Dynamics and Structure of Quiescent Solar Prominences

224 Pages·1988·17.426 MB·English

by  E. R. Priest (auth.), E. R. Priest (eds.)

DYNAMICS AND STRUCTURE
OF QUIESCENT SOLAR PROMINENCES
ASTROPHYSICS AND
SPACE SCIENCE LIBRARY
A SERIES OF BOOKS ON THE RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
OF SPACE SCIENCE AND OF GENERAL GEOPHYSICS AND ASTROPHYSICS
PUBLISHED IN CONNECTION WITH THE JOURNAL
SPACE SCIENCE REVIEWS
Editorial Board
R.L.F. BOYD, University College, London, England
W. B. BURTON, Sterrewacht, Leiden, The Netherlands
C. DE JAGER, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
J. KLECZEK, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Ondfejov, Czechoslovakia
Z. KOP AL, University of Manchester, England
R. LOST, European Space Agency, Paris, France
L. I. SEDOV,Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R., Moscow, U.S.S.R.
Z. SVESTKA, Laboratory for Space Research, Utrecht, The Netherlands
VOLUME 150
CURRENT RESEARCH
DDYYNNAAMMIICCSS AANNDD SSTTRRUUCCTTUURREE
OOFF QQUUIIEESSCCEENNTT
SSOOLLAARR PPRROOMMIINNEENNCCEESS
EEddiitteedd bbyy
EE.. RR.. PPRRIIEESSTT
MMaatthheemmaattiiccaall SScciieenncceess DDeeppaarrttmmeenntt.. SStt.. AAnnddrreewwss,, SSccoottllaanndd
KKLLUUWWEERR AACCAADDEEMMIICC PPUUBBLLIISSHHEERRSS
DDOORRDDRREECCHHTT // BBOOSSTTOONN // LLOONNDDOONN
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Dynamics and structure of quiescent solar prominences ( edited by E.R.
Priest.
p. cm. -- (Astrophysics and space science library)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Sun--Prominences--Congresses. 1. Priest. E. R. <Eric Ronald).
1943- II. Series.
QB526.P7D96 1988
523.7·5--dc19 88-25220
CIP
ISBN-13: 978-90-277-2834-0 e-ISBN: 978-94-009-3077-3
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-009-3077-3
Published by Kluwer Academic Publishers,
P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
Kluwer Academic Publishers incorporates
the publishing programmes of
D. Reidel, Martinus Nijhoff, Dr W. Junk and MTP Press.
Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada
by Kluwer Academic Publishers,
101 Philip Drive, Norwell, MA 02061, U.S.A.
In all other countries, sold and distributed
by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group,
P.O. Box 322,3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
All Rights Reserved
© 1989 by Kluwer Academic Publishers
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st Edition 1989
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
CONTENTS
PREFACE ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS x
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO QUIESCENT SOLAR PROMINENCES (E R Priest)
1 .1 Basic Description 1
1 .1.1 Different Types 1
1 .1 .2 Properties 3
1 .1 .3 Development 3
1 .1 .4 Structure 4
1 .1 .5 Eruption 4
1 .2 Basic Equations of MHD 7
1 .2.1 Magnetohydrostatics 10
1.2.2 Waves 11
1 .2.3 Instabilities 12
1 .3 Prominence Puzzles 12
CHAPTER 2 OVERALL PROPERTIES AND STEADY FLOWS (B Schmieder) 15
2 .1 Basic Properties 15
2 .1.1 Description ood Classification 15
2 .1 .2 Fine Structure in HOI 17
2 .1 .3 Evolution of Filaments During the Solar Cycle 19
2 .2 Physical Characteristics : Density and Temperature 22
2.2.1 Density and Ionization Degree 22
2 .2.2 Non LTE Models 24
2 .2.3 Turbulent Velocity and Electron Temperature 26
2 .3 Velocity Field and Mass Flux 28
2.3.1 Instrumentation 28
2 .3.2 HOI Profile Analysis 31
2 .3.3 Vertical Motions 31
2.3.4 Horizontal Motions 34
2 .3.5 Oscillations 37
2 .4 Instability 38
2 .4.1 Disparition Brusque of Filaments 38
2.4.2 Model Support 45
2 .4.3 Post-Flare Loops and Loop Prominences 45
