A&A 394, L39-L42 (2002)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361:20021378
M. Goossens1 - J. Andries1 - M. J. Aschwanden2
1 - Centre for Plasma Astrophysics, K. U. Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B,
3001 Leuven, Belgium
2 - Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Solar and Astrophysics
Lab., Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA
Received 21 August 2002 / Accepted 19 September 2002
Abstract
Damped quasi-mode kink oscillations in cylindrical flux tubes
are capable of explaining the observed rapid damping of the coronal loop
oscillations when the ratio of the inhomogeneity length scale to the radius
of the loop is allowed to vary from loop to loop, without the need to
invoke anomalously low Reynolds numbers.
The theoretical expressions for the decay time by Hollweg & Yang (1988)
and Ruderman & Roberts (2002) are used to estimate the ratio of the length scale of
inhomogeneity compared to the loop radius for a collection of loop oscillations.
Key words: Sun: corona - magnetic fields - oscillations
Ofman & Aschwanden (2002) use the recent data base by Aschwanden et al. (2002)
to investigate coronal loop oscillations in a sample of 11 loops.
They argue that the observed TRACE loops consist of multiple unresolved thin
loop threads which produce inhomogeneous internal structure of the observed loop.
They adopt 1-dimensional
Cartesian slabs of plasma with the magnetic field lines in the z-direction and the
direction of the inhomogeneity along the x-axis normal to the magnetic surfaces, as
a simple model for the oscillating loops. The observed oscillations are assumed to
be torsional Alfvén waves which involve displacements of the magnetic field lines
about their equilibrium position along the y-axis with the displacement being
independent of y. The oscillations are damped by phase mixing (Heyvaerts & Priest 1983)
because the magnetic field lines at different x-positions have different oscillation
frequencies due to the inhomogeneity in the x-direction.
Ofman & Aschwanden (2002) find that the dependence of the decay time
on the length L of the loop and of
on the width w of the loop is in excellent agreement with the power law predicted
by phase mixing provided that
and
.
Here l is the length scale of
the inhomogeneity of the loop. In a fully nonuniform plasma it can be defined as
.
For a constant magnetic field it
reduces to
.
In a loop which is uniform except for a thin
transitional layer in which the equilibrium quantities vary from their constant internal value
to their constant external value, l is the thickness of the transitional layer. The similarity
of these two scalings of
(with L and w) is seen as support for
the assumption that both L and w are proportional to l.
Application of the theoretical expression for the decay time, as it is derived
by Roberts (2000) from the Heyvaerts & Priest (1983) analysis, to the observed values
leads to values of the Reynolds numbers for the oscillating coronal loops which are
at least more than five orders of magnitude lower than the classic coronal value of 1014 if the loop radius is taken as an upper limit of the spatial scale of inhomogeneity.
The present paper adopts the classic straight cylindrical 1-dimensional flux tube as a model for the coronal loops. The only oscillations that displace the central axis of a 1-dimensional vibrating tube and produce transversal displacements of the tube have their azimuthal wave number m equal to 1. These oscillations are called kink modes. Hence, in a scenario that uses a classic straight cylindrical 1-dimensional flux tube as a model for the coronal loops, the coronal loop oscillations are kink mode oscillations. The frequencies of the fundamental kink oscillations are always in between the external and internal value of the Alfvén frequency and in a non-uniform equilibrium with a continuous variation of the Alfvén frequency, they are always in the Alfvén continuum. The kink mode oscillations are then quasi-modes that are damped in the absence of equilibrium flows. The damping rate of quasi-modes is independent of dissipation. In a different context, Hollweg & Yang (1988) were the first to note that the damping of these kink quasi-modes in coronal loops is very rapid with an e-folding time of two or three wave periods. Ofman & Aschwanden (2002) included quasi-mode damping of kink oscillations in their comparison with observational data. They assumed in absence of any known scaling between l and L that l/L and l/w are constant for all loops under investigation. Under this assumption, they found that the quasi-mode damping of kink oscillations did not give an as good representation of the data as the phase-mixing torsional Alfvén waves in 1-dimensional Cartesian slabs of plasma. Here we take a different view and allow the ratio l/w to vary from loop to loop. As a matter of fact, we use the resuls of quasi-mode damping of kink oscillations to infer the value of l/w for each loop. The aim of this letter is not to show that quasi-mode damping of kink oscillations is to be preferred over phase-mixing torsional Alfvén waves in 1-dimensional Cartesian slabs of plasma. The aim is to show that there is a mechanism that is capable of explaining the observed rapid damping of the coronal loop oscillations without having to invoke anomalously low Reynolds numbers. Very likely, nature allows for both mechanisms. In case nature is selective, observations do not yet give us clear indications which mechanism is preferred. Ofman & Aschwanden (2002) ruled out quasi-mode damping of kink oscillations by keeping the length scale of the inhomogeneity (relative to the loop radius) constant for all loops.
