Observational evidence of resonantly damped propagating kink waves in the solar corona

Gary Verth, Jaume Terradas, Marcel Goossens

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97 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this Letter, we establish clear evidence for the resonant absorption damping mechanism by analyzing observational data from the novel Coronal Multi-Channel Polarimeter. This instrument has established that in the solar corona there are ubiquitous propagating low-amplitude (1 km s–1) Alfvénic waves with a wide range of frequencies. Realistically interpreting these waves as the kink mode from magnetohydrodynamic wave theory, they should exhibit a frequency-dependent damping length due to resonant absorption, governed by the Terradas-Goossens-Verth relation showing that transverse plasma inhomogeneity in coronal magnetic flux tubes causes them to act as natural low-pass filters. It is found that the observed frequency dependence on damping length (up to about 8 mHz) can be explained by the kink wave interpretation; and furthermore, the spatially averaged equilibrium parameter describing the length scale of transverse plasma density inhomogeneity over a system of coronal loops is consistent with the range of values estimated from Transition Region and Coronal Explorer observations of standing kink modes.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)L102-L105
JournalThe Astrophysical Journal
Volume718
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2010

Keywords

  • magnetic fields
  • magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)
  • plasmas
  • Sun: corona
  • Sun: oscillations

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