km/s to 460 km/s over the distance range 1.2 to 1.5 Rs. By deriving the upstream plasma density from the emission frequency of the associated type II radio burst, we determined the coronal magnetic field to be in the range 1.3 to 1.5 G. The derived magnetic field values are consistent with other estimates in a similar distance range. This work demonstrates that the EUV imagers, in the presence of radio dynamic spectra, can be used as coronal magnetometers.

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arXiv2000

The Effect of Hydrostatic Weighting on the Vertical Temperature Structure of the Solar Corona

We investigate the effect of hydrostatic scale heights $λ(T)$ in coronal loops on the determination of the vertical temperature structure $T(h)$ of the solar corona. Every method that determines an average temperature at a particular line-of-sight from optically thin emission (e.g. in EUV or soft X-ray wavelengths) of a mutli-temperature plasma, is subject to the emission measure-weighted contributions $dEM(T)/dT$ from different temperatures. Because most of the coronal structures (along open or closed field lines) are close to hydrostatic equilibrium, the hydrostatic temperature scale height introduces a height-dependent weighting function that causes a systematic bias in the determination of the temperature structure $T(h)$ as function of altitude $h$. The net effect is that the averaged temperature seems to increase with altitude, $dT(h)/dh > 0$, even if every coronal loop (of a multi-temperature ensemble) is isothermal in itself. We simulate this effect with differential emission measure distributions observed by {\sl SERTS} for an instrument with a broadband temperature filter such as {\sl Yohkoh/SXT} and find that the apparent temperature increase due to hydrostatic weighting is of order $ΔT \approx T_0 \times h/r_{\sun}$. We suggest that this effect largely explains the systematic temperature increase in the upper corona reported in recent studies (e.g. by Sturrock et al., Wheatland et al., or Priest et al.), rather than being an intrinsic signature of a coronal heating mechanism.

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