JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 104, NO.

A5, PAGES 9701-9708, MAY 1, 1999

Temperature structure of the quiet Sun X ray corona

David Alexander
LockheedMartin SolarandAstrophysics
Laboratory,Palo Alto, California

Abstract. We characterizethe softX ray solarcoronain termsof the physicalparameters

of densityand temperaturederivedfrom the Soft X ray Telescopeon boardthe Yohkoh
satellitefor the period of solarminimum coveredby the Whole Sun Month coordinated
campaign. In particular,we concentrateon August 18, 1996, a day with no major active
regionson the solardisk, to providedata for comparisonwith other instrumentstaking
part in this campaign. The densityis found to decreasewith height along all radial lines
in the solar corona. These radial lines spana numberof distinctstructures,including
a well-definedhelmet streamerin the northwestquadrant. The radial variationof the
temperatureis far more complex,displayinga variety of forms. To providea theoretical
contextfor theseobservations, we investigatetwo distinctlydifferentheatingmodels. For
regionsof the coronain which the temperatureincreaseswith height we apply an inward
heatflux modelto describethe heating.A mechanicalenergyflux modelis assumedto heat
the coronalregionsin which the temperaturedisplaysa maximumat a givenheight. For
eachof the modelsdiscussed, theresultsare consistentwith thosefoundin previousstudies
of a similar nature.

1. Introduction sible for either. In general,threedistinctmechanisms for

Recently,an intensivecampaignto studythe solarcorona
over the course of a whole solar rotation was carried out with
the aim of providinga comprehensive
view of the Sun dur-
ing the period of solar minimum. This campaign,called
the Whole Sun Month, occurredbetweenAugust 10 and
September8, 1996,andis summarized elsewherein thisspe-
cial issue [Galvin and Kohl, this issue].
One of theprimarygoalsof theWhole SunMonth (WSM)
campaignwas to bring togetherthe wealth of instruments
on board solar observingspacecraft,for example,SOHO,
Yohkoh,Ulysses,andthoseobservingthe solarcoronafrom
ground-based observatories, for example,MSLO, Kitt Peak,
to determinein as muchdetail as possiblethe quantitative
plasmaparameterswhich serveto describefully the solar
corona. The characterization of the coronain temperature,
density,outflowvelocity,and morphologyfrom the solar
surfaceout to 1-2 r8 and beyondconstitutesan invaluable
dataset from which an empiricalmodelof the fully three-
dimensionalcoronacan be generated.Sucha modelpro-
vides a referenceagainstwhich can be testedtheoretical
modelsof coronalheatingandenergydeposition.
To maintainthe Sun'shigh-temperature corona,nonther-
mal energymust be transported to the upperatmosphere
and dissipatedthere as heat. It is not clear that the mech-
anismresponsiblefor the heatingof activeregionsis nec-
essarilythe same as that which generatesthe quiet solar
corona. Nor is it clear that a singlemechanismis respon-
Copyright1999by the AmericanGeophysical
Union.
Papernumber1998JA900016.
0148-0227/99 / 1998JA900016509.00
9701
heatingthe coronaare put forward;waveheating(usually
via Alfv6n wave dissipation[e.g.,Browning,1991]), resis-
tive dissipationof coronalcurrents[e.g.,Heyvaerts,1990],
andstochastic heatingvia the turbulentcascadeof magnetic
field [e.g., Gomez,1990]. Recentobservational-based stud-
ies have addressedcoronalheatingin activeregions[e.g.,
Klimchukand Gary, 1995; Yoshidaand Tsuneta,1996] in
an attemptto relatethe observeddistributions of temper-
ature and densityat X ray and/ormicrowaveenergiesto
the loopheatingprocess.Klimchukand Gary [1995]found
that on average,the soft X ray temperatures and emission
measureswhere 2-3 times greaterthan the corresponding
values derived from microwave observations and concluded
that the observedtemperaturedifferencesindicatesa volu-
metriccoronalheatingrate whichvariesinverselywith loop
length.Yoshidaand Tsuneta[ 1996],on the otherhand,con-
cluded that two different mechanisms are involved in the
heatingof the activecorona;high-temperature plasma(6-7
MK) waslikely heatedin a transientfashionby magneticre-
connection,while coolerplasma(3-5 MK) washeatedmore
steadilyand uniformly. Clearly,the natureof the coronal
heatingprocessis still an areaof greatdebate,drivenpri-
marily by theoreticalconsiderations [cf. Zirker, 1993] and
dependsgreatlyon the magneticconfiguration of whichthe
heatedloopsare a part. Most theoreticalmodelswhich at-
tempt to addressthis problemrely on steadystateenergy
balance[e.g., Inverarity and Priest, 1995], althoughit is
possiblethat a seriesof small burst-likeheatingeventsare
responsiblefor the observedthermalemission[e.g., Parker,
1988; Cargill and Klimchuk,1997]. In orderto differentiate
betweenthe variousmodelsput forwardto explainthe quiet
solarcoronaimprovedobservations of the quietinnercorona
9702 ALEXANDER: TEMPERATURE STRUCTURE OF QUIET SUN X RAY CORONA

