NSWP: Can the Kink Instability Trigger Solar Energetic Events?

NSWP：扭结不稳定会引发太阳高能事件吗？

• 批准号: 0519107
• 负责人: KD Leka
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: NorthWest Research Associates, Incorporated
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-01-01 至 2009-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0519107&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: NSWP; Kink; Instability; Trigger; Solar

The proposed work will consider one candidate mechanism, the magnetic kink instability, as a trigger for solar eruptive events. This instability describes the rapid conversion of the "twist" component of magnetic helicity (the winding of the field lines about an axis) into "writhe" (winding of the axis itself). The PI asserted that recent observational studies concluding that active regions have insufficient magnetic twist to enable the kink instability have suffered from systematically underestimating the twist. The proposers offered here a new observational method with different assumptions, and stated that initial blind tests indicated that this method could successfully recover the twist known to be present in numerical simulations. The proposed new method will give a clearer indication of the role of the kink instability by improving upon the recent studies that have ruled out the kink instability based on what the proposers considered to be inappropriate assumptions.The results of this study will aid in determining which mechanism(s) gives rise to solar energetic events. The proposed work will identify flux ropes and evaluate their twist for a significant number of active regions, using vector magnetic field data in both the photosphere and chromosphere. The project goal will be to examine whether the kink instability can play a role in solar energetic events; the focus will be on establishing the necessary rather than the sufficient conditions for the occurrence of this mechanism in the Sun. For broader impacts, the vector magnetic field data used in this study, both photospheric and chromospheric, will be made available to the solar research community. The proposers will advise a graduate student from the Air Force Institute of Technology, as well as continue their ongoing public outreach programs and the mentoring of young women.

拟议的工作将将一种候选机制，即磁扭结的不稳定性，是太阳喷发事件的触发因素。这种不稳定性描述了磁性螺旋的“扭曲”成分的快速转换（轴线周围的绕线线）纳入“ writhe”（轴本身的绕组）。 PI断言，最近的观察性研究得出的结论是，活动区域的磁性不足无法使扭结不稳定性系统地低估了扭曲的扭曲。提议者在这里提供了一种具有不同假设的新观测方法，并指出初始的盲试验表明，该方法可以成功地恢复已知的扭曲，已知存在于数值模拟中。提出的新方法将通过改进基于建议者认为是不合适的假设的最新研究来改善纠结不稳定性，从而更清楚地表明问题的不稳定性。所提出的工作将使用光球和色球中的矢量磁场数据来识别磁通绳并评估大量活动区域的扭曲。项目目标是检查扭结不稳定性是否可以在太阳能事件中发挥作用。重点将是建立在太阳中发生这种机制的必要条件而不是足够的条件。对于更广泛的影响，这项研究中使用的矢量磁场数据，即光球和色球，都将提供给太阳能研究界。提议者将为空军技术研究所的一名研究生提供建议，并继续其正在进行的公共外展计划和对年轻妇女的指导。