Abstract
Transient seismic emission in flares remains largely mysterious. Its discoverers proposed that seismic transients are driven by impulsive heating of the flaring chromosphere. Simulations of such heating show strong shocks, but these are damped by heavy radiative losses as they proceed downward. Because compression of the gas the shock enters both heats it and increases its density, the radiative losses increase radically with the strength of the shock, leaving doubt that sufficient energy can penetrate into the solar interior to explain helioseismic signatures. We note that simulations to date have no account for strong, inclined magnetic fields characteristic of transient-seismic-source environments. A strong horizontal magnetic field, for example, greatly increases the compressional modulus of the chromospheric medium, greatly reducing compression of the gas, hence radiative losses. Inclined magnetic fields, then, must be fundamental to the role of impulsive heating in transient seismic emission.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
Computational seismic holography is based upon the extrapolation of the acoustic field from a surface region several thousand km from a source region back to the source region itself. Estimates of the energy flux from this signature are the acoustic analogy of photometry in the electromagnetic spectrum. For an example of this application, we refer to Alvarado Gómez et al. (2012).
For SOL identification convention, see Solar Phys. 263, 1–2, 2010.
The spatial resolution of the HXR observations, at ≈ 1.7 Mm.
This exercise selects the lower limit of our understanding of the typical range of the horizontal components of penumbral fields as an example. Borrero and Ichimoto (2011) find penumbral fields with horizontal components in the range 1000 – 1200 G, with a stochastic scatter of ± 500 G.
References
Allred, J.C., Hawley, S.L., Abbett, W.P., Carlsson, M.: 2005, Astrophys. J. 630, 573.
Alvarado Gómez, J.D., Buitrago Casas, J.C., Martínez-Oliveros, J.C., Lindsey, C., Hudson, H., Calvo-Mozo, B.: 2012, Astrophys. J. 280, 335.
Borrero, J.M., Ichimoto, K.: 2011, Living Rev. Solar Phys. 8(4). http://solarphysics.livingreviews.org/Articles/lrsp-2011-4/ .
Cally, P.S., Hansen, S.C.: 2011, Astrophys. J. 738, 119.
Christensen-Dalsgaard, J., Proffitt, C.R., Thompson, M.J.: 1993, Astrophys. J. 403, 75.
Donea, A.-C., Braun, D.C., Lindsey, C.: 1999, Solar Phys. 192, 321.
Donea, A.-C., Lindsey, C.: 2005, Astrophys. J. 630, 1168.
Donea, A.-C., Bessliu-Ionescu, D., Cally, P.S., Lindsey, C., Zharkova, V.V.: 2006, Solar Phys. 113, 135.
Emslie, A.G., Dennis, B.R., Shih, A.Y., Chamberlin, P.C., Mewaldt, R.A., Moore, C.S., Share, G.H., Vourlidas, A., Welsch, B.T.: 2012, Astrophys. J. 759, 71.
Fisher, G.H., Canfield, R.C., McClymont, A.N.: 1985a, Astrophys. J. 298, 414.
Fisher, G.H., Canfield, R.C., McClymont, A.N.: 1985b, Astrophys. J. 298, 425.
Fisher, G.H., Canfield, R.C., McClymont, A.N.: 1985c, Astrophys. J. 298, 434.
Fisher, G.H., Bercik, D.J., Welsch, B.T., Hudson, H.S.: 2012, Solar Phys. 277, 59.
Fletcher, L., Hudson, H.S.: 2008, Astrophys. J. 675, 164.
Hudson, H.S., Fisher, G.H., Welsch, B.T.: 2008, Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac. 328, 221.
Kosovichev, A.G., Zharkova, V.V.: 1995, Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac. 446, 755.
Kosovichev, A.G., Zharkova, V.V.: 1998, Nature 393, 317.
Lindsey, C., Cally, P.S., Rempel, M.: 2010, Astrophys. J. 719, 1144.
Lindsey, C., Donea, A.-C.: 2008, Solar Phys. 251, 627.
Martínez Oliveros, J.C., Hudson, H.S., Hurford, G.J., Kurcker, S., Lin, R.P., Lindsey, C., Couvidat, S., Schou, J., Thompson, W.T.: 2012, Astrophys. J. 753, 26.
Moradi, H., Donea, A.-C., Lindsey, C., Besliu-Ionescu, D., Cally, P.S.: 2007, Mon. Not. Roy. Astron. Soc. 374, 1155.
Najita, K., Orrall, F.Q.: 1970, Solar Phys. 15, 176.
Petrie, G.J.D.: 2012, Astrophys. J. 759, 50. doi: 10.1088/0004-637X/759/1/50 .
Petrie, G.J.D., Sudol, J.J.: 2010, Astrophys. J. 724, 1218.
Sudol, J.J., Harvey, J.W.: 2005, Astrophys. J. 635, 647.
Wang, H., Liu, C.: 2010, Astrophys. J. Lett. 716, L195.
Wang, H., Spirock, T.J., Qiu, J., Ji, H., Yurchyshyn, V., Moon, Y.-J., Denker, C., Goode, P.R.: 2002, Astrophys. J. Lett. 576, L504.
Zarro, D.M., Canfield, R.C.: 1989, Astrophys. J. Lett. 338, L33.
Zharkov, S., Green, L.M., Matthews, S.A., Zharkova, V.V.: 2011, Astrophys. J. Lett. 741, L35.
Zharkova, V.V.: 2008, Solar Phys. 251, 641.
Acknowledgements
We thank Joel Allred for sharing his most recent simulations of impulsive thick-target heating of the chromosphere, presented at the November 2012 RHESSI workshop. We also greatly appreciate the insight of Valentina Zharkova at the RHESSI workshop. We similarly appreciate consultation with George Fisher. We are most grateful to Kyoko Watanabe (ISIS) for sharing Hinode observations of the flare SOLA2011-02-15 with us. We appreciate the insights of K.D. Leka and Graham Barnes. We finally appreciate support of this research by contracts from the Solar and Heliospheric Physics Program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lindsey, C., Donea, AC., Martínez Oliveros, J.C. et al. The Role of Magnetic Fields in Transient Seismic Emission Driven by Atmospheric Heating in Flares. Sol Phys 289, 1457–1469 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-013-0389-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11207-013-0389-2