SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Observational Test of Coronal Magnetic Field Models
I. Comparison with Potential Field Model
Hao-Sheng Lin & Yu Liu
Institute for Astronomy
University of Hawaii
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
‘Vector’ Coronal Magnetogramof AR 10581 and AR 10582, 2004
Contour plot of the line-of-sight magnetogram over-plotted on the EIT Fe XVI 284 A image. The contours are 5G, 3G, and 1G.
Transverse field orientation Longitudinal Field Strength
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Current Status of IR Coronal Magnetometry
Instrumentation• We can (almost) make routine coronal magnetic
field measurements…– SOLARC is working…– CoMP is been relocated to Haleakala…
Capabilities• Linear polarization can be obtained easily…even
during solar minimum.• Neither has the sensitivity for longitudinal magnetic
field measurement during solar minimum.
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
SOLARC: Off-Axis Mirror Coronagraph
SOLARC on the summit of Haleakala, Maui.
LCVR Polarimeter
Input array of fiber optics bundle
Re-imaging lens
Prime focus inverse occulter/field stop
Secondary mirror
Primary mirror
Optical Configuration of SOLARC and OFIS
Fiber Bundle
Collimator
Echelle GratingCamera Lens
NICMOS3 IR camera
50 cm aperture
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Light Trap
Collimating Lens
Pre-Filter Wheel
Filter/Polarimeter
Detector
Occulting Disk
Re-Imaging Lens
Calibration Polarizer Stage
Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter (CoMP) – S. Tomczyk, HAO
20-cm coronagraph, National Solar Observatory, Sac Peak
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
March 9, 2004
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Coronal Magnetometry 101Polarization Mechanism• The forbidden coronal emission lines in the visible and IR are
polarized by the Saturated Hanle Effect.Information Content• Linear Polarization (easy to measure):
– The direction of the linear polarization yields the direction of the magnetic field projected in the plane of the sky containing sun center.
– Linear polarization does not yield information about the strength of the magnetic fields.
– The magnetic field direction intepretation is subjected to a 90 degree ambiguity--- the van Vleck effect.
• Circular Polarization (difficult to measure):– Similar to the photospheric Zeeman effect, yields line-of-
sight magnetic field strength,– with an alignment effect correction.
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
What Can we Do with these Coronal Magnetic Field Measurements?
1. Build a Coronal Magnetic Field Model.
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Can we invert the polarization measurements to derive the 3d magnetic field structure of the corona?
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
The Full Inversion Problem
• The coronal atmosphere is optically thin, and the observed coronal polarization signals may not originate from a single localized source along the line of sight.
• There are many independent parameters in the model, but only a few observables…
The inversion problem is severely under constrained!
There are currently no tested, reliable inversion methods for reconstruction of the 3D magnetic field structure of corona using polarization measurements…
If inversion is not possible, what can we do?
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
What Can we Do with these Coronal Magnetic Field Measurements?
1. Build a Coronal Magnetic Field Model
2. Check extrapolation/simulation Models
Given a coronal magnetic field model derived from extrapolation or MHD simulation of observed photospheric magnetic fields, can we verify the validity of this model?
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Forward Modeling…
Yes! In principle…If we know the 3-dimensional • magnetic field, • density, and • temperature
structure of the corona, then we can calculate what the emergent linear and circular polarization signals should look like, and compare them with the observed polarization signals…
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
In reality…• Extrapolations only yield the magnetic field
configuration. – There are no information about n and T. n and T has to be derived, inferred, assumed, or
guessed by other means…• The photospheric and coronal magnetic field
observations are not co-temporal…– Uncertainties due to evolution of the active region.
• Potential and force-free assumption may not be valid.
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Limitations of Forward Modeling…
• If the observed and synthesized polarization signals match…The model may be good,– But we don’t know if this is the best model…
• If the observed and synthesized polarization signals don’t match…– The magnetic field model may be good, but – The density and temperature model is not good,– The corona may have changed…– Can be anything…
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Can we reproduces these Fe XIII 1075 nm polarization measurements from a coronal magnetic field model derived from potential field extrapolation of observed photospheric magnetogram?
