A study of the relation between intensity oscillations and magnetic field parameters in a sunspot: Hinode observations

We present properties of intensity oscillations of a sunspot in the photo- sphere and chromosphere using G band and Ca u H filtergrams from Hinode. Intensity power maps as function of magnetic field strength and frequency reveal reduction of power in the G band with an increase in photospheric magnetic field strength at all frequencies. In Ca II H, however, stronger fields exhibit more power at high frequen- cies, particularly in the 4.5-8.0 mHz band. Power distributions in different locations of the active region show that the oscillations in Ca II H exhibit more power compared to that of the G band. We also relate the power in intensity oscillations with differ- ent components of the photospheric vector magnetic field using near simultaneous spectro-polarimetric observations of the sunspot from the Hinode spectropolarime- ter. The photospheric umbral power is strongly anti-correlated with the magnetic field strength and its line-of-sight component but there is a good correlation with the trans- verse component. A reversal of this trend is observed in the chromosphere except at low frequencies （V≤ 1.5 mHz）. The power in sunspot penumbrae is anti-correlated with the magnetic field parameters at all frequencies （1.0 ≤ v ≤ 8.0 mHz） in both the photosphere and chromosphere, except that the chromospheric power shows a strong correlation in the frequency range 3-3.5 mHz.

Determination of the Topology Skeleton of Magnetic Fields in a Solar Active Region

Magnetic topology has been a key to the understanding of magnetic energy release mechanism. Based on observed vector magnetograms, we have determined the threedimensional （3D） topology skeleton of the magnetic fields in the active region NOAA 10720. The skeleton consists of six 3D magnetic nulls and a network of corresponding spines, fans, and null-null lines. For the first time, we have identified a spiral magnetic null in Sun＇s corona. The magnetic lines of force twisted around the spine of the null, forming a ＇magnetic wreath＇ with excess of free magnetic energy and resembling observed brightening structures at extraultraviolet （EUV） wavebands. We found clear evidence of topology eruptions which are referred to as catastrophic changes of topology skeleton associated with a coronal mass ejection （CME） and an explosive X-ray flare. These results shed new lights on the structural complexity and its role in explosive magnetic activity. The concept of flux rope has been widely used in modelling explosive magnetic activity, although their observational identity is rather obscure or, at least, lacking of necessary details up to date. We suggest that the magnetic wreath associated with the 3D spiral null is likely an important class of the physical entity of flux ropes.

Effects of Magnetic Fields on Neutrino-dominated Accretion Model for Gamma-ray Bursts

Many models of gamma-ray bursts suggest a common central engine; a black hole of several solar masses accreting matter from a disk at an accretion rate from 0.01 to 10 M⊙s^-1, the inner region of the disk is cooled by neutrino emission and large amounts of its binding energy are liberated, which could trigger the fireball. We improve the neutrino- dominated accreting flows by including the effects of magnetic fields. We find that more than half of the liberated energy can be extracted directly by the large-scale magnetic fields in the disk, and it turns out that the temperature of the disk is a bit lower than the neutrino-dominated accreting flows without magnetic field. Therefore, the outflows are magnetically-dominated rather than neutrino dominated. In our model, the neutrino mechanism can fuel some GRBs （not the brightest ones）, but cannot fuel X-ray flares. The magnetic processes （both BZ and electromagnetic luminosity from a disk） are viable mechanisms for most of GRBs and their following X-ray flares.

Analysis of sudden variations in photospheric magnetic fields during a large flare and their influences in the solar atmosphere