Since the equilibrium quantities depend on r only, the
perturbed quantities can be Fourier-analyzed with respect to the
ignorable coordinates
and put proportional to
Here m (an integer) and kz are the azimuthal and axial wave numbers.
The observed coronal loop oscillations
show no nodes in the z direction so that
,
where L is the length
of the loop. For m=1 the waves are called kink modes.
Since the axis of the loop is displaced, the oscillations have to be
kink mode oscillations with m=1.
The reason why the loops are seen to oscillate transversely to their
equilibrium axis is due to the radial component of velocity. The azimuthal
component of velocity is associated with internal motions on cylindrical
shells and does not cause the loop to oscillate as a whole. In order to
explain the observed fast damping of transverse oscillations in coronal loops we need a
mechanism to explain the damping of the radial component of velocity.
Quasi-mode damping provides such a mechanism.
Part of the basic physics of quasi-mode damping can be understood in ideal MHD.
The relevant equations for the linear motions of a pressureless plasma
superimposed on a static 1-dimensional cylindrical equilibrium model
with a straight magnetic field are:
![]() |
= | ![]() |
|
![]() |
= | 0. | (2) |
![]() |
(3) |
Consider the equations as normal mode equations and note that
the differential equations have a regular singular point at the position where
D = 0 or consequently at the resonant position
where
.
This singularity and the fact that
is a function of position, give rise to a
continuous range in the spectrum which is associated with
resonant Alfvén waves with singular spatial solutions in ideal MHD.
This continuous range of frequencies is known as the Alfvén continuum.
The Alfvén continuum waves imply that in ideal MHD
each magnetic surface can oscillate at its own Alfvén
continuum frequency. This is the physical mechanism behind phase mixing and
resonant absorption.
In dissipative MHD the singular solutions are replaced with
large but finite solutions (see Goossens et al. 1995; Tirry & Goossens 1996).
For m = 0 the eigenmodes are decoupled into
torsional Alfvén continuum eigenmodes with
and discrete fast eigenmodes:
There is no interaction between the Alfvén waves and magnetosonic waves.
However, for m =1 (as a matter of fact
)
pure magnetosonic waves do not exist, since waves with
necessarily have
Consequently, fast discrete eigenmodes with
an eigenfrequency in the Alfvén continuum couple to a local Alfvén
continuum eigenmode and produce quasi-modes.
These quasi-modes are the natural oscillation modes of the system (Balet et al. 1982; Steinolfson & Davila 1993).
They combine the properties of a localized resonant Alfvén wave
and of a global fast eigenoscillation.
In dissipative MHD the singularities are removed
(Goossens et al. 1995; Tirry & Goossens 1996). The small length scales
that are created in the vicinity of the resonant position cause dissipation
with a conversion of wave energy into heat.
The damping of the global oscillation is not directly related to heating.
Quasi-modes are damped because of a transfer of energy of the global
fast wave to local continuum Alfvén modes.
The damping rate is independent of the values of the coefficients
of resistivity and viscosity
in the limit of vanishing resistivity or viscosity
(Poedts & Kerner 1991; Tirry & Goossens 1996).
In fact, the damping rate can be obtained in ideal MHD, by analytical continuation
of the Green's function (see e.g. Ionson 1978). The solutions
obtained by this method are called quasi-modes as
they are not eigenfunctions of the Hermitian ideal differential operator.
Quasi-modes provide an efficient mechanism for converting kinetic energy of radial motions of a global fast mode in kinetic energy of azimuthal motions of local continuum Alfvén modes which is what we need to explain the observed fast damping of coronal loop oscillations. Hence, the central question for our hypothesis is whether the kink mode oscillations have their frequencies in the Alfvén continuum and are quasi-modes or not.
When the density is uniform in the internal and
external region and changes discontinuously at the
loop radius r=R, the dispersion relation for these modes can be written down
analytically. In the "long tube'' approximation ()
the frequency
can be calculated explicitly:
The important point to note from Eq. (4) is that
the eigenfrequency of the fundamental kink eigenmode is in between the external and
internal Alfvén frequency. Hence, when the discontinuous transition from
to
is replaced with a continuous variation, the fundamental kink mode has its frequency
in the Alfvén continuum. The obvious conclusion is that the classic kink mode
oscillation is always a resonantly damped quasi-mode. This result is independent of
the "long tube'' assumption that was used to obtain Eq. (4). Edwin & Roberts (1983)
determined the non-leaky discrete eigenmodes of uniform cylindrical
flux tubes. In their Fig. 4 for uniform coronal flux tubes, it can be seen that all
fast body kink eigenmodes have frequencies in between the external and internal Alfvén
frequency. Consequently, all these kink modes are resonantly damped quasi-modes
when the discontinuous transition from
to
is replaced with a continuous variation.
