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Searching for Solar Shocks Including a brief history of X-ray astronomy H. Hudson, SPRC/UCSD/ISAS
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Beautiful Chandra shock (E0102-72)
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How X-ray astronomy began September 21, 1859 (Carrington) Kew Gardens - magnetic effects The proper conservatism of L. Kelvin of Largs
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Latent discoveries X-rays (Roentgen, 1895) The ionosphere (Heaviside, 1902) Collisionless shock waves - ? “Space weather” - ??
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Oliver Heaviside Maxwell’s equations Laplace transforms The Heaviside function Telegraph equation - Pupin Laboratory Heavy opposition to quaternions T.S. Eliot, Cats, “Journey to the Heaviside Layer” Not the father of X-ray astronomy (due credit to B. Rossi, of course) “Why should I refuse a good dinner simply because I don't understand the digestive processes involved.”
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We’re in a golden era of coronal observation
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The dynamic corona
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The boundary between Photosphere and corona Density plummets precipitously Collisionality diminishes Radiation decouples Plasma beta drops drastically
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Height in corona T B 0 T.R.
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Solar shock: Type II burst
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A Type II burst is the same thing as a “slow drift” burst - perhaps discovered by early military radars; explained by J. P. Wild and Y. Uchida Time Wavelength III II (recall -2 ~ n e )
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Meter-waves and soft X-rays Megahertz vs Exahertz Radiative transfer vs direct view Magnetic effects vs Bremsstrahlung Inherent fuzziness vs sharp resolution But - by 1998, we’d seen Types I, III, IV and others
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But not the simplest and most obvious: Type II!
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X-ray observation of a global wave Wave propagation tells us about coronal structure The innermost (earliest) motions tell us about the flare process itself
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Moreton-Ramsey wave and EIT wave
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Why didn’t SXT discover “SXT waves”? SXT views the whole corona Fast-mode MHD waves must involve compressional heating SXT response increases monotonically with temperature So… why did it take 8 years and the competitive example of EIT?
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Factors abetting wave detection in soft X-rays The wave needn’t be shocked The SXT response strongly favors detection of a temperature increase (adiabatic law)
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Sensitivity estimation R i (n,T e )=const£n 2 e £S i (T e ), @(ln(R i )) @(ln(T e =¢ i (T e )=3+ d(ln(S i d(ln(T e,
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SXT and TRACE responses Courtesy N. V. Nitta
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Factors reducing sensitivity Poor CCD dynamic range (AEC) Limited SXT telemetry(“Velocity filter”) Photon counting statistics Scattering from grazing-incidence mirror Flare mode
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May 6, 1998 FOV 10 arc min
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FOV 5 arc min
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Gas pressure in flare loops
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SOHO/ EIT
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Uchida’s 1968 model
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S.W. Uchida A.R.
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OK, so what caused the wave? In principle we can see it all in soft X-rays The earliest manifestation of the wave is within 20,000 km of the flare core But… it is significantly displaced from the soft X-ray core of the flare
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Mysteries of low plasma Everything seems to expand (cf. Aly) The Virial Theorem looks goofy too
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Implosion conjecture At low , the coronal energy is purely B 2 /8 During a flare, there’s no time for energy transport through the photosphere Therefore, some field lines must shorten
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Isomagnetobars Closed field lines Open field lines How low- implosions must work
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MHD Virial Theorem
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The end, thanks
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