The solar active region NOAA 11719 produced a large two-ribbon flare on 2013 April 11. We have investigated sudden variations in the photospheric magnetic fields in this active region during the flare by employing magnetograms obtained in the spectral line Fe I 6173 A acquired by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager （HMI） onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory （SDO） spacecraft. The analysis of the line-of-sight magnetograms from HMI show sudden and persistent magnetic field changes at different locations of the active region before the onset of the flare and during the flare. The vector magnetic field observations available from HMI also show coincident variations in the total magnetic field strength and its inclination angle at these locations. Using the simultaneous Dopplergrams obtained from HMI, we observe perturbations in the photospheric Doppler signals following the sudden changes in the magnetic fields in the aforementioned locations. The power spectrum analysis of these velocity signals shows enhanced acoustic power in these affected locations during the flare as compared to the pre-flare condition. Accompanying these observations, we have also used nearly simultaneous chromospheric observations obtained in the spectral line Ha 6562.8 A by the Global Oscillation Network Group （GONG） to study the evolution of flare- ribbons and intensity oscillations in this active region. The Ha intensity oscillations also show enhanced oscillatory power during the flare in the aforementioned locations. These results indicate that the transient Lorentz force associated with sudden changes in the magnetic fields could drive localized photospheric and chromospheric oscillations, like the flare-induced oscillations in the solar atmosphere.

Long-term evolution of magnetic fields in flaring Active Region NOAA 12673

During the lifetime of AR 12673,its magnetic field evolved drastically and produced numerous large flares.In this study,using full maps of the Sun observed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory and the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory,we identified that AR 12673 emerged in decayed AR 12665,which had survived for two solar rotations.Although both ARs emerged at the same location,they possessed different characteristics and different flare productivities.Therefore,it is important to study the long-term magnetic evolution of both ARs to identify the distinguishing characteristics of an AR that can produce large solar flares.We used the Space-weather Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager Active Region Patch data to investigate the evolution of the photospheric magnetic field and other physical properties of the recurring ARs during five Carrington rotations.All these investigated parameters dynamically evolved through a series of solar rotations.We compared the long-term evolution of AR 12665 and AR 12673 to understand the differences in their flare-producing properties.We also studied the relation of the long-term evolution of these ARs with the presence of active longitude.We found that the magnetic flux and complexity of AR12673 developed much faster than those of AR 12665.Our results confirmed that a strong emerging flux that emerged in the pre-existing AR near the active longitude created a very strong and complex AR that produced large flares.

The effects of strong magnetic fields on neutron star structure:lowest order constrained variational calculations

We investigate the effects of strong magnetic fields upon the large-scale properties of neutron and protoneutron stars. In our calculations, the neutron star mat- ter was approximated by pure neutron matter. Using the lowest order constrained vari- ational approach at zero and finite temperatures, and employing AV18 potential, we present the effects of strong magnetic fields on the gravitational mass, radius, and gravitational redshift of neutron and protoneutron stars. It is found that the equation of state for a neutron star becomes stiffer with an increase of magnetic field and tem- perature. This leads to larger values of the maximum mass and radius for the neutron stars.

Quark stars with strong magnetic fields: considering different magnetic field geometries

We calculate the mass-radius relationship of quark stars with the magnetized density- dependent quark mass model in this work, considering two magnetic field geometries： a statistically isotropic, tangled field and a force-free configuration. In both cases, magnetic field production decreases in the case of maximum quark star mass. Furthermore, a tangled, isotropic magnetic field has a relatively smaller impact on the mass and radius, compared to the force-free configuration, which implies that the geometry of the interior magnetic field is at least as important as the field strength itself when the influ- ence of the strong magnetic field on the mass and radius is assessed.

Evolution of filamentary molecular clouds in the presence of magnetic fields

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of magnetic fields on the dynamics of magnetized filamentary molecular clouds. We suppose there is a filament with cylindrical symmetry and two components of axial and toroidal magnetic fields. In comparison to previous works, the novelty in the present work involves a similarity solution that does not define a function of the magnetic fields or density. We consider the effect of the magnetic field on the collapse of the filament in both axial and toroidal directions and show that the magnetic field has a braking effect, which means that the increasing intensity of the magnetic field reduces the velocity of collapse. This is consistent with other studies. We find that the magnetic field in the central region tends to be aligned with the filament axis. Also, the magnitude and the direction of the magnetic field depend on the magnitude and direction of the initial magnetic field in the outer region. Moreover, we show that more energy dissipation from the filament causes a rise in the infall velocity.