arerequired.Suchobservations duringWSM Wheatlandet al. [1997] resultswere briefly summarized

wereobtained
whichconstituteda periodof minimumsolaractivitywith above: the quiet coronawas found to have a radial pro-
nomorethana singleactiveregionbeingpresentonthedisk file wherebythe temperatureincreasedsteadilywith height
at any giventime. above the limb (out to around 1 solar radius above the so-
Recently,Sturrocket al. [1996] and Wheatlandet al. lar limb). Hara [1996] foundan increasingradialprofilein
[1997] investigatedthe heatingof quietcoronalregionsby coronalholeswith temperatures of order 1.8-2.4 MK (with
examiningtheradialvariations of temperatureanddensity corresponding
emission
measures
of 1048-48'7m-a),
while
in the innercoronausinglong-exposure YohkohSoft X ray Foleyet al., [ 1997]founda similarbehaviorbutwith slightly
Telescope (SXT) images.The resultsindicateda steadyra- lower temperatures(1.1 - 1.4 MK).
dial increaseof temperature
outto ashighas0.95 solarradii In thispaper,we employtheSXT to studythediffusequiet
above the limb. It was found that this distribution of coro- coronaduringa periodwhenthe Sunshowedvery little signs
nal temperature was consistent with that expectedfrom a of activity. The primarygoal is to presentthe physicalde-
model wherethe coronais heatedby an inwardheat flux scriptionof theglobalsoftX ray coronafor comparison with
from an energydeposition regionbeyondthe field of view othercontiguous WSM observations. However,we alsopro-
of the YohkohSXT. The level of activitydisplayedby the vide somecontextby applyingsomeheatingmodelsusedin
solarcorona,duringtheperiodof theobservations discussedsimilarstudies.The detailsof our dataanalysisare givenin
by Wheatland et al. [1997],wasmuchhigherthanthatob- section2 and our resultspresentedin section3. Section4
servedduringWSM. Theeffectof thepresence of activere- considersthe implicationsof our resultsfor coronalheating
gionson the heatingof the diffusecoronais not understood models and we conclude in section 5.
and is in fact generallynot considered.However,the results
of the presentstudyshowvariationsof temperatureandden- 2. Data Analysis
sity with heightwhichmay dependon the proximityor lack
During the periodspannedby the Whole SunMonth (Au-
thereofof an activeregion. This raisesthe possibilitythat
gust10 to September8, 1996) the Sunwasextremelyquiet
the presenceof active regionscannotbe ignoredin discus-
with only a one significantactiveregion (NOAA AR7986)
sionsof the heatingof the quiet solarcorona.Certainly,the
crossingthedisk(CentralMeridianPassage occurredonAu-
ability to observethe coronaout to heightscloseto one r8
gust29, 1996). Thesesolarminimumconditionswerepar-
with the SXT is only possiblenearsolarmaximumwhenthe
ticularly evidenton August 18-19, 1996, prior to AR7986
whole X ray coronais brighter[Acton,1996].
The combination of distinct data sets from different instru-
rotating into view aroundthe eastlimb. The main diagnostic
instrumentson SOHO have restricted fields of view, and as
mentsis clearly a difficulttask,involvingas it doesthe dif-
