A Study of the Thermodynamical Properties of Streamers and Pseudo-Streamers

NUEVO, FEDERICO A.; HUANG, ZHENGUANG; ALBERTO M. VASQUEZ; FRAZIN, RICHARD A.

San Francisco - California

Congreso; American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting; 2012

The declining phase of solar cycle (SC)-23 and the rising phase of SC-24 were characterized by the ubiquitous presence of both bipolar and unipolar streamers, also known as streamers and pseudo-streamers, respectively. Even if both structures seem associated with the generation of slow wind flow, their magnetic topologies (expansion factors), a key ingredient in wind models, are very different. It interesting then to investigate if and how other properties of both types of streamers differ. In this work we study the thermodynamical structure of both kinds of streamers combining Differential Emission Measure Tomography (DEMT) with potential field magnetic extrapolations, to determine the electron density and electron temperature along individual magnetic field lines. The approach, named the Michigan Loop Diagnostic Technique (MLDT), is here used to determine the properties of the closed regions in the core of both types of streamers, as well as along the open magnetic field lines surrounding them. We discuss our results in the context of other existing studies and models.