arXiv subjects

Tom Van Doorsselaere

Publications and source records attributed to Tom Van Doorsselaere.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Modelling of transverse oscillations driven by p-modes in short coronal loops

Recent observations have revealed two types of decayless transverse oscillations in short coronalloops: one with short periods scaling with loop lengths, and the other with longer periods that exhibit a peak at around 5 min in the period distribution. To understand such a difference in period, we work in the framework of ideal MHD and model a short coronal loop embedded in an atmosphere with density stratification from the chromosphere to the corona. An inclined p-mode-like driver with a period of 5 min is launched at one loop footpoint. It is discovered that two types of decayless transverse oscillations can be excited in the loop. We interpret the 5 min periodicity as being directly driven by the footpoint driver, while the others, with periods of several tens of seconds, are regarded as kink eigenmodes of different harmonics. Therefore, our simulation shows that both types of decayless oscillations found in observations can be excited by p-modes in one short coronal loop. This study extends our understanding of ubiquitous decayless transverse oscillations in the corona. Furthermore, it suggests that p-modes could be an important energy source for coronal heating by driving decayless transverse oscillations.

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arXiv2023

The Role of High-frequency Transverse Oscillations in Coronal Heating

Transverse oscillations that do not show significant damping in solar coronal loops are found to be ubiquitous. Recently, the discovery of high-frequency transverse oscillations in small-scale loops has been accelerated by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager onboard Solar Orbiter. We perform a meta-analysis by considering the oscillation parameters reported in the literature. Motivated by the power law of the velocity power spectrum of propagating transverse waves detected with CoMP, we consider the distribution of energy fluxes as a function of oscillation frequencies and the distribution of the number of oscillations as a function of energy fluxes and energies. These distributions are described as a power law. We propose that the power law slope ($δ=-1.40$) of energy fluxes depending on frequencies could be used for determining whether high-frequency oscillations dominate the total heating ($δ< 1$) or not ($δ> 1$). In addition, we found that the oscillation number distribution depending on energy fluxes has a power law slope of $α=1.00$, being less than 2, which means that oscillations with high energy fluxes provide the dominant contribution to the total heating. It is shown that, on average, higher energy fluxes are generated from higher frequency oscillations. The total energy generated by transverse oscillations ranges from about $10^{20}$ to $10^{25}$ erg, corresponding to the energies for nanoflare ($10^{24}-10^{27}$ erg), picoflare ($10^{21}-10^{24}$ erg), and femtoflare ($10^{18}-10^{21}$ erg). The respective slope results imply that high-frequency oscillations could provide the dominant contribution to total coronal heating generated by decayless transverse oscillations.

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arXiv2023

Influence of the Lower Atmosphere on Wave Heating and Evaporation in Solar Coronal Loops

We model a coronal loop as a three-dimensional magnetic cylinder in a realistic solar atmosphere that extends from the chromosphere to the corona. Kink oscillations, believed ubiquitous in the solar corona, are launched in the loop. Heating is expected due to the dissipation of wave energy at small structures that develop from the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability induced by kink oscillations. Increases in temperature and internal energy can be observed in the coronal counterpart of the driven loop. With the presence of thermal conduction, chromospheric evaporation can also be seen. Although the volume averaged temperature and density changes seem slight ($\sim4\%$ relative to a non-driven loop), the enthalpy flow from the lower atmosphere redistributes the density and temperature in the vertical direction, thus enhancing the dissipation of wave energy in the corona. The efficient heating in the coronal counterpart of the loop can complement the thermal conductive losses shown in the current model and thus maintain the internal energy in the corona.