2 .5 Conclusion 46
vvii CCOONNTTEENNTTSS
CCHHAAPPTTEERR 33 PPRROOMMIINNEENNCCEE EENNVVIIRROONNMMEENNTT ((00 EEnnggvvoolldd)) 4477
33 ..11 IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn 4477
33 ..22 HHeellmmeett SSttrreeaammeerrss 4488
33 ..22..11 EEcclliippssee PPhhoottooggrraapphhyy 4488
33 ..22..22 MMOOllpphhoollooggyy 4488
33 ..22..33 LLooccaattiioonn ooff CCuurrrreenntt SShheeeett 5511
33 ..22..44 BBrriigghhttnneessss 5522
33..33 CCoorroonnaall CCaavviittiieess 5522
33 ..33..11 BBrriigghhttnneessss aanndd SSttrruuccttuurree 5522
33..33..22 TTeemmppeerraattuurree aanndd DDeennssiittyy 5533
33 ..44 FFiillaammeenntt CChhaannnneellss 5544
33 ..44..11 AAssssoocciiaattiioonn wwiitthh NNeeuuttrraall LLiinneess 5544
33 ..44..22 PPoolleewwaarrdd MMiiggrraattiioonn ooff FFiillaammeenntt CChhaannnneellss 5555
33 ..44..33 PPrreesseennccee ooff PPrroommiinneenncceess 5555
33 ..44..44 TTeemmppeerraattuurree aanndd EElleeccttrroonn PPrreessssuurree 5599
33 ..44..55 CCooooll MMaatttteerr iinn tthhee FFiillaammeenntt CChhaannnneellss 5599
33 ..55 PPrroommiinneennccee--CCoorroonnaa TTrraannssiittiioonn RReeggiioonn 6611
33 ..55..11 LLiinnee EEmmiissssiioonn 6611
33 ..55 ..22 EEmmppiirriiccaall MMooddeelllliinngg 6611
33 ..55..33 AA FFrraaggmmeenntteedd aanndd DDyynnaammiicc TTrraannssiittiioonn RReeggiioonn 6644
33 ..66 PPrroommiinneenncceess aanndd EEnnvviirroonnmmeenntt 6666
33..66..11 MMaaggnneettiicc FFiieellddss aanndd CChhrroommoosspphheerriicc SSttrruuccttuurree 6666
33 ..66..22 AAssssoocciiaattiioonn wwiitthh SSuuppeerrggrraannuullaattiioonn NNeettwwoorrkk 6666
33 ..66..33 DDyynnaammiiccss 6688
33 ..66..44 TThhee MMaassss ooff CCoorroonnaall CCaavviittyy aanndd PPrroommiinneennccee 6688
33..66..55 CCoorroonnaall VVooiiddss --aa SSoouurrccee ooff PPrroommiinneennccee MMaassss?? 7711
33 ..77 MMooddeelllliinngg ooff tthhee HHeellmmeett SSttrreeaammeerr//PPrroommiinneennccee CCoommpplleexx 7722
33..77..11 HHeellmmeett SSttrreeaammeerr aanndd CCaavviittyy 7722
33..77..22 MMaaggnneettiicc FFiieelldd TTooppoollooggyy 7733
33 ..77 ..33 SSiipphhoonn--TTyyppee MMooddeellss 7744
33..88 CCoonncclluussiioonnss 7755
CCHHAAPPTTEERR 44 OOBBSSEERRVVAATTIIOONN OOFF PPRROOMMIINNEENNCCEE MMAAGGNNEETTIICC FFIIEELLDDSS ((JJ LL LLeerrooyy)) 7777
44 ..11 HHiissttoorriiccaall SStteeppss 7777
44 ..22 IInnvveessttiiggaattiioonnss BBaasseedd oonn tthhee PPoollaarriimmeettrryy ooff SSppeeccttrraall LLiinneess 7799
44 ..22..11 ZZeeeemmaann EEffffeecctt 7799
44 ..22..22 HHaannllee EEffffeecctt 8833
44..22..33 11880000 AAmmbbiigguuiittyy 8855
44 ..22..44 IInnssttrruummeennttaall AAcchhiieevveemmeennttss 8877
44 ..33 IInnddiirreecctt MMaaggnneettiicc FFiieelldd DDeetteerrmmiinnaattiioonnss 8899
44 ..44 MMaaggnneettiicc FFiieelldd aatt tthhee PPhhoottoosspphheerriicc LLeevveell 9900
44 ..55 MMaaiinn FFeeaattuurreess ooff tthhee MMaaggnneettiicc FFiieelldd iinn QQuuiieesscceenntt PPrroommiinneenncceess 9933
44 ..55..11 FFiieelldd SSttrreennggtthh 9933
44 ..55..22 AAnnggllee wwiitthh HHoorriizzoonnttaall 9999
CCOONNTTEENNTTSS vviiii
44..55..33 AAnnggllee wwiitthh PPrroommiinneennccee AAxxiiss 110000
44 ..55..44 MMaaggnneettiicc SSttrruuccttuurree wwiitthh NNoorrmmaall oorr IInnvveerrssee PPoollaarriittyy 110022
44 ..55..55 HHoommooggeenneeiittyy ooff tthhee FFiieelldd 110077
44 ..66 SSoommee IImmppoorrttaanntt PPrroobblleemmss 110099
44..66..11 MMaaggnneettiicc FFiieelldd iinn SSuubb AArrcc SSeeccoonndd SSttrruuccttuurreess 110099
44..66..22 PPaarraaddooxx ooff FFiinnee VVeerrttiiccaall SSttrruuccttuurreess 110099
44..66..33 DDeetteerrmmiinnaattiioonn ooff CCuurrrreennttss 111100
