HR: 0800h
AN: SH41B-1127    [Abstracts]
TI: Examples of Elementary Coronal Loop Strands as Observed by TRACE
AU: * Nightingale, R W
EM: nightingale@lmsal.com
AF: Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Orgn/AD-BS, Bldg/252, 3251 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1121 United States
AU: Aschwanden, M J
EM: aschwand@lmsal.com
AF: Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, Orgn/AD-BS, Bldg/252, 3251 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1121 United States
AB: A large study has recently been completed (in press at Astrophys. Jour.) of coronal loop structures observed by TRACE (with its < 1" resolution) in all three extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) filters at 171, 195, and 284 A. One of the results is that all of the fitted, uncontaminated loops with widths < 2000 km are consistent with a single temperature cross-section. This, in turn, leads to the conclusion that TRACE has resolved "elementary" or "monolithic" loop strands, in terms of thermal homogeneity over the loop cross-section. This further implies, due to the inhibition of cross-field transport in the corona (because the plasma-beta parameter is low), that the loop heating occurs below the corona in the transition region or chromosphere, where the plasma-beta values are higher allowing for possible cross-field transport. Several cases of measurements and results of acceptable isothermal fits of "elementary" loop strands (not shown in the original paper) will be presented. Also to be displayed are comparisons between extracted original images and high-pass filtered images utilized in the analysis and conclusions above. This work was supported in part by NASA under the TRACE contract NAS5-38099.
DE: 7500 SOLAR PHYSICS, ASTROPHYSICS, AND ASTRONOMY
DE: 7509 Corona
DE: 7524 Magnetic fields
SC: SPA-Solar and Heliospheric Physics [SH]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005