• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.47-55
• /
• 2000

Nonpotential characteristics of magnetic fields in AR 5747 are examined using Mees Solar Observatory magnetograms taken on Oct. 20, 1989 to Oct. 22, 1989. The active region showed such violent flaring activities during the observational span that strong X-ray flares took place including a 2B/X3 flare. The magnetogram data were obtained by the Haleakala Stokes Polarimeter which provides simultaneous Stokes profiles of the Fe I doublet 6301.5 and 6302.5. A nonlinear least square method was adopted to derive the magnetic field vectors from the observed Stokes profiles and a multi-step ambiguity solution method was employed to resolve the $180^{\circ}$ ambiguity. From the ambiguity-resolved vector magnetograms, we have derived a set of physical quantities characterizing the field configuration, which are magnetic flux, vertical current density, magnetic shear angle, angular shear, magnetic free energy density, a measure of magnetic field discontinuity MAD and linear force-free coefficient. Our results show that (1) magnetic nonpotentiality is concentrated near the inversion line in the flaring sites, (2) all the physical parameters decreased with time, which may imply that the active region was in a relaxation stage of its evolution, (3) 2-D MAD has similar patterns with other nonpotential parameters, demonstrating that it can be utilized as an useful parameter of flare producing active region, and (4) the linear force-free coefficient could be a evolutionary indicator with a merit as a global nonpotential parameter.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.143-149
• /
• 2002

In this paper we present a methodology to derive the temporal change of the magnetic shear angle from a series of vector magnetograms, with a high time cadence. This method looks for the minimum change of the shear angle between a pair of magnetograms, free from the $180^{\circ}$ ambiguity, and then accumulates this change over many successive pairs to derive the temporal change of magnetic shear. This methodology will work well if only the successive magnetograms occurred in an active region are well aligned and its helicity sign is reasonably determined. We have applied this methodology to a set of vector magnetograms of NOAA Active Region 9661 on October 19, 2001 by the new digital magnetograph at the Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). For this work we considered well aligned magnetograms whose cross-correlation values are larger than 0.95. As a result, we have confirmed the recent report of Wang et al. that there was the abrupt shear change associated with the X1.6 flare. It is also demonstrated that the shear change map can be an useful tool to highlight the local areas that experienced the abrupt shear change. Finally, we suggest that this observation should be a direct support of the emergence of sheared magnetic fields.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.29 no.spc1
• /
• pp.307-308
• /
• 1996

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.36 no.spc1
• /
• pp.13-20
• /
• 2003

Observations have indicated that magnetic reconnect ion may occur frequently in the photosphere and chromosphere as well as in the solar corona. The observed features include cancelling magnetic features seen in photospheric magnetograms, and different kinds of small-scale activities such as UV explosive events and EUV jets. By integrating the observed parameters of these features with the Sweet-Parker reconnect ion theory, an attempt is made to clarify the nature of chromospheric magnetic reconnection. Our results suggest that magnetic reconnect ion may be occurring at many different levels of the photosphere and chromosphere without a preferred height and at a faster speed than is predicted by the Sweet-Parker reconnect ion model using the classical value of electric conductivity. Introducing an anomalous magnetic diffusivity 10-100 times the classical value is one of the possible ways of explaining the fast reconnect ion as inferred from observations.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.33-41
• /
• 2003

Recent observations have shown that coronal magnetic fields in the northern (southern) hemisphere tend to have negative (positive) magnetic helicity. There has been controversy as to whether this hemispheric pattern is of surface or sub-surface origin. A number of studies have focused on clarifying the effect of the surface differential rotation on the change of magnetic helicity in the corona. Meanwhile, recent observational studies reported the existence of transient shear flows in active regions that can feed magnetic helicity to the corona at a much higher rate than the differential rotation does. Here we propose that such transient shear flows may be driven by the torque produced by either the axial or radial expansion of the coronal segment of a twisted flux tube that is rooted deeply below the surface. We have derived a simple relation between the coronal expansion parameter and the amount of helicity transferred via shear flows. To demonstrate our proposition, we have inspected Yohkoh soft X-ray images of NOAA 8668 in which strong shear flows were observed. As a result, we found that the expansion of magnetic fields really took place in the corona while transient shear flows were observed in the photosphere, and the amount of magnetic helicity change due to the transient shear flows is quantitatively consistent with the observed expansion of coronal magnetic fields. The transient shear flows hence may be understood as an observable manifestation of the pumping of magnetic helicity out of the interior portions of the field lines driven by the expansion of coronal parts as was originally proposed by Parker (1974).