Ruderman & Roberts (2002) solved the initial value problem for a loop driven by
a kink perturbation. The loop is a uniform plasma with density
and radius Rand a "thin'' transitional layer of thickness l in which the density varies continuously
from
to its external value
.
This "thin'' transitional layer
transforms the kink modes into quasi-modes. Ruderman & Roberts (2002) show that there are two
processes and two corresponding time scales involved. First, there is the damping of the
global fast eigenmode by conversion of kinetic energy of its radial component
into kinetic energy of the azimuthal component of the
local Alfvén continuum eigenmode in the resonant layer. This is basically resonant
absorption and the resonant damping of the global oscillations is independent of the
Reynolds number. Second, the short scale Alfvén continuum
oscillations are converted into heat by dissipative processes
on time scales similar to those of phase mixing that do depend on the Reynolds number.
Ruderman & Roberts (2002) point out that the observed damping rate of the coronal oscillations
is due to the resonant damping of the quasi-mode. During their analysis Ruderman and Roberts
calculate the frequency of the fundamental kink mode (Eq. (4)) and the damping rate
of the fundamental kink mode (their Eq. (56)). They rewrite their expression for the damping rate of the
quasi-mode in terms of observable quantities as
There are two earlier papers that deal
with damping rates and decay times of quasi-modes in cylindrical flux tubes
and their dependence on the length scale of the inhomogeneity and the radius of the loop.
Goossens et al. (1992) derived an approximate analytical
expression for the damping rate of quasi-modes for cylindrical flux tubes with
"thin'' transitional layers, by using connection formulae (Sakurai et al. 1991; Goossens et al. 1995).
The expression found by Ruderman & Roberts (2002) (their Eq. (56)) for the damping rate turns out to be a
special case of the result by Goossens et al. (1992) (their Eq. (77)). Hollweg & Yang (1988) were the
first to calculate approximate analytical expressions for the decay times of quasi-modes
and to apply them in a numerical example to solar coronal loops.
They did not use the term quasi-mode at that time. Hollweg & Yang (1988)
studied surface waves on "thin'' nonuniform layers in a planar geometry. They considered
nearly perpendicular propagation in the magnetic surfaces and found decay times
(their Eqs. (67) and (69)) independent of dissipation, indicative of quasi-modes. The planar result
was translated to a cylindrical tube by taking
the parallel wave number
and the perpendicular wave number in the magnetic
surfaces
,
which exactly corresponds
to m=1 kink modes. They concluded that the waves are effectively damped with an e-folding
time of two periods. The fast decay of coronal oscillations was predicted
more than a decade before these oscillations were actually observed.
When we translate Eq. (69) of Hollweg & Yang (1988) to kink waves on a cylinder, we recover
(Eq. (5)) with the factor
replaced with
.
This difference is due to the different density profiles that were used. Hollweg & Yang (1988)
used a linear profile for density.
We now use the expression for the decay time in its form given by Hollweg & Yang (1988)
to compute, as Ruderman & Roberts (2002) did for a single
loop, l/R for all the loops in the dataset of Ofman & Aschwanden (2002):
No. | L | R | R/L | P |
![]() |
l/R |
[m] | [m] | [s] | [s] | |||
1 | 1.68e8 | 3.60e6 | 2.1e-2 | 261 | 840 | 0.16 |
2 | 7.20e7 | 3.35e6 | 4.7e-2 | 265 | 300 | 0.44 |
3 | 1.74e8 | 4.15e6 | 2.4e-2 | 316 | 500 | 0.31 |
4 | 2.04e8 | 3.95e6 | 1.9e-2 | 277 | 400 | 0.34 |
5 | 1.62e8 | 3.65e6 | 2.3e-2 | 272 | 849 | 0.16 |
6 | 3.90e8 | 8.40e6 | 2.2e-2 | 522 | 1200 | 0.22 |
7 | 2.58e8 | 3.50e6 | 1.4e-2 | 435 | 600 | 0.36 |
8 | 1.66e8 | 3.15e6 | 1.9e-2 | 143 | 200 | 0.35 |
9 | 4.06e8 | 4.60e6 | 1.1e-2 | 423 | 800 | 0.26 |
10 | 1.92e8 | 3.45e6 | 1.8e-2 | 185 | 200 | 0.46 |
11 | 1.46e8 | 7.90e6 | 5.4e-2 | 396 | 400 | 0.49 |
Acknowledgements
It is a pleasure for us to thank L. Ofman and J. V. Hollweg for their comments on previous versions of this letter.