Magnetic Field Strength in the Upper Solar Corona Using White-light Shock Structures Surrounding Coronal Mass Ejections

TL;DR

This study estimates the magnetic field strength in the upper solar corona by analyzing shock structures around CMEs, providing new measurements consistent with existing models and highlighting observational limitations.

Contribution

It introduces a method to measure coronal magnetic fields using white-light shock structures around CMEs, comparing different estimation techniques.

Findings

Magnetic field strength ranges from 6 to 105 mG.

Mach number estimates vary between 1.47 and 3.43.

Results align with empirical models and previous estimates.

Abstract

To measure the magnetic field strength in the solar corona, we examined 10 fast (> 1000 km/s) limb CMEs which show clear shock structures in SOHO/LASCO images. By applying piston-shock relationship to the observed CME's standoff distance and electron density compression ratio, we estimated the Mach number, Alfven speed, and magnetic field strength in the height range 3 to 15 solar radii (Rs). Main results from this study are: (1) the standoff distance observed in solar corona is consistent with those from a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model and near-Earth observations; (2) the Mach number as a shock strength is in the range 1.49 to 3.43 from the standoff distance ratio, but when we use the density compression ratio, the Mach number is in the range 1.47 to 1.90, implying that the measured density compression ratio is likely to be underestimated due to observational limits; (3) the Alfven speed ranges from 259 to 982 km/s and the magnetic field strength is in the range 6 to 105 mG when the standoff distance is used; (4) if we multiply the density compression ratio by a factor of 2, the Alfven speeds and the magnetic field strengths are consistent in both methods; (5) the magnetic field strengths derived from the shock parameters are similar to those of empirical models and previous estimates.