Some issues in diagnostics of solar chromospheric magnetic fields with the Mg b_2 line

Up to now, exact measurements of chromospheric magnetic fields have not been as successful as those done in the photosphere. We are currently engaging in diagnostics of chromospheric magnetic fields with the Mg b2 line by employing the Multi-Channel Solar Telescope at Huairou Solar Observing Station. Therefore, how to improve accuracy in the measurement is the main issue of our present study. To this end, we first study linear calibration coefficients for longitudinal and transverse components of chromospheric fields, which vary with wavelength, in the case of a weak field assumption. Then the polarization crosstalk introduced by instruments is analyzed in detail with two numerical simulation methods. Comparisons of the po- larization signals between cases with and without correction are presented. The result indicates that polarization accuracy is greatly improved after crosstalk correction.

Case studies of EUV cyclones and their associated magnetic fields

EUV cyclones are rotating structures in the solar corona, and they are usually rooted in the underlying rotating network magnetic fields in the photosphere. However, their connection with the surrounding magnetic fields remains unknown. Here we report an observational study of four typical cyclones which are rooted in different kinds of magnetic fields. We use Solar Dynamics Observatory^Atmospheric Imaging Assembly data to investigate the rotation of EUV features in cyclones and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager data to study the associated magnetic fields. The results show that, （1） an EUV cyclone rooted in a sunspot rotates with the photo- spheric magnetic field; （2） two EUV cyclones in two faculae of an active region are connected to the same sunspot of the active region but rotate oppositely; （3） an EUV cyclone is rooted in a coronal hole with weak open magnetic fields; （4） a pair of con- jugated cyclones is rooted in magnetic fields that have opposite polarity with opposite directions of rotation. The differences in the spatial extent of a cyclone, characteristics of its rotation and underlying fields indicate that cyclones are ubiquitous over the solar atmosphere and that the magnetic structures relevant to the cyclones are more complicated than expected.

Thermal evolution of neutron stars with decaying magnetic fields

Rotochemical heating originates in the deviation from beta equilibrium due to spin-down compression, which is closely related to the dipole magnetic field. We numerically calculate the deviation from chemical equilibrium and thermal evolution of neutron stars with decaying magnetic fields. We find that the power-law long term decay of the magnetic field slightly affects the deviation from chemical equilibrium and surface temperature. However, the magnetic decay leads to older neutron stars that could have a different surface temperature with the same magnetic field strength. That is, older neutron stars with a low magnetic field （10^8 G） could have a lower temper- ature even with rotochemical heating in operation, which probably explains the lack of other observations on older millisecond pulsars with higher surface temperature, except millisecond pulsar J0437-4715.

The calculation of coronal magnetic field and density of nonthermal electrons in the 2003 October 27 microwave burst

Based on Dulk and Marsh＇s approximate theory about nonthermal gyrosyn- chrotron radiation, one simple impulsive microwave burst with a loop-like structure is selected for radio diagnostics of the coronal magnetic field and column density of non- thermal electrons, which are calculated from the brightness temperature, polarization degree, and spectral index, as well as the turnover frequency, observed by using the Nobeyama Radioheliograph and the Nobeyama Radio Polarimeters, respectively. Very strong variations （up to one or two orders of magnitude） of the calculated transverse and longitudinal magnetic fields with respect to the line-of-sight, as well as the cal- culated electron column density, appear in the looptop and footpoint sources during the burst. The absolute magnitude and varied range of the transverse magnetic field are evidently larger than those of the longitudinal magnetic field. The time evolution of the transverse magnetic field is always anti-correlated with that of the longitudi- nal magnetic field, but positively correlated with that of the electron column density. These results strongly support the idea that quantifying the energy released in a flare depends on a reconstruction of the coronal magnetic field, especially for the trans- verse magnetic field, and they are basically consistent with the recent theoretical and observational studies on the photospheric magnetic field in solar flares.

