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Sahel Dey

Publications and source records attributed to Sahel Dey.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

On the Relationship between Solar Spicules and Propagating Coronal Disturbances: The Role of Shocks

Spicules and propagating coronal disturbances (PCDs) are ubiquitous dynamic features of the solar atmosphere, yet their physical connection remains an open question of paramount importance to the mass and energy transport in the solar atmosphere. Using concurrent multiwavelength high-resolution observations from the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope and the Solar Dynamics Observatory, supported with two-dimensional radiative magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations, we find that i) shock waves in the chromosphere generated from non-linear wave steepening drive some spicules, ii) in the corona, these shock waves may transition into large amplitude non-linear compressive MHD waves depending on the magnetic field strength and the ambient coronal conditions. In either case, the shocks or the large-amplitude compressive waves in the corona, also transport upward mass flux and produce intensity variations in the form of PCDs in coronal passbands. Further a multi-height wavelet analysis shows dominant $\sim$5 minute periods in the lower chromosphere that evolve into longer periods ($\ge$10 minutes) at higher atmospheric layers, consistent with dispersive propagation in a stratified medium. The observational characteristics together with the numerical simulations, demonstrate that a shock-driven MHD mechanism links spicule formation to coronal disturbances. Finally, mass flux estimates from both the observations and the simulations indicate that these PCDs can also aid in supplying mass to the solar wind.

astro-ph.SR

Dynamics of Streamers and Pseudostreamers and Implications for the Solar Wind

The origin of the Sun's slow wind and its inherent variability remain unknown, but there is increasing evidence that interactions between closed and open magnetic flux in the corona play a major role. This paper studies the dynamic evolution of streamers and pseudostreamers with a particular focus on the release of plasma from the closed to the open field region. We employ a global 2.5D magnetohydrodynamic model that extends from the solar chromosphere to 30 solar radii, and that extends previous interchange magnetic reconnection modelling by including self-consistent thermodynamics. We find that at both the helmet streamer and pseudostreamer there is a continual dynamic interaction between closed and open flux even in the absence of explicit driving. At the helmet streamer, the dynamics take the form of a ''breathing'' cycle in which the closed flux contracts and expands, and plasmoids are released along the heliospheric current sheet. The pseudostreamer exhibits a back-and-forth motion, driving interchange reconnection alternately on its opposite flanks. The resulting release of hot, dense plasma leads to density fluctuations in the open field that are significantly larger above the helmet streamer due to the persistence of the plasmoids there. Our model demonstrates that plasma is continually being released into the heliosphere from both streamers and pseudostreamers. We discuss the implications of our simulation results for observations of the corona and inner heliosphere.

astro-ph.SR

The Relation between Solar Spicules and Magnetohydrodynamic Shocks

Spicules are thin, elongated jet-like features seen in observations of the solar atmosphere, at the interface between the solar photosphere and the corona. These features exhibit highly complex dynamics and are a necessary connecting link between the cooler, denser solar chromosphere and the extremely hot, tenuous corona. In this work, we explore the spatial and temporal relation between solar spicules and magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) shocks using data from a 2D radiative MHD (rMHD) simulation of the solar atmosphere driven by solar convection. Here, we demonstrate, through direct identification, that slow MHD shocks, which propagate along magnetic field lines, are regions of strong positive vertical acceleration of the plasma that forms the tip of the spicule material during its rise phase. We quantify the effect of pressure and Lorentz forces on the acceleration of the plasma inside the shocks during the rise of spicules. The causality between spicule and shock propagation in the atmosphere of the model is also investigated. It is further shown that the strength of these shocks may play a vital role in determining the height of the spicules, supporting the idea that shocks act as drivers of some spicules. In addition, we also find the presence of structures similar to propagating coronal disturbances (PCDs) in the simulation, linked with the spicules. Here, PCDs appear to be associated with the shock waves driving the spicules that subsequently propagate into the corona and have similar speeds to those reported in observations.

astro-ph.SR

Dependence of Spicule Properties on the Magnetic Field -- Results from Magnetohydrodynamics Simulations

Solar spicules are plasma jets observed in the interface region between the visible solar surface and the corona. At any given time, there are millions of spicules present all over the Sun. While various models attempt to elucidate their origin and characteristics, here, we consider the one driven by the magneto-convection undulations. The radiative magneto-hydrodynamical (rMHD) equations are solved using PENCIL CODE with a spatial resolution of 16 km using various magnetic field strengths. The obtained rMHD simulation data are investigated to unveil the various trends in spicular properties as function of the applied magnetic fields. The important outcome of this study is the finding of a consistent reduction in both the number density and the maximum height reached by spicules as magnetic field strength increases. We also use parabolic fitting on time-distance curves of spicules that are taller than $75^\mathrm{th}$ percentile in the distribution, in order to find a relation between deceleration of the spicule tip and the magnetic field strength. Our results offer insights into the response of solar spicules to magnetic field strength.

astro-ph.SR

Spinning solar jets explained through the interplay between plasma sheets and vortex columns

Bunches of swaying and spinning plasma jets in the solar atmosphere - the spicules - exhibit a variety of complex dynamics that are clearly observed in the images of the solar limb. Utilizing three-dimensional radiative magnetohydrodynamics (rMHD) simulation data, we uncover another facet of a forest of spicules that turns out to be a manifestation of the two-dimensional plasma drapery, instead of one-dimensional conical spikes. This fluted morphology is observed in other contexts like molecular clouds, auroras, and coronal loops. Further, using a sequence of high-cadence line-of-sight integrated images, generated from our simulation, we obtain multiple episodes of spinning amongst clusters of synthetic spicules, also reported in observations near the solar limb. This perception of rotation, according to our findings, is associated with hot swirling plasma columns, extending to coronal heights - that we label as coronal swirling conduits (CoSCo).

astro-ph.SR

Polymeric jets throw light on the origin and nature of the forest of solar spicules

Spicules are plasma jets, observed in the dynamic interface region between the visible solar surface and the hot corona. At any given time, it is estimated that about 3 million spicules are present on the Sun. We find an intriguing parallel between the simulated spicular forest in a solar-like atmosphere and the numerous jets of polymeric fluids when both are subjected to harmonic forcing. In a radiative magnetohydrodynamic numerical simulation with sub-surface convection, solar global surface oscillations are excited similarly to those harmonic vibrations. The jets thus produced match remarkably well with the forests of spicules detected in observations of the Sun. Taken together, the numerical simulations of the Sun and the laboratory fluid dynamics experiments provide insights into the mechanism underlying the ubiquity of jets: the nonlinear focusing of quasi-periodic waves in anisotropic media of magnetized plasma as well as polymeric fluids under gravity is sufficient to generate a forest of spicules on the Sun.

astro-ph.SR

A note on electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations of the Bardeen de Sitter black hole: quasinormal modes and greybody factors

Bardeen de-Sitter (BdS) black hole is a spherically symmetric solution of Einstein's equation which is coupled to nonlinear electromagnetic field in a way that one gets a regular solution, devoid of any singularity at the origin. We compute the quasinormal (QN) frequencies for BdS black hole due to electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations. We analyse the behaviour of both real and imaginary parts of BdS QN frequencies by varying the black hole parameters and compare frequencies with Reissner-Nordström de-Sitter (RN-dS) black hole. Interestingly, we find that the response of BdS and RN-dS black holes under electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations are different when the charge parameter is varied, which can be used to understand nonlinear and linear electromagnetic fields in curved spacetime separately. A study on the dynamics of perturbation as well as the scattering from the BdS black holes using WKB approach is performed. Greybody factors and their variations with black hole parameters are investigated.

gr-qc