The large-scale structure of the solar minimum corona.
Boulder, CO : University of Colorado, 1995Description: xxx, 176 leaves : illustrations (some color) ; 28 cmContent type:- text
- unmediated
- volume
- QB529 .G53 1995
Item type | Current library | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() |
NCAR Library Foothills Lab | QB529 .G53 1995 | 1 | Available | 50583020016246 |
Ph. D. -- University of Colorado, 1995.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 171-176).
I will present the results of my Ph.D. thesis, the goal of which was to find a quantitative description of the large-scale structure of magnetic field and density in the solar minimum corona that was consistent with observations of both white light intensity and the magnetic field at the photosphere. We used white light images from NASA's Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) Coronagraph/Polarimeter and the High Altitude Observatory Mark III (MkIII) K-coronameter, along with photospheric field measurements from Stanford's Wilcox Solar Observatory (WSO), as constraints on the magnetostatic model of Bogdan and Low (B&L). We found a solution to the B&L model that reproduced observations of white light and photospheric flux to within quantifiable model and observational limits, and calculated the physical plasma properties of density, pressure, magnetic field, and temperature that corresponded to these parameters. Further, we extended the model to include current sheets at the equator and around the coronal helmet streamer, and showed that by doing so we improved the fit to white light data and to a lesser extent to the photospheric flux. Moreover, by including current sheets in the model, we produced a magnetic field line structure which better matched the underlying coronal white light structure, and which was more consistent with a solar wind accelerating along the open field lines.