Spatial Structure of Solar Coronal Magnetic Loops Revealed by Transient Microwave Brightenings

• Published in: Solar physics Vol. 180; no. 1-2; pp. 285 - 298
• Main Authors: Zhang, J, Gopalswamy, N, Kundu, M R, Schmahl, E J, Lemen, J R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Nature B.V 01.06.1998
• Subjects: Emissions; Magnetic fields; Resonance; Solar physics
• ISSN: 0038-0938; 1573-093X
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1005020207482

We present the measurement of magnetic field gradient in magnetic loops in the solar corona, based on the multi-wavelength Very Large Array observations of two transient microwave brightenings (TMBs) in the solar active region 7135. The events were observed at 2 cm (spatial resolution 2=) and 3.6 cm (spatial resolution 3=) with a temporal resolution of 3.3 s in a time-sharing mode. Soft X-ray data (spatial resolution 2.5=) were available from the Soft X-ray Telescope on board the Yohkoh satellite. The three-dimensional structure of simple magnetic loops, where the transient brightenings occurred, were traced out by these observations. The 2-cm and 3.6-cm sources were very compact, located near the footpoint of the magnetic loops seen in the X-ray images. For the two events reported in this paper, the projected angular separation between the centroids of 2 and 3.6-cm sources is about 2.3= and 3.1=, respectively. We interpret that the 2 and 3.6-cm sources come from thermal gyro-resonance emission. The 2-cm emission is at the 3rd harmonic originating from the gyro-resonance layer where the magnetic field is 1800 G. The 3.6-cm emission is at the 2nd harmonic, originating from the gyro-resonance layer with a magnetic field of 1500 G. The estimated magnetic field gradient near the footpoint of the magnetic loop is about 0.09 G km=^sup 1^ and 0.12 G km=^sup 1^ for the two events. These values are smaller than those observed in the photosphere and chromosphere by at least a factor of 2.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]