The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society (천문학회보)
- Volume 37 Issue 2
- /
- Pages.114.1-114.1
- /
- 2012
- /
- 1226-2692(pISSN)
Magnetic Field Strength in the Upper Solar Corona Using White-light Shock Structures Surrounding Coronal Mass Ejections
- Kim, Roksoon (KASI) ;
- Gopalswamy, Nat (NASA/GSFC) ;
-
Moon, Yongjae
(Kyunghee University) ;
-
Cho, Kyungsuk
(KASI) ;
- Yashiro, Seiji (NASA/GSFC)
- Published : 2012.10.17
Abstract
To measure the magnetic field strength in the solar corona, we examined 10 fast (>1000 km/s) limb coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that show clear shock structures in Solar and Heliospheric Observatory/Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph images. By applying the piston-shock relationship to the observed CME's standoff distance and electron density compression ratio, we estimated the Mach number, Alfven speed, and magnetic field strength in the height range 3-15 solar radii (Rs). The main results from this study are as follows: (1) the standoff distance observed in the solar corona is consistent with those from a magnetohydrodynamic model and near-Earth observations; (2) the Mach number as a shock strength is in the range 1.49-3.43 from the standoff distance ratio, but when we use the density compression ratio, the Mach number is in the range 1.47-1.90, implying that the measured density compression ratio is likely to be underestimated owing to observational limits; (3) the Alfven speed ranges from 259 to 982 km/s and the magnetic field strength is in the range 6-105 mG when the standoff distance is used; (4) if we multiply the density compression ratio by a factor of two, the Alfven speeds and the magnetic field strengths are consistent in both methods; and (5) the magnetic field strengths derived from the shock parameters are similar to those of empirical models and previous estimates.
Keywords