a resultspecialobservingprogramsare requiredto map out
ferent calibrations,atomicphysics,and diagnosticmethod-
the whole solarcorona.Therefore,in orderto compareour
ology. The Whole Sun Month campaignresultedin tem- results with these instruments we have restricted our anal-
peraturediagnosticsfrom such diverseinstrumentsas the
SOHO CDS and SUMER instruments which use resonance
ysis to a single day: August 18, 1996. On this day the
SXT obtaineda seriesof full diskimagepairs(spatialreso-
line ratio techniquesto derive temperaturesand densities,
lution4.9 arcsecs) in thetwothinnest filters(theA1 1265A
the YohkohSXT, a broadbandsoft X ray instrumentwhich
andA1/Mg/Mn filters)takenlessthan 128 s apartandspan-
usesa filter ratio techniqueto derivetemperatures andemis-
ningsome23 hours.After a preselection, basedonexposure
sionmeasures(no directdensitydiagnostics)andthe SOHO
times,datacompleteness andspatialresolution,12 pairsre-
LASCO and ground-based MSLO coronagraphs whichpro-
main. In eachof theseimagestheexposuretimeswere2.668
vide densitymeasurements of the outercoronavia the mod-
s for theA1 filter and5.338 s for theA1/Mg/Mnfilter.
eling of the observedemissionmeasures.Combiningthis
The low levelof activityof the solarcoronaat softX ray
diversearray of data overthe whole solarcoronaclearlyre-
energiesnecessitates the useof multipleimagesummation
quiresa significanteffort. A numberof studiesconcentrat-
and a furtherincreaseof the signalto noiseat the expense
ing on isolatedregionsof the solarcoronaareunderway[see
of spatialresolution,from 4.9 to 19.6 arcsecs,by defining
Fludra et al., this issue; Gibson et al., this issue]. In this
macropixelsconsistingof 4x4 SXT half resolutionpixels.
paper,we restrictour discussion to datafrom a singleinstru- In addition, a number of corrections to the raw SXT data
ment, that of the YohkohSXT, to betterinfer the properties
arerequiredbeforecarryingout a temperature andemission
of the wholesolarcoronaat X ray energies.
measureanalysis(seeappendix).The total effectiveexpo-
Data from the SXT havebeenusedextensivelyto charac-
suretimeswere30.28 and64.42 s for theA1andA1/Mg/Mn
terize the coronaldistributions of physicalparameters.Be- summedimages,respectively.
causeof the bias of the SXT temperatureresponseto high
temperatures(> 3 MK) and the excellentphoton statistics 3. Temperature and Density Structure
providedby the active corona,thesestudieshave mostly
of the Soft X ray Corona
beenrestrictedto activeregions[e.g., Yoshidaand Tsuneta,
1996]. However,a numberof authorshaverecentlyextended Fromtheratioof thesummedimagesin eachfilter(seeap-
the utility of the SXT to studythe diffusequietsolarcorona pendix)it is possibleto derivea line-of-sightaveragedtem-
and coronalholes,respectively[Sturrocket al., 1996;Hara, perature[Tsunetaet al., 1991]. The mapsfor the softX ray
1996; Foleyet al., 1997]. The Sturrocket al. [1996] and solarcoronaon August18, 1996,areshownin Figure1.
 ALEXANDER:TEMPERATURE
STRUCTURE
OFQUIETSUNX RAYCORONA 9703

S
1.89
1.78

1.5G
1.4.,4
1.:53
-.: .':..;:.:.r-..
- --:
:!..22
1,11
...