44..66..44 EEvvoolluuttiioonn ooff PPrroommiinneennccee MMaaggnneettiicc SSttrruuccttuurree 111111
CCHHAAPPTTEERR 55 TTHHEE FFOORRMMAATTIIOONN OOFF SSOOLLAARR PPRROOMMIINNEENNCCEESS ((JJ MM MMaallhheerrbbee)) 111155
55 ..11 IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn 111155
55 ..22 OOvveerrvviieeww ooff OObbsseerrvvaattiioonnss 111166
55 ..33 MMaaiinn MMHHDD IInnssttaabbiilliittiieess IInnvvoollvveedd iinn PPrroommiinneennccee FFoorrmmaattiioonn 113300
55 ..33..11 RRaaddiiaattiivvee TThheerrmmaall IInnssttaabbiilliittyy 113300
55 ..33..22 RReessiissttiivvee IInnssttaabbiilliittiieess 113311
55 ..44 SStteeaaddyy RReeccoonnnneeccttiioonn iinn CCuurrrreenntt SShheeeettss 113322
55 ..44..11 IInnccoommpprreessssiibbllee aanndd CCoommpprreessssiibbllee TThheeoorriieess 113322
55 ..44..22 UUnniiffiiccaattiioonn ooff DDiiffffeerreenntt RReeggiimmeess 113333
55 ..55 SSttaattiicc MMooddeellss 113333
55 ..55..11 CCoonnddeennssaattiioonn iinn aa LLoooopp 113344
55 ..55..22 CCoonnddeennssaattiioonn iinn aann AArrccaaddee 113344
55 ..55..33 CCoonnddeennssaattiioonn iinn aa SShheeaarreedd MMaaggnneettiicc FFiieelldd 113344
55 ..55..44 CCoonnddeennssaattiioonn iinn aa CCuurrrreenntt SShheeeett 113355
55 ..66 DDyynnaammiicc MMooddeellss:: IInnjjeeccttiioonn ffrroomm tthhee CChhrroommoosspphheerree iinnttoo CClloosseedd LLooooppss 113355
55..66..11 SSuurrggee--LLiikkee MMooddeellss 113355
55..66..22 EEvvaappoorraattiioonn MMooddeellss 113366
55 ..77 DDyynnaammiicc MMooddeellss:: CCoonnddeennssaattiioonn iinn CCoorroonnaall CCuurrrreenntt SShheeeettss 113388
55 ..77..11 NNuummeerriiccaall SSiimmuullaattiioonnss 113388
55 ..77 ..22 RRoollee ooff SShhoocckk WWaavveess iinn CCoonnddeennssaattiioonn PPrroocceessss 113388
55 ..88 UUnnssoollvveedd PPrroobblleemmss 114400
55..99 CCoonncclluussiioonn 114411
CCHHAAPPTTEERR 66 SSTTRRUUCCTTUURREE AANNDD EEQQUUIILLIIBBRRIIUUMM OOFF PPRROOMMIINNEENNCCEESS CCUU AAnnzzeerr)) 114433
66 ..11 IInnttrroodduuccttiioonn 114433
66 ..22 PPrroommiinneennccee MMooddeellss 114444
66 ..22..11 GGlloobbaall SSttrruuccttuurree 114444
66 ..22 ..11..11 TTwwoo--DDiimmeennssiioonnaall EEqquuiilliibbrriiaa 114444
66 ..22 ..11 ..11..11 MMooddeellss wwiitthh NNoorrmmaall MMaaggnneettiicc PPoollaarriittyy 114444
66..22..11 ..11 ..22 MMooddeellss wwiitthh IInnvveerrssee MMaaggnneettiicc PPoollaarriittyy 114499
66 ..22 ..11 ..11 ..33 FFoorrccee--FFrreeee FFiieellddss 115522
66..22 ..11 ..22 QQuuaassii--TThhrreeee--DDiimmeennssiioonnaall MMooddeellss 115544
66 ..22 ..11..33 SSuuppppoorrtt bbyy AAllffvveenn WWaavveess 115544
66 ..22..22 IInntteerrnnaall SSttrruuccttuurree aanndd TThheerrmmaall EEqquuiilliibbrriiuumm 115555
viii CONTENTS
6 .2 .2.1 Hydrostatic Equilibrium 155
6 .2 .2.2 Thermal Equilibrium 158
6 .3 Concluding Remarks 164
CHAPTER 7 STABILITY AND ERUPTION OF PROMINENCES (A W Hood) 167
7 .1 Introduction 167
7 .2 Description of MHD Instabilities 168
7.3 Methods of Solution 170
7 .3.1 Normal Modes 170
7 .3.2 Energy Method 172
7.3.3 Non Equilibrium 174
7 .4 Effect of the Dense Photosphere 176
7 .4.1 Physical Arguments 176
7 .4.2 Ballooning Modes 177
7 .5 Coronal Arcades 178
7.5.1 Distributed Current Models -Eruptive Instability 178
7 .5.2 Localised Modes -Small Scale Structure 180
7 .5.3 Arcades Containing a Current Sheet 181
7.6 Thermal Stability 183
7 .7 Resistive Instabilities -Tearing Modes 184
7.7.1 Introduction 184
7 .7 .2 Estimate of Tearing Mode Growth Rate 186
7.7.3 Effect of Line Tying 187
7.8 Simple Model of Prominence Eruption and a Coronal Mass Ejection 188
7 .9 Conclusions and Future Work 189
REFERENCES 193
INDEX 213
PREFACE
