The plasma $\beta$ evolution through the solar corona during solar cycles 23 and 24

TL;DR

This study investigates the evolution of plasma beta in the solar corona during solar cycles 23 and 24, using an updated model to analyze different features and heights in the solar atmosphere.

Contribution

It introduces an improved version of the CODET model to reconstruct plasma beta variations across different solar features and heights during solar cycles 23 and 24.

Findings

Plasma beta varies with solar features and height in the corona.

Magnetic and kinetic pressures show cyclical variations during solar cycles.

Differences observed between quiet Sun, faculae, and active regions.

Abstract

The plasma $\beta$ is important to investigate the interchanging roles of plasma and magnetic pressure in the solar atmosphere. It can help to describe features over the photosphere and their changes at different heights. The goal is to obtain the plasma $\beta$ variations through the solar corona during the solar cycles 23 and 24. The plasma $\beta$ is reconstructed in different layers of the solar atmosphere. For this purpose, we use an updated version of COronal DEnsity and Temperature (CODET) model. In this version, we selected different features in the solar atmosphere such as Quiet Sun (QS), faculae and Active Regions (ARs). We calculate the $\beta$ variations at different layers in the solar corona (R= 1.14, 1.19, 1.23, 1.28, 1.34, 1.40, 1.46, 1.53, 1.61, 1.74, 1.79, 1.84 and 1.90 $R_{\odot}$). In the photosphere, we use temperature values from FALC model to obtain plasma $\beta$ in QS and faculae. Additionally, variations of the magnetic and kinetic pressure were modelled during the last solar cycles at coronal heights. Accepted for publication in ApJ.