225 270 5 360

an91e theta (de9rees)

S SE E NE N NW W SW S
1.5
44,54
1.- ..!
.10
1.25 3;3.66
1.20 28.21
22.77
1.15
17
1.10
.,..,.::i11,89
:.,;::...

1.05
1.00.
0 45 90 1:35 180 225 270 :535

-an9
le theta (de9rees)

5.39
4,78
4,17
3.56
2.94
2,33
1.72
1.11

Figure1. (a)Temperature,
(b)emission
measure,
and(c)density
mapsof thesolarcorona onAugust18
1996.Theanglethetais measured
clockwise
fromthesouthpole,andtheheightH is in unitsof a solar
radius
(_7 x 108m).Thegreyscales
showthetemperature
inMK,theemission
measure
inunits
of10
m-, andthedensity
in unitsof 10TMm-3. Wehaveinverted thecolortableforclarityandasa resultthe
largeextended
areasof whiteindicatewheretherewaslittleornosignalin theSXT.Thisis particularly
noticeableat the poles.

Figure 2 showsrepresentative temperatureand density beingtheareaof a singlemacropixel

(_ 2 x 108 m2). In
profilesfor radial linesat angles0 -- !30, 0 - 90, and an attemptto accountfor the effectsof line-of-sightintegra-
0 -- 240, where0 = 0 corresponds to the directionof the tionin thedeterminationof thedensitywe haveincorporated
southpole and increases in a clockwisedirection.In cal- a modelradialdependence,
I ecr -'a in thefilterintensi-
culatingthedensityfrom the emissionmeasurein Figure2 fies when calculatingthe emissionmeasure[cf. Fludra et
we haveassumed a line-of-sightdistance,lo - 2x 108m al., this issue]. This reflectsthe fact that for an atmosphere
(0.3r,, which reflectsthe largescaleof the structuresbe- which is in radial hydrostaticequilibriumand is isothermal
ing considered)
anda constant densityalongtheline of sight. alongthe line of sight,the observedemission(Io) is an in-
Heretheemission measure isgivenbyEM = r2AloandA tegralof the emissivityof the plasma(E) modifiedby age-
9704 ALEXANDER: TEMPERATURESTRUCTUREOF QUIET SUN X RAY CORONA

2.0 ' i
Beyonda heightof ,--,1.2r8the quiet coronalX ray flux
- Temperature
[] Density in theA1/Mg/Mn filter dropssharply(fallingbelow1 DN/s),
therebyseverelycompromisingthe filter-ratiotemperature
determination.At suchlow countrates the straylightcor-
1.5
rection(seeappendix)is unreliableandcanresultin signif-
icant errorsin the temperatureand emissionmeasuredeter-
minations.Consequently,we haverestrictedthe analysisin
1.0
this solarminimum studyto heightsbelow this value. Fur-
ther, the errorsin the temperature(and emissionmeasure)
calculatedfrom the filter-ratiotechniquehave two compo-
nents:(1) uncertainties introducedby datacompression and
0.5 (2) photonnoise.The latterrequiresthat the variouscorrec-
I I I I

1.00 1.05 1.10 1.15 1.20 1.25 tionsappliedto the data (seeappendix)be carefullyincor-
r/re
poratedinto the error estimation.At present,the available
2.0 i i i
Yohkoherrorestimationroutinesdo notproperlyaccountfor
(b)

