Footpoint excitation of standing acoustic waves in coronal loops

¹ Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG, N. Ireland e-mail: yat@arm.ac.uk
² Space and Atmosphere Research Center, Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Sheffield, The Hicks Building, Hounsfield Road, Sheffield S3 7RH, UK
³ Space and Atmospheric Physics Group, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BZ, UK

Received: 31 January 2005
Accepted: 24 March 2005

Abstract

A new theoretical model for the study of slow standing sausage mode oscillations in hot ( MK) active region coronal loops is presented. These oscillations are observed by the SUMER spectrometer on board the SoHO satellite. The model contains the transition region and the upper chromosphere which enables us to study the entire process of hot loop oscillations – from the impulsive footpoint excitation phase to the rapid damping phase. It is shown that standing acoustic waves can be excited by an impulsive heat deposition at the chromospheric footpoint of a loop if the duration of the pulse matches the fundamental mode period. The pulse is immediately followed by a standing wave consistent with the SUMER observations in hot loops. The amount of released energy determines the oscillation amplitude. The combined effects of thermal conduction and radiation on the behaviour of the standing acoustic waves in hot gravitationally stratified loops are investigated. In addition to damping, these effects lead to downflows which are superimposed on the oscillations. The implications of the results in coronal seismology are discussed.