SPHINX THE OTHER OBSERVATIONS OF AR 11024 PLASMA
SPHINX & THE OTHER OBSERVATIONS OF AR 11024 PLASMA & THEIR ANALYSIS B. Sylwester, J. Sylwester, M. Siarkowski Space Research Center of Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław, Poland A. J. Engell Harvard –Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, USA S. V. Kuzin Lebedev Physical Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Sphin. X: Solar Photometer in X-rays Sphin. X: CO RO NA S Mass ~2500 kg 8. 2 GB/day PH O TO N The satellite operated in a 550 x 550 km x 82. 5° polar low Earth orbit with semi-three axis stabilisation. The scientific payload includes an array of 12 instruments: among them was TESIS but it also carried 3 Indian instruments. TESIS was the telescope and spectrometer complex containing 6 independent devices designed to study the solar corona in the soft X-ray and EUV radiation. Sphin. X was a part of TESIS. Sphin. X has been operated aboard CORONAS - Photon satellite from January 30 to November 29 2009. TESIS with Sphin. X
Solar Photometer in X-rays - Sphin. X Polish concept, design & manufacture Measure the X-ray fluence of the Sun in the range 0. 8 – 15 ke. V using 4 Amptek Peltier cooled silicon PIN detectors (each 256 energy bins) with unprecedented Time resolution ~0. 00001 s (Photon arrival time measured to within few μs) Sensitivity: 100 x better than GOES Energy resolution: 2 x RHESSI Basic characteristics: Mass 3. 7 kg Power 10 W Telemetry ~100 MB a day Sphin. X has been calibrated at the BESSY Berlin Synchrotron. Calibrated synchrotron spectra have been used to determine the response of Sphin. X detectors.
Sphin. X sensitivity 100 x better than GOES as the result Extension of X-ray classes of solar variability below the present lowest GOES level set at A 1: [10 -6] W/m 2 10 -7 A 1 = 10 -8 W/m 2 10 -8 No flare activity reported by GOES below 10 -10 10 -11 SAA 10 -9 S/C night S 1 = 10 -9 W/m 2 Q 1 = 10 -10 W/m 2 Sphin. X detection threshold
http: //solarscience. msfc. nasa. gov/images/ssn_predict_l. gif Deep solar minimum prolonged deep solar minimum Plenty of data have been collected with different instruments onboard CORONASPhoton, despite very low solar activity in the February-November 2009 period.
Active Region 11024 evolution: 2 -14. 07. 2009 2. 07; 01: 00 UT EIT 171 4. 07; 06: 53 UT Hα 6. 07; 18: 18 UT XRT Hinode 11024 11023 8. 07; 05: 48 UT XRT Hinode 10. 07; 01: 00 UT EIT 171 11024 14. 07; 06: 09 UT EIT 195
Sphin. X flux above 1. 19 ke. V (1 -16 July 2009) A B Before: 03. 07. 01: 02– 09: 50 UT After: 14. 07. 08: 38– 13: 32 UT AR turns beyond the W limb Flares/brightennings Total of 175 flaring events – 135 before 9 th Before After
AR contribution. . . how to subtract? (226 points) A 0 1 2 4 6 32 7 9 B 35
What can be deduced from Sphin. X data? We measure spectra in the range 1 -15 ke. V with energy resolution ~0. 5 ke. V, so several independet lightcurves are available…The simple & easy analysis is to adopt an isothermal approximation… and determine the temperature and emission measure: T, EM How can we do this ? Since several channels are available, two different methods can be applied. (In the framework of statistical uncerainties they should give the similar equivalent values for: T, EM )
1: E-band-ratio Standard method using the dependence of fluxes ratio in 2 energy bands on the temperature (as used for GOES observations and called sometimes filter ratio techniqe). We must select two energy bands: • should contain enough photons • have substantially different dependence of emissivities on T AR 11024: non-flaring component Flux for E: 1. 2 1. 5 ke. V Flux for E> 1. 5 ke. V
2: slope & total counts Theory predicts monotonic dependence of the slope of the spectrum on the temperature: Results obtained using the method of fitting the inclination of the spectra support the results obtained using the energy bands ratio technique. Fitting the observed spectrum inclination in the statistically important range (1. 2 ke. V< E < 3 ke. V) defines T. Then EM is estimated from the total amount of photons above 1 ke. V.
Quiet „non AR” Sun spectra average T= ~1. 9 MK Before AR appearence After AR disappearence
Evolution of AR 11024 spectra
T and EM evolution Flux emerging regions
AR thermodynamic measure Flux emerging regions Th. M = 3 k T EM 1/2 Eth = 3 k T Ne V EM=Ne 2 V Ne=EM 1/2 V-1/2 Eth= 3 k T EM 1/2 V 1/2 = V 1/2 Th. M
Total flux above 1. 19 ke. V 69 48 83 AR envelope Quiet Sun emission interpolated Hinode SXT high resolution sequences 36 points common within 2 min.
Active region XRT Hinode images in full XRT resolution available : each 90 sec ~400 x 400 pixels of 1 arcsec dimension processed in Be medium and Ti filters. Images from 3 July 13: 16 UT to 4 July 23: 44 UT
Non-flaring intervals: 7 July 2009 Sphin. X 67 interval: Integration 10: 25: 18 10: 27: 11 UT 10: 26: 15 UT 9 12 UT Sphin. X 68 interval: Integration 11: 31 11: 12: 58 UT 11: 12: 15 UT
AR volume determination Pixels within the area above 50% of the total flux in Hinode XRT Be image. 36 times identified where AR spectra and XRT images were taken within 2 min. AR volume variations slow on time scales of hours
AR thermal energy & density 1 x 1030 ergs Thermal energy content 2 x 109 cm-3 Density
6 hours of evolution during 8 th June 4 2 1 1 3 2 3 4
30 hours of AR disappearance (Hinode XRT Ti_poly filter) 2 1 4 3 1 2 3 4
AR 11019 lightcurve 11019 11018 11020 already seen
28. 05, 31. 05; 3. 06, 5. 06, 10. 06, 12. 06. 2009 AR 11019 AR 11018 AR 11019 AR 11020
Concluding remarks • The X-ray activity of AR 11024 region follows the UV appearence with some 1 -2 days delay. • The average temperature for quiet Sun emission preceeding/following the AR 11024 appearence as determined from Sphin. X data is T~1. 9 MK. • Exceptional database is available for AR 11024: 120 000 spectra. • The sequence of Hinode images in full XRT resolution the morphology, its evolution and results in determination of emitting volume history. • The temperature of AR 11024 is the highest when the region is young – this is connected with persistent emerging flux regions observed. • The thermodynamic measure is a very good & observationally robust characteristic to be widely used is studies of energy balance. • Provided the volume estimates are available the evolution of thermal energy content and the density can be investigated.
- Slides: 25