[]
- Temperature
Density
datawhichhasbeencorrectedfor vignetting(J. Lemen,pri-
vate communication, 1998). The basic effect of this is that,
6
aswe get furtherawayfrom diskcenter,the underestimation
1.5 of the error becomesincreasinglyimportant. In particular,
sincethe SXT vignettefunctionis characterized by a broken
powerlaw with a sharpincreasein slopeabove,-,,1.25r8 [see
Morrison, 1994, Figure7] the underestimation of thephoton
noiseis nonnegligibleat theseheights.This furthersupports
the cautionof choosinga cutoff at 1.2r8.
For the quietcoronaobservedon August18, 1996,during
0.5
WSM, Figure2 showsthatthe densityfalls off with height
I I I I

1.25
alongradial lines out to about 1.2 r8 abovethe surfacealong
1.00 1.05 1.10 1.15 1.20
r/re all radialdirections.However,theradialprofilesof thetem-
peratureshowa wide rangeof behavior,perhapsindicatinga
2.0 i i i

- Temperature (c) rangeof heatingmechanisms or heatingenvironments. Peak

[] - Density
temperaturesof 1.5-1.8 MK are found. However,the height
abovethe limb at which the peak valuesoccurvariesfrom
1.5
one regionof the solaratmosphereto the next. Densitiesof
order5 x 104(1/lo)
-/2 m-3 arefoundatthebaseof the
softX ray coronawherel is the "true"line of sightintegra-
tion depth.
1.0 Wheatlandet al. [ 1997] foundthat temperatureincreased
m m
with heightfor two regionsof diffusecoronaspanninghel-
met streamerstructuresobservedin May and August 1992,
respectively.The rangeof resultsfoundin thepresentwork
0.5
I I I I
includesimilartemperatureanddensityprofilesin the loca-
1.00 1.05 1.10 1.15 1.20 1.25 tion of a relatively strongstreameras seenin Figure 1 and
r/re
Figure 2c [seealsoFludra et al., this issue].However,such
Figure 2. Radialvariationof the temperature anddensity behavior is not observed at all locations in the solar atmo-
for(a) 0 = 60,(b) 0 = 900, and(c) 0 = 240, where0 sphere(Figures2a and2b), suggestingthata varietyof heat-
is as definedin the main text. The spatialresolutionis ap-
ing mechanismsmay be at work in the corona.
proximately 20 arcsecor 1/50thof a solarradius.At coronal
heightsgreaterthan,,-1.2rs,the fall-offin densityresultsin
thesignificantly reducedfluxesdetected in theSXT filters.
4. Heating of the Quiet Corona
The lack of knowledgeof the true geometryof the ob-
ometrical
factor
(r/(r 2- 2;2)
1/2where (2;- 1)istheheight served structuresand the distributionof density and tem-
above
thelimb).Thisintegral yeildsE ocIobsr -a/2 (see peraturealonganygivenline of sight,limitsanyinterpreta-
tion of the heating.The filter ratio technique(seeappendix)
Guhathakurtaet al., [ 1992] for details).The resultis a rela-
tivelyminor(r/rs) -'75modification ofthedensity profiles. allows us to derive a mean temperatureweightedwith re-
In thisway,we determinea crudeestimatefor the coronal spectto the squareof the densityalongthe line of sight.
densities.Clearly,a morerigorousapproachto determine This, coupledto the generaltrendthatdensityrapidlyfalls
is required off with height,meansthata systematic
the densitiesof the softX ray emittingstructures increasein the de-
(see discussionbelow). rived weightedtemperaturewith heightimpliesthat the ac-
 ALEXANDER: TEMPERATURE STRUCTURE OF QUIET SUN X RAY CORONA 9705

tual temperatureincreaseswith height. Figure 2 showsa where/ = 0.56 is themeanparticlemassof theatmosphere

selectionof the varietyof behaviorobservedin the quietso- in unitsof theprotonmass,rap,ascalculated
by Wheatland
lar coronaduringthe Whole Sun Month campaign.One of et al. [1997]usingthecoronalabundances of Grevesse and
theprofiles(Figure2c) indicatesa monotonically increasing Anders[1991], andk is the Boltzmannconstant.We canfit
temperature with heightovertherangeI < r/rs < 1.