Quasi-periodic processes in the flare loop generated by sudden temperature enhancements at loop footpoints

¹ Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Fričova 258, 251 65 Ondřejov, Czech Republic
e-mail: karlicky@asu.cas.cz
² University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Science, Institute of Physics and Biophysics, Branišovská 10, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic

Received: 4 September 2015
Accepted: 8 March 2016

Abstract

Aims. During the impulsive flare phase, the plasma at the flare loop footpoints is rapidly heated by particle beams. In the present paper, we study processes that occur after this sudden heating in a two-dimensional magnetic loop.

Methods. We adopt a 2D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model, in which we solve a full set of the ideal time-dependent MHD equations by means of the FLASH code, using the adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) method. Periods in the processes are estimated by the wavelet analysis technique.

Results. We consider a model of the solar atmosphere with a symmetric magnetic loop. The length of this loop in the corona is approximately 21.5 Mm. At both loop footpoints, at the transition region, we initiate the Gaussian temperature (pressure) perturbation with the maximum temperature 14, 7, or 3.5 times higher than the unperturbed temperature. In the corona, the perturbations produce supersonic blast shocks with the Mach number of about 1.1, but well below Alfvén velocities. We consider cases with the same perturbations at both footpoints (symmetric case) and one with different perturbations (asymmetric case). In the symmetric case, the shocks move along both loop legs upwards to the top of the loop, where they interact and form a transient compressed region. Then they continue in their motion to the transition region at the opposite side of the loop, where they are reflected upwards, and so on. At the top of the loop, the shock appears periodically with the period of about 170 s. In the loop legs during this period, a double peak of the plasma parameters, which is connected with two arrivals of shocks, is detected: firstly, when the shock moves up and then when the shock, propagating from the opposite loop leg, moves down. Increasing the distance of the detection point in the loop leg from the top of the loop, the time interval between these shock arrivals increases. Thus, at these detection points, the processes with shorter periods can be detected. After ~500 s the process with the periodically interacting shocks slowly changes to slow mode magnetosonic free oscillation. Furthermore, we detected quasi-periodic processes, even in the chromosphere under the location of the pressure perturbation. These processes can be observed in intensities and Doppler shifts of optical chromospheric lines. In the case with the asymmetric perturbations, we found that the processes are even more complex.