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arXiv2023

Alfvénic motions arising from asymmetric acoustic wave drivers in solar magnetic structures

Alfvénic motions are ubiquitous in the solar atmosphere and their observed properties are closely linked to those of photospheric p-modes. However, it is still unclear how a predominantly acoustic wave driver can produce these transverse oscillations in the magnetically dominated solar corona. In this study we conduct a 3D ideal MHD numerical simulation to model a straight, expanding coronal loop in a gravitationally stratified solar atmosphere which includes a transition region and chromosphere. We implement a driver locally at one foot-point corresponding to an acoustic-gravity wave which is inclined by $θ= 15^{\circ}$ with respect to the vertical axis of the magnetic structure and is similar to a vertical driver incident on an inclined loop. We show that transverse motions are produced in the magnetic loop, which displace the axis of the waveguide due to the breaking of azimuthal symmetry, and study the resulting modes in the theoretical framework of a magnetic cylinder model. By conducting an azimuthal Fourier analysis of the perturbed velocity signals, the contribution from different cylindrical modes is obtained. Furthermore, the perturbed vorticity is computed to demonstrate how the transverse motions manifest themselves throughout the whole non-uniform space. Finally we present some physical properties of the Alfvénic perturbations and present transverse motions with velocity amplitudes in the range of $0.2-0.75$ km s$^{-1}$ which exhibit two distinct oscillation regimes corresponding to $42$ s and $364$ s, where the latter value is close to the period of the p-mode driver in the simulation.

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arXiv2023

Quasi-periodic pulsations in solar flares: a key diagnostic of energy release on the Sun

Solar flares are among the most powerful and disruptive events in our solar system, however the physical mechanisms driving and transporting this energetic release are not fully understood. An important signature associated with flare energy release is highly variable emission on timescales of sub-seconds to minutes which often exhibit oscillatory behaviour, features collectively known as quasi-periodic pulsations (QPPs). To fully identify the driving mechanism of QPPs, exploit their potential as a diagnostic tool, and incorporate them into our understanding of solar and stellar flares, new observational capabilities and initiatives are required. There is a clear community need for flare-focused, rapid cadence, high resolution, multi-wavelength imaging of the Sun, with high enough sensitivity and dynamic range to observe small fluctuations in intensity in the presence of a large overall intensity. Furthermore, multidisciplinary funding and initiatives are required to narrow the gap between numerical models and observations. QPPs are direct signatures of the physics occurring in flare magnetic reconnection and energy release sites and hence are critical to include in a unified flare model. Despite significant modelling and theoretical work, no single mechanism or model can fully explain the presence of QPPs in flares. Moreover, it is also likely that QPPs fall into different categories that are produced by different mechanisms. At present we have insufficient information to observationally distinguish between mechanisms. The motivation to understand QPPs is strengthened by the geo-effectiveness of flares on the Earth's ionosphere, and by the fact that stellar flares exhibit similar QPP signatures. QPPs present a golden opportunity to better understand flare physics and exploit the solar-stellary analogy, benefiting both astrophysics, heliophysics, and the solar-terrestrial connection.

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arXiv2023

Cut-off of transverse waves through the solar transition region

Context. Transverse oscillations are ubiquitously observed in the solar corona, both in coronal loops and open magnetic flux tubes. Numerical simulations suggest that their dissipation could heat coronal loops, counterbalancing radiative losses. These models rely on a continuous driver at the footpoint of the loops. However, analytical works predict that transverse waves are subject to a cut-off in the transition region. It is thus unclear whether they can reach the corona, and indeed heat coronal loops. Aims. Our aims are to determine how the cut-off of kink waves affects their propagation into the corona, and to characterize the variation of the cut-off frequency with altitude. Methods. Using 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations, we modelled the propagation of kink waves in a magnetic flux tube, embedded in a realistic atmosphere with thermal conduction, that starts in the chromosphere and extends into the corona. We drove kink waves at four different frequencies, and determined whether they experienced a cut-off. We then calculated the altitude at which the waves were cut-off, and compared it to the prediction of several analytical models. Results. We show that kink waves indeed experience a cut-off in the transition region, and we identified the analytical model that gives the best predictions. In addition, we show that waves with periods shorter than approximately 500 s can still reach the corona by tunnelling through the transition region, with little to no attenuation of their amplitude. This means that such waves can still propagate from the footpoints of loop, and result in heating in the corona.