Prominences are amazing objects of great beauty whose formation, basic structure and eruption
represent one of the basic unsolved problems in Solar Physics. It is now 14 years since the last
book on prominences appeared (Tandberg-Hanssen, 1974), during which time much progress in
our knowledge of the physics of prominences has been made, and so the time is ripe for a new text
book which it is hoped will be a helpful summary of the subject for students, postdocs and solar
researchers. Indeed, the last few years has seen an upsurge in interest in prominences due to high
resolution ground- and space-based observations and advances in theory. For example, an IAU
colloquium was held in Oslo (Jensen et al, 1978), a Solar Maximum Mission Workshop took place
at Goddard Space Right Center (poland, 1986), an IAU Colloquium is planned in Yugoslavia in
September 1989 in prominences and it is expected that the SOHO satellite will be a further stimulus
to prominence research.
In November 1987 a Workshop on the Dynamics and Structure of Solar Prominences was held
in Palma Mallorca at the invitation of Jose Luis Ballester with the aim of bringing observers and
theorists together and having plenty of time for in-depth discussions of the basic physics of promi
nences. It was appreciated that, as well as being important in their own right, the plasma-magnetic
field interaction and radiative instability which are studied in prominences are of interest for sim
ilar processes in other astrophysical objects, such as cooling flows in galaxy clusters, structure in
supernova remnants and cool clouds in other stars. Also, even though they have been studied scien
tifically for over a hundred years, many of their basic properties are still puzzling, such as how they
form, what is their magnetic structure, what are the causes of their plasma flows, fine structure and
feet, and why they erupt. In the relaxing atmosphere of a Mallorcan cafe the review speakers at this
workshop decided to produce greatly extended (by a factor four) versions of their review talks to
form the present book as an up-to-date account of the subject. After an introduction, three chapters
deal with observations of the structure, environment and magnetic field of prominences, while three
further chapters discuss the theory of prominence formation, structure and stability. The units that
have been adopted are mks with magnetic fields measured in Gauss (a standard option in mks). It
is hoped that this book will help the reader to share some of the fascination and excitement that the
authors feel about prominence research.
ERPriest
St Andrews, June 1988
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge pennission to reproduce the following copyright figures: Figs
l.1a, 2.1b, 2.2, 2.4a, 2.4b, 2.7, 2.8,2.12,2.15,2.17,3.11,4.7,5.1-5.8 (Meudon Observatory), Figs
l.1b «High Altitude Observatory), Figs 1.2a, 1.5 (Big Bear Solar Observatory), Figs 1.2b, 2.14
(Sacramento Peak Observatory, AURA inc), Fig 1.3 (Swedish Observatory, La Palma), Fig 1.4 (R
Tousey, Naval Research Laboratory), Figs 2.3a, 2.5, 3.14 (pic du Midi Observatory), Figs 2.14,2.16
(Pub. Astron. Soc. Japan), Fig 2.21 (L Gesztelyi, Debrecen Observatory), Fig 3.2 (T Tsubaki), Fig
3.9 (H Morishita), Fig 3.12 (E Hiei), Figs 3.17,5.10 (T Forbes), Fig 3.20 (R M MacQueen), Figs
2.3b, 2.4c,d, 2.22 (Astron. Astrophys.), Figs 2.15, 2.17 (UVSP on Solar Maximum Mission), Fig
2.23 (X 0 Gu), Fig 3.15 (E Schmahl).
The editor is also most grateful to Jose Luis Ballester for organising the Workshop so well and
for the secretarial help of Shiela Wilson that was undertaken with her usual efficiency, patience and
good humour.
x