Observational Evidence Supporting Cross-field Diffusion of Neutral Prominence Material
Abstract
Prominences over all lifetime scales are dynamical, and many exhibit mass loss in observations through draining. Draining occurs along magnetic field lines but it can also occur across field lines since prominences are partially ionized. In a careful analysis of cross-field diffusion of neutral material in a partially ionized hydrogen-helium plasma, Gilbert et al. (2002) found the loss time scales of hydrogen to be much longer than that of helium. One way to evaluate the importance of this mechanism is to compare observations of filaments in Hα and He I (1083 nm) to see if there is a relative helium deficit. We present the results of such an analysis on a large sample of filaments, which show an obvious relative helium deficit in the edges of filaments residing higher in the solar atmosphere than the lower portions.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #210
- Pub Date:
- May 2007
- Bibcode:
- 2007AAS...210.9505G