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arXiv2022

The effect of linear background rotational flows on magnetoacoustic modes of a photospheric magnetic flux tube

Magnetoacoustic waves in solar magnetic flux tubes may be affected by the presence of background rotational flows. Here, we investigate the behaviour of $m=0$ and $m=\pm 1$ modes of a magnetic flux tube in the presence of linear background rotational flows embedded in a photospheric environment. We show that the inclusion of a background rotational flow is found to have little effect on the obtained eigensolutions for the axisymmetric $m=0$ sausage mode. However, solutions for the kink mode are dependent on the location of the flow resonance modified by the slow frequency. A background rotational flow causes the modified flow resonances to possess faster phase speeds in the thin-tube (TT) limit for the case $m=1$. This results in solutions for the slow body and slow surface kink modes to follow this trajectory, changing their dispersive behaviour. For a photospheric flux tube in the TT limit, we show that it becomes difficult to distinguish between the slow surface and fast surface kink ($m=1$) modes upon comparison of their eigenfunctions. 2D velocity field plots demonstrate how these waves, in the presence of background rotational flows, may appear in observational data. For slow body kink modes, a swirling pattern can be seen in the total pressure perturbation. Furthermore, the tube boundary undergoes a helical motion from the breaking of azimuthal symmetry, where the $m=1$ and $m=-1$ modes become out of phase, suggesting the resulting kink wave is circularly polarised. These results may have implications for seismology of magnetohydrodynamic waves in solar magnetic vortices.

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arXiv2022

Phase mixing and the 1/f spectrum in the solar wind

The origin and evolution of the 1/f power law observed in the energy spectrum of solar coronal and solar wind fluctuations at scales of around an hour is not entirely understood. Several existing theories aim at explaining it, involving both linear and nonlinear mechanisms. An often overlooked property of the solar corona and solar wind is their highly inhomogeneous nature. In this paper we investigate the linear evolution of pure Alfvén and surface Alfvén waves propagating through a plasma which is inhomogeneous across the magnetic field. The inhomogeneity is given by density, which we model to be two-dimensional colored noise, with power spectral slopes ranging from -2 to -1. Alfvén waves propagate independently on individual magnetic field lines, and eventually get completely out of phase through the process of phase mixing, leading to unrealistic spectra. When the coupling between the inhomogeneous background and the propagating waves is fully accounted for, transverse waves such as surface Alfvén waves (also referred to as kink or Alfvénic) appear, showing collective wave behavior of neighboring magnetic field lines with different Alfvén speeds. We show that the linear cascade of surface Alfvén wave energy, induced by phase mixing and resonant absorption, leads to a perpendicular wave energy spectrum which tends to the perpendicular power spectrum of the background density. Based on our model, we propose that a perpendicular density power spectrum of 1/f in the solar corona can induce, through linear processes, the 1/f spectrum of the fluctuations that is observed at the largest scales.

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arXiv2022

Impulsively Generated Kink Wave Trains in Solar Coronal Slabs

We numerically follow the response of density-enhanced slabs to impulsive, localized, transverse velocity perturbations by working in the framework of ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). Both linear and nonlinear regimes are addressed. Kink wave trains are seen to develop along the examined slabs, sharing the characteristics that more oscillatory patterns emerge with time and that the apparent wavelength increases with distance at a given instant. Two features nonetheless arise due to nonlinearity, one being a density cavity close to the exciter and the other being the appearance of shocks both outside and inside the nominal slab. These features may be relevant for understanding the interaction between magnetic structures and such explosive events as coronal mass ejections. Our numerical findings on kink wave trains in solar coronal slabs are discussed in connection with typical measurements of streamer waves.