Solar flare prediction using highly stressed longitudinal magnetic field parameters

Three new longitudinal magnetic field parameters are extracted from SOHO/MDI magnetograms to characterize properties of the stressed magnetic field in active regions, and their flare productivities are calculated for 1055 active regions. We find that the proposed parameters can be used to distinguish flaring samples from non-flaring samples. Using the long-term accumulated MDI data, we build the solar flare prediction model by using a data mining method. Furthermore, the decision boundary, which is used to divide flaring from non-flaring samples, is determined by the decision tree algorithm. Finally, the performance of the prediction model is evaluated by 10-fold cross validation technology. We conclude that an efficient solar flare prediction model can be built by the proposed longitudinal magnetic field parameters with the data mining method.

Testing a solar coronal magnetic field extrapolation code with the Titov–Dmoulin magnetic flux rope model

In the solar corona, the magnetic flux rope is believed to be a fundamental structure that accounts for magnetic free energy storage and solar eruptions. Up to the present, the extrapolation of the magnetic field from boundary data has been the primary way to obtain fully three-dimensional magnetic information about the corona. As a result, the ability to reliably recover the coronal magnetic flux rope is important for coronal field extrapolation. In this paper, our coronal field extrapolation code is examined with an analytical magnetic flux rope model proposed by Titov ＆ D6moulin, which consists of a bipolar magnetic configuration holding a semi-circular line-tied flux rope in force-free equilibrium. By only using the vector field at the bottom boundary as input, we test our code with the model in a representative range of parameter space and find that the model field can be reconstructed with high accuracy. In particular, the magnetic topological interfaces formed between the flux rope and the surrounding arcade, i.e., the ＂hyperbolic flux tube＂ and ＂bald patch separatrix surface,＂ are also reliably reproduced. By this test, we demonstrate that our CESE-MHD-NLFFF code can be applied to recovering the magnetic flux rope in the solar corona as long as the vector magnetogram satisfies the force-free constraints.

Time Evolution of the Turnover Frequency for Diagnosis of the Coronal Magnetic Field

Two impulsive microwave bursts observed by Owens-Valley Solar Arrays （OVSA） are studied. The fast time variation of the turnover frequency in these bursts is quite different from the constant value in the earlier conclusion. The observational turnover frequencies are consistent with the calculations using the non-thermal gyrosynchrotron radiation model. We find the turnover frequency may play an important role for calculating the coronal magnetic field on the basis of Dulk and Marsh＇s approximations.

Sunspot rotation and magnetic transients associated with flares in NOAAAR 11429

We analyze sunspot rotation and magnetic transients in NOAA AR 11429 during two X-class(X5.4 and X1.3)flares using data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory.A large leading sunspot with positive magnetic polarity rotated counterclockwise.As expected,the rotation was significantly affected by the two flares.Magnetic transients induced by the flares were clearly evident in the sunspots with negative polarity.They were moving across the sunspots with speed of order 3-7 km s-1.Furthermore,the trend of magnetic flux evolution in these sunspots exhibited changes associated with the flares.These results may shed light on understanding the evolution of sunspots.

Statistical analysis of geomagnetic field variations during the partial solar eclipse on 2011 January 4 in Turkey

Some geophysical parameters, such as those related to gravitation and the geomagnetic field, could change during solar eclipses. In order to observe geomagnetic fluctuations, geomagnetic measurements were carded out in a limited time frame during the partial solar eclipse that occurred on 2011 January 4 and was observed in Canakkale and Ankara, Turkey. Additionally, records of the geomagnetic field spanning 24 hours, obtained from another observatory （in Iznik, Turkey）, were also analyzed to check for any peculiar variations. In the data processing stage, a polynomial fit, following the application of a running average routine, was applied to the geomagnetic field data sets. Geomagnetic field data sets indicated there was a characteristic decrease at the beginning of the solar eclipse and this decrease can be well-correlated with previous geomagnetic field measurements that were taken during the total solar eclipse that was observed in Turkey on 2006 March 29. The behavior of the geomagnetic field is also consistent with previous observations in the literature. As a result of these analyses, it can be suggested that eclipses can cause a shielding effect on the geomagnetic field of the Earth.

