GLOBAL CORONAL SEISMOLOGY IN THE EXTENDED SOLAR CORONA THROUGH FAST MAGNETOSONIC WAVES OBSERVED BY STEREO SECCHI COR1

摘要

We present global coronal seismology for the first time, which allows us to determine inhomogeneous magnetic field strength in the extended corona. From the measurements of the propagation speed of a fast magnetosonic wave associated with a coronal mass ejection (CME) and the coronal background density distribution derived from the polarized radiances observed by the STEREO SECCHI COR1, we determined the magnetic field strengths along the trajectories of the wave at different heliocentric distances. We found that the results have an uncertainty less than 40%, and are consistent with values determined with a potential field model and reported in previous works. The characteristics of the coronal medium we found are that (1) the density, magnetic field strength, and plasma β are lower in the coronal hole region than in streamers; (2) the magnetic field strength decreases slowly with height but the electron density decreases rapidly so that the local fast magnetosonic speed increases while plasma β falls off with height; and (3) the variations of the local fast magnetosonic speed and plasma β are dominated by variations in the electron density rather than the magnetic field strength. These results imply that Moreton and EIT waves are downward-reflected fast magnetosonic waves from the upper solar corona, rather than freely propagating fast magnetosonic waves in a certain atmospheric layer. In addition, the azimuthal components of CMEs and the driven waves may play an important role in various manifestations of shocks, such as type II radio bursts and solar energetic particle events.