Deriving the coronal hole electron temperature: electron density dependent ionization recombination considerations

Doyle, J. and Chapman, S. and Bryans, P. and Perez-Suarez, D. and Singh, D. and Summers, H.P. (2010) Deriving the coronal hole electron temperature: electron density dependent ionization recombination considerations. Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 10 (1). pp. 91-95. ISSN 1674-4527 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1674-4527/10/1/008)

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Abstract

Comparison of appropriate theoretically derived line ratios with observational data can yield estimates of a plasma's physical parameters, such as electron density or temperature. The usual practice in the calculation of the line ratio is the assumption of excitation by electrons/protons followed by radiative decay. Furthermore, it is normal to use the so-called coronal approximation, i.e. one only considers ionization and recombination to and from the ground-state. A more accurate treatment is to include ionization/recombination to and from metastable levels. Here, we apply this to two lines from adjacent ionization stages, Mg IX 368 angstrom and Mg X 625 angstrom, which has been shown to be a very useful temperature diagnostic. At densities typical of coronal hole conditions, the difference between the electron temperature derived assuming the zero density limit compared with the electron density dependent ionization/recombination is small. This, however, is not the case for flares where the electron density is orders of magnitude larger. The derived temperature for the coronal hole at solar maximum is around 1.04 MK compared to just below 0.82 MK at solar minimum.

  • Item type:Article
    ID code:26648
    Dates:
    Date
    Event
    2010
    Published
    Subjects:Science > Physics
    Department:Faculty of Science > Physics
    Depositing user:Users 1261 not found.
    Date deposited:10 Aug 2010 09:55
    Last modified:08 Apr 2024 18:27
    Related URLs:
    URI:https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/26648
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