Vector Magnetic Field Measurement of NOAA AR 10197

A set of two-dimensional Stokes spectral data of NOAA AR 10197 obtained by the Solar Stokes Spectral Telescope （S^3T） at the Yunnan Observatory are quafitatively analyzed. The three components of the vector magnetic field, the strength H, inclination 7 and azimuth X, are derived. Based on the three components, we contour the distributions of the longitudinal magnetic field and transverse magnetic field. The active region （AR） has two different magnetic polarities apparent in the longitudinal magnetic map due to projection effect. There is a basic agreement on the longitudinal magnetic fields between the S^3T and SOHO/MDI magnetograms, with a correlation coefficient PBl = 0.911. The transverse magnetic field of the AR has a radial distribution from a center located in the southwest of the AR. It is also found that the transverse magnetic fields obtained by Huairou Solar Observing Station （HRSOS） have a similar radial distribution. The distributions of transverse magnetic field obtained by S^3T and HRSOS have correlation coefficients, PAzimu = 0.86 and PBt =0.883, in regard to the azimuthal angle and intensity.

Time delay and extended halo for constraints on the intergalactic magnetic field

Primary gamma rays emitted from extragalactic very-high-energy （VHE） sources, such as blazars, will generate cascade radiation in intergalactic space with a scale of -- 100 Mpc, for z - 0.1 and Eγ -1 TeV. These cascades proceed through electron-positron pair production and inverse Compton （IC） scattering in the cosmic background radiation fields, mainly cosmic microwave background （CMB） radiation and extragalactic background light in the voids of the universe. The existence of an intergalactic magnetic field （IGMF） would deflect paths of electron-positron pairs that scatter CMB photons, causing some observable effects, such as time delay, an ex- tended halo, and a spectral change. Here we reanalyze the diffusion of an electron jet deflected by IGMF and propose a unified semi-analytical model. By using publicly available data from the Fermi/LAT detector and contemporaneous TeV observations, we find that the cascade photon flux is not significantly affected by the IGMF strength for non-variable blazars when the IGMF is weaker than ,-~ 10-16 G. This result is clearly different from previous works that analyzed the extended halo and time de- lay separately for non-variable blazars and flaring blazars. By applying our model to two extreme blazars （1ES 0229＋200 and 1ES 1218＋304）, we obtain the IGMF lower limit of order ≥10-13 --10-14 G in the non-variable case, which is a stronger constraint on the IGMF strength than previous works （≥10-16 ,-- 10-18 G）, and ≥10-18 -- 10-19 G in the case of flaring blazars. Furthermore, we study the light curves and extended halo of the cascade photons by considering the effects of the IGME

Irreversible rapid changes of magnetic field associated with the 2012 October 23 circular near-limb X1.8 Flare

It has been found that photospheric magnetic fields can change in accordance with restructuring of the three-dimensional magnetic field following solar eruptions. Previous studies mainly use vector mag- netic field data taken for events near the disk center. In this paper, we analyze the magnetic field evolution associated with the 2012 October 23 X1.8 flare in NOAA AR 11598 that is close to the solar limb, using both the 45 s cadence line-of-sight and 12 min cadence vector magnetograms from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board Solar Dynamics Observatory. This flare is classified as a circular-ribbon flare with spine-fan type magnetic topology containing a null point. In the line-of-sight magnetograms, there are two apparent polarity inversion lines （PILs）. The PIL closer to the limb is affected more by the projection effect. Between these two PILs there lie positive polarity magnetic fields, which are surrounded by negative polarity fields outside the PILs. We find that after the flare, both the apparent limb-ward and disk-ward negative fluxes decrease, while the positive flux in-between increases. We also find that the horizontal mag- netic fields have a significant increase along the disk-ward PIL, but in the surrounding area, they decrease. Synthesizing the observed field changes, we conclude that the magnetic fields collapse toward the surface above the disk-ward PIL as depicted in the coronal implosion scenario, while the peripheral field turns to a more vertical configuration after the flare. We also suggest that this event is an asymmetric circular-ribbon flare： a flux rope is likely present above the disk-ward PIL. Its eruption causes instability of the entire fan-spine structure and the implosion near that PIL.