Testing Potential Field Extrapolation of AR 10582
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
About AR 10581 AND 10582…
• Flaring activities in AR10582 ceased about 5 days before our coronal B observation… Potential field
extrapolation may be OK?
Time of coronal magnetic field observation…
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Potential Field Model of AR 10581 and 10582
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Density and Temperature…
Make some educated guesses…• The coronal is bright in the active regions,• The density falls off exponentially.
1. Assume a uniform temperature through out the corona…
2. For density: assume four empirical models:
1. Uniform density, ne = constant.
2. Gravitationally stratified, ne ~ e-h/0.15, Sn ~ ne2.
3. Sn weighted by B: S ~ e-2h/0.15 B.
4. Sn weighted by B2: S ~ e-2h/0.15 B2.
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Line-
of-S
ight d
irect
ion
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
LOS direction (Lower Panels)Photospheric Magnetic flux
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
None of the empirical models have produced synthesized linear polarization maps that agree with the observed one.
However…• The source function weighted by B2, with the
most narrow width gave the best result. Should we try source function with even
narrower width (along the LOS direction)?
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
TRACE images have demonstrated long ago that the coronal intensity structures have characteristics scale much smaller than the 200 ~ 300 km width we used… Try using the loop width
of ~ 56 km (7 times Fe XVI 284 A characteristic loop width, Aschwanden et al., 2000) as the width of the source function.
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
• Since the thickness of the new source function is small, we computed the synthesized LP map as a function of position along the Line of Sight…
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
p: rms error in degree of linear polarization,
: rms error of azimuth angle of LP,
LP: combined rms error of the degree of polarization and the azimuth angle of the LP.
Lin’s synthesis code
Judge’s code
LOS direction
Source function of the best-fit layer
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Comparison with Judge’s Synthesis Code
• Phil Judge’s code includes collisional depolarization effect…
• We really can’t tell which code is better from this comparison. But Judge’s code includes more physics…
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Circular Polarization
• The sensitivity of this dataset is not sufficient for a point-to-point comparison within the FOV. We only compared the averaged LOS magnetic
field strength as a function of height.
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
• The longitudinal B as a function of height h, as well as the height of reversal of B(h) are calculated for each layer.
• The height of B reversal agrees with the observed value at two layers.
• B(h) at layer 130 fits the observed one better.
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Is this a coincidences?
• Two independent parameters – the degree of linear polarization, and– azimuth angle of linear polarizationhave minimum at about the same location…
• Two other independent parameter/function– the height of Stokes V reversal, and– B(h)
match the observed circular polarization signals at the same location…
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Conclusions
• Potential field extrapolation of AR 10582 has reproduced the observed coronal linear and circular polarization maps. – The inferred source functions of the linear and circular
polarization are fairly localized!Single-source inversion (Judge 2007) might be possible…
– The LP and CP source functions are close to the location of the sunspot of the active region.
– The locations of the source function of the linear and circular polarization are not the same…
– This potential field model may be OK!
Liu & Lin, 2008, ApJ, 680, 1496
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
What’s Next?
More observations (if the Sun cooperates) and more comparisons with models…• Is potential-field extrapolation really OK?• Does force-free extrapolations provide better
model? • MHD models should come with information about
n and T… Direct comparison can be performed without
guessing where the source is located.
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Please Help!
• A future SHINE Session?
Observational Test of
Coronal Magnetic Field Models
Construct the coronal magnetic field model of AR 10582 using your favorite extrapolation/MHD code, and we can start testing these models vigorously…
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
SHINE 2008, June 23-27, Utah
Testing Coronal B Model by Forward Modeling
1. Construct a coronal magnetic field model,• Potential field extrapolation,• Force-free field extrapolation,• MHD simulation,from photospheric magnetic field observation several days before or after the coronal observation…
2. Construct a thermodynamic model,• Density n• Temperature Twe don’t really have reliable measurement of n and T!
3. Calculate the emergent Stokes vector,4. Compare the observed and synthesized polarization signals.