The Large-Scale Structure of the Solar Minimum Corona
Abstract
I will present the results of my Ph.D. thesis, the goal of which was to find a quantitative description of the large-scale structure of magnetic field and density in the solar minimum corona that was consistent with observations of both white light intensity and the magnetic field at the photosphere. We used white light images from NASA's Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) Coronagraph/Polarimeter and the High Altitude Observatory Mark III (MkIII) K-coronameter, along with photospheric field measurements from Stanford's Wilcox Solar Observatory (WSO), as constraints on the magnetostatic model of Bogdan and Low (B&L) [\markcite{1986}]. We found a solution to the B&L model that reproduced observations of white light and photospheric flux to within quantifiable model and observational limits, and calculated the physical plasma properties of density, pressure, magnetic field, and temperature that corresponded to these parameters. Further, we extended the model to include current sheets at the equator and around the coronal helmet streamer, and showed that by doing so we improved the fit to white light data and to a lesser extent to the photospheric flux. Moreover, by including current sheets in the model, we produced a magnetic field line structure which better matched the underlying coronal white light structure, and which was more consistent with a solar wind accelerating along the open field lines. This work was partially funded by NASA GSRP grant number 50916.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 1995
- Bibcode:
- 1995AAS...18712204G