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arXiv2022

High frequency decayless waves with significant energy in Solar Orbiter/EUI observations

High-frequency wave phenomena present a great deal of interest as one of the possible candidates to contribute to the energy input required to heat the corona as a part of the AC heating theory. However, the resolution of imaging instruments up until the Solar Orbiter have made it impossible to resolve the necessary time and spatial scales. The present paper reports on high-frequency transverse motions in a small loop located in a quiet Sun region of the corona. The oscillations were observed with the HRIEUV telescope (17.4 nm) of the EUI instrument onboard the Solar Orbiter. We detect two transverse oscillations in short loops with lengths of 4.5 Mm and 11 Mm. The shorter loop displays an oscillation with a 14 s period and the longer a 30 s period. Despite the high resolution, no definitive identification as propagating or standing waves is possible. The velocity amplitudes are found to be equal to 72 km/s and 125 km/s, respectively, for the shorter and longer loop. Based on that, we also estimated the values of the energy flux contained in the loops - the energy flux of the 14 s oscillation is 1.9 kW m^-2 and of the 30 s oscillation it is 6.5 kW m^-2 . While these oscillations have been observed in the Quiet Sun, their energy fluxes are of the same order as the energy input required to heat the active solar corona. Numerical simulations were performed in order to reproduce the observed oscillations. The correspondence of the numerical results to the observations provide support to the energy content estimates for the observations. Such high energy densities have not yet been observed in decayless coronal waves, and this is promising for coronal heating models based on wave damping.

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arXiv2022

Decayless oscillations in solar coronal bright points

Decayless kink oscillations of solar coronal loops (or decayless oscillations for short) have attracted great attention since their discovery. Coronal bright points (CBPs) are mini-active regions and consist of loops with a small size. However, decayless oscillations in CBPs have not been widely reported. In this study, we identified this kind of oscillations in some CBPs using 171 Å\, images taken by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). After using the motion magnification algorithm to increase oscillation amplitudes, we made time-distance maps to identify the oscillatory signals. We also estimated the loop lengths and velocity amplitudes. We analysed 23 CBPs, and found 31 oscillation events in 16 of them. The oscillation periods range from 1 to 8 minutes (on average about 5 minutes), and the displacement amplitudes have an average value of 0.07 Mm. The average loop length and velocity amplitude are 23 Mm and 1.57 \kms, respectively. Relationships between different oscillation paraments are also examined. Additionally, we performed a simple forward model to illustrate how these sub-pixel oscillation amplitudes (less than 0.4 Mm) could be detected. Results of the model confirm the reliability of our data processing methods. Our study shows for the first time that decayless oscillations are common in small-scale loops of CBPs. These oscillations allow for seismological diagnostics of the Alfvén speed and magnetic field strength in the corona.

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arXiv2022

Quasimodes in the cusp continuum in nonuniform magnetic flux tubes

The study of MHD waves is important both for understanding heating in the solar atmosphere and for solar atmospheric seismology. The analytical investigation of wave mode properties in a cylinder is of particular interest in this domain, as many atmospheric structures can be modeled as such in a first approximation. We use linearized ideal MHD to study quasimodes (global modes that are damped through resonant absorption) with a frequency in the cusp continuum, in a straight cylinder with a circular base and an inhomogeneous layer at its boundary which separates two homogeneous plasma regions inside and outside. We are in particular interested in the damping of these modes, and shall hence try to determine their frequency as a function of background parameters. After linearizing the ideal MHD equations, we find solutions to the second-order differential equation for the perturbed total pressure in the inhomogeneous layer in the form of Frobenius series around the regular singular points that are the Alfvén and cusp resonant positions, as well as power series around regular points. By connecting these solutions appropriately through the inhomogeneous layer and with the solutions of the homogeneous regions inside and outside the cylinder, we derive a dispersion relation for the frequency of the eigenmodes of the system. From the dispersion relation, it is also possible to find the frequency of quasimodes even though they are not eigenmodes. As an example, we find the frequency of the slow surface sausage quasimode as a function of the inhomogeneous layer's width, for values of the longitudinal wavenumber relevant for photospheric conditions. The results were found to match well the results found in another paper which studied the resistive slow surface sausage eigenmode. We also discuss the perturbation profiles of the quasimode and the eigenfunctions of continuum modes.

