Streamer Waves Driven by Coronal Mass Ejections

TL;DR

This study reports on large-scale sinusoidal waves in coronal streamers triggered by CMEs, providing insights into coronal plasma dynamics and potential seismological diagnostics.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of 'streamer waves' driven by CME impacts and characterizes their properties and propagation in the solar corona.

Findings

Streamer waves have a period of about 1 hour.

Wavelength varies from 2 to 4 solar radii.

Phase speed ranges from 300 to 500 km/s.

Abstract

Between July 5th and July 7th 2004, two intriguing fast coronal mass ejection(CME)-streamer interaction events were recorded by the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO). At the beginning of the events, the streamer was pushed aside from their equilibrium position upon the impact of the rapidly outgoing and expanding ejecta; then, the streamer structure, mainly the bright streamer belt, exhibited elegant large scale sinusoidal wavelike motions. The motions were apparently driven by the restoring magnetic forces resulting from the CME impingement, suggestive of magnetohydrodynamic kink mode propagating outwards along the plasma sheet of the streamer. The mode is supported collectively by the streamer-plasma sheet structure and is therefore named "streamer wave" in the present study. With the white light coronagraph data, we show that the streamer wave has a period of about 1 hour, a wavelength varying from 2 to 4 solar radii, an amplitude of about a few tens of solar radii, and a propagating phase speed in the range 300 to 500 km s$^{-1}$. We also find that there is a tendancy for the phase speed to decline with increasing heliocentric distance. These observations provide good examples of large scale wave phenomena carried by coronal structures, and have significance in developing seismological techniques for diagnosing plasma and magnetic parameters in the outer corona.