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.85.2-85.2
• /
• 2011

A new infrared spectro-polarimeter was installed in 2008 onto the Solar Flare Telescope of NAOJ in the Mitaka headquarters. The Solar Flare Telescope had been operated previously as a filter-based magnetograph and obtained vector magnetograms of active regions with the Fe I 630.3nm line during 1992 - 2005. The aim of this new instrument is to measure the distribution of magnetic helicity over the whole Sun and for an extended period with high magnetic sensitivity in the infrared wavelengths. This spectro-polarimter is able to obtain polarizations in both photospheric and chromospheric layers. In order to take full Stokes profiles, we observe Fe I 1564.8 nm and He I 1083.0 nm lines (with the neighboring photospheric Si line) for the photospheric and chromospheric magnetic field vectors, respectively. The infrared detector of this instrument is a $640{\times}512$-pixel InGaAs camera produced by a Belgian company Xenics. The frame rate of the camera is 90 frames/sec. The 640-pixel row of this camera is set along the spectrograph slit of the polarimeter. Since the slit only covers the solar hemisphere, a full disk map is obtained by raster scanning the solar disk twice. A magnetic map is made of about $1200{\times}1200$ pixels with a pixel size of 1.8 arcsec. It generally takes 1.5 hours to scan the whole Sun. Although some issues on the instrument calibration still remain, a few maps of the whole Sun at the two wavelengths are now taken daily. In this presentation, we will introduce the instrument and present some observational results.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.42.1-42.1
• /
• 2004

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.29 no.spc1
• /
• pp.309-311
• /
• 1996

It is analysed the discrepancy about the coronal magnetic field between solar optic and solar radio using magnetic fibril concept with filling factor and fractal structure model. The magnetic field of $\~$ 100 G considered in solar optics is mean value in a large scale, and that of $\~$1000 G in solar should be the value of fine structures inside 'macro' loop.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.38 no.2
• /
• pp.283-287
• /
• 2005

The slow evolution of global magnetic fields and other dynamical processes in atmospheres of CP magnetic stars lead to the development of induced electric currents in all conductive atmospheric layers. The Lorentz force, which results from the interaction between a magnetic field and the induced currents, may modify the atmospheric structure and provide insight into the formation and evolution of stellar magnetic fields. This modification of the pressure-temperature structure influences the formation of absorption spectral features producing characteristic rotational variability of some spectral lines, especially the Balmer lines (Valyavin et al., 2004 and references therein). In order to study these theoretical predictions we began systematic spectroscopic survey of Balmer line variability in spectra of brightest CP magnetic stars. Here we present the first results of the program. A0p star $\Theta$ Aur revealed significant variability of the Balmer profiles during the star's rotation. Character of this variablity corresponds to that classified by Kroll (1989) as a result of an impact of significant Lorentz force. From the obtained data we estimate that amplitudes of the variation at H$\alpha$, H$\beta$, H$\gamma$ and H$\delta$ profiles reach up to $2.4\%$during full rotation cycle of the star. Using computation of our model atmospheres (Valyavin et al., 2004) we interpret these data within the framework of the simplest model of the evolution of global magnetic fields in chemically peculiar stars. Assuming that the field is represented by a dipole, we estimate the characteristic e.m.f. induced by the field decay electric current (and the Lorentz force as the result) on the order of $E {\~} 10^{-11}$ cgs units, which may indicate very fast (< < $10^{10}$ years) evolution rate of the field. This result strongly contradicts the theoretical point of view that global stellar magnetic fields of CP stars are fossil and their the characteristic decay time of about $10^{10}$ yr. Alternatively, we briefly discuss concurring effects (like the ambipolar diffusion) which may also lead to significant atmospheric currents producing the observable Lorentz force.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.35-35
• /
• 2001