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arXiv2021

Weak damping of propagating MHD kink waves in the quiescent corona

Propagating transverse waves are thought to be a key transporter of Poynting flux throughout the Sun's atmosphere. Recent studies have shown that these transverse motions, interpreted as the magnetohydrodynamic kink mode, are prevalent throughout the corona. The associated energy estimates suggest the waves carry enough energy to meet the demands of the coronal radiative losses in the quiescent Sun. However, it is still unclear how the waves deposit their energy into the coronal plasma. We present the results from a large-scale study of propagating kink waves in the quiescent corona using data from the Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter (CoMP). The analysis reveals that the kink waves appear to be weakly damped, which would imply low rates of energy transfer from the large-scale transverse motions to smaller-scales via either uni-turbulence or resonant absorption. This raises questions about how the observed kink modes would deposit their energy into the coronal plasma. Moreover, these observations, combined with the results of Monte Carlo simulations, lead us to infer that the solar corona displays a spectrum of density ratios, with a smaller density ratio (relative to the ambient corona) in quiescent coronal loops and a higher density ratio in active region coronal loops.

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arXiv2021

Investigating coronal wave energy estimates using synthetic non-thermal line widths

Aims. Estimates of coronal wave energy remain uncertain as a large fraction of the energy is likely hidden in the non-thermal line widths of emission lines. In order to estimate these wave energies, many previous studies have considered the root mean squared wave amplitudes to be a factor of $\sqrt{2}$ greater than the non-thermal line widths. However, other studies have used different factors. To investigate this problem, we consider the relation between wave amplitudes and the non-thermal line widths within a variety of 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. Methods. We consider the following 3D numerical models: Alfvén waves in a uniform magnetic field, transverse waves in a complex braided magnetic field, and two simulations of coronal heating in an arcade. We applied the forward modelling code FoMo to generate the synthetic emission data required to analyse the non-thermal line widths. Results. Determining a single value for the ratio between the non-thermal line widths and the root mean squared wave amplitudes is not possible across multiple simulations. It was found to depend on a variety of factors, including line-of-sight angles, velocity magnitudes, wave interference, and exposure time. Indeed, some of our models achieved the values claimed in recent articles while other more complex models deviated from these ratios. Conclusions. To estimate wave energies, an appropriate relation between the non-thermal line widths and root mean squared wave amplitudes is required. However, evaluating this ratio to be a singular value, or even providing a lower or upper bound on it, is not realistically possible given its sensitivity to various MHD models and factors. As the ratio between wave amplitudes and non-thermal line widths is not constant across our models, we suggest that this widely used method for estimating wave energy is not robust.

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arXiv2021

Acoustic wave properties in footpoints of coronal loops in 3D MHD simulations

Acoustic waves excited in the photosphere and below might play an integral part in the heating of the solar chromosphere and corona. However, it is yet not fully clear how much of the initially acoustic wave flux reaches the corona and in what form. We investigate the wave propagation, damping, transmission, and conversion in the lower layers of the solar atmosphere using 3D numerical MHD simulations. A model of a gravitationally stratified expanding straight coronal loop, stretching from photosphere to photosphere, is perturbed at one footpoint by an acoustic driver with a period of 370 seconds. For this period acoustic cutoff regions are present below the transition region (TR). About 2% of the initial energy from the driver reach the corona. The shape of the cutoff regions and the height of the TR show a highly dynamic behavior. Taking only the driven waves into account, the waves have a propagating nature below and above the cutoff region, but are standing and evanescent within the cutoff region. Studying the driven waves together with the background motions in the model reveals standing waves between the cutoff region and the TR. These standing waves cause an oscillation of the TR height. In addition, fast or leaky sausage body-like waves might have been excited close to the base of the loop. These waves then possibly convert to fast or leaky sausage surface-like waves at the top of the main cutoff region, followed by a conversion to slow sausage body-like waves around the TR.

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arXiv2021

Forward Modeling of Simulated Transverse Oscillations in Coronal Loops and the Influence of Background Emission

We simulate transverse oscillations in radiatively cooling coronal loops and forward-model their spectroscopic and imaging signatures, paying attention to the influence of background emission. The transverse oscillations are driven at one footpoint by a periodic velocity driver. A standing kink wave is subsequently formed and the loop cross-section is deformed due to the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, resulting in energy dissipation and heating at small scales. Besides the transverse motions, a long-period longitudinal flow is also generated due to the ponderomotive force induced slow wave. We then transform the simulated straight loop to a semi-torus loop and forward-model their spectrometer and imaging emissions, mimicking observations of Hinode/EIS and SDO/AIA. We find that the oscillation amplitudes of the intensity are different at different slit positions, but are roughly the same in different spectral lines or channels. X-t diagrams of both the Doppler velocity and the Doppler width show periodic signals. We also find that the background emission dramatically decreases the Doppler velocity, making the estimated kinetic energy two orders of magnitude smaller than the real value. Our results show that background subtraction can help recover the real oscillation velocity. These results are helpful for further understanding transverse oscillations in coronal loops and their observational signatures. However, they cast doubt on the spectroscopically estimated energy content of transverse waves using the Doppler velocity.

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arXiv2021

Probing the physics of the solar atmosphere with the Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE): I. Coronal Heating

The Multi-slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) is a proposed NASA MIDEX mission, currently in Phase A, composed of a multi-slit EUV spectrograph (in three narrow spectral bands centered around 171A, 284A, and 108A) and an EUV context imager (in two narrow passbands around 195A and 304A). MUSE will provide unprecedented spectral and imaging diagnostics of the solar corona at high spatial (<0.5 arcsec), and temporal resolution (down to ~0.5s) thanks to its innovative multi-slit design. By obtaining spectra in 4 bright EUV lines (Fe IX 171A , Fe XV 284A, Fe XIX-Fe XXI 108A) covering a wide range of transition region and coronal temperatures along 37 slits simultaneously, MUSE will for the first time be able to "freeze" (at a cadence as short as 10 seconds) with a spectroscopic raster the evolution of the dynamic coronal plasma over a wide range of scales: from the spatial scales on which energy is released (~0.5 arcsec) to the large-scale often active-region size (170 arcsec x 170 arcsec) atmospheric response. We use advanced numerical modeling to showcase how MUSE will constrain the properties of the solar atmosphere on the spatio-temporal scales (~0.5 arcsec, ~20 seconds) and large field-of-view on which various state-of-the-art models of the physical processes that drive coronal heating, solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) make distinguishing and testable predictions. We describe how the synergy between MUSE, the single-slit, high-resolution Solar-C EUVST spectrograph, and ground-based observatories (DKIST and others) can address how the solar atmosphere is energized, and the critical role MUSE plays because of the multi-scale nature of the physical processes involved. In this first paper, we focus on how comparisons between MUSE observations and theoretical models will significantly further our understanding of coronal heating mechanisms.

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arXiv2021

Non-linear damping of standing kink waves computed with Elsasser variables

In a previous paper, we computed the energy density and the non-linear energy cascade rate for transverse kink waves using Elsasser variables. In this paper, we focus on the standing kink waves, which are impulsively excited in coronal loops by external perturbations. We present an analytical calculation to compute the damping time due to the non-linear development of the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. The main result is that the damping time is inversely proportional to the oscillation amplitude. We compare the damping times from our formula with the results of numerical simulations and observations. In both cases we find a reasonably good match. The comparison with the simulations show that the non-linear damping dominates in the high amplitude regime, while the low amplitude regime shows damping by resonant absorption. In the comparison with the observations, we find a power law inversely proportional to the amplitude $η^{-1}$ as an outer envelope for our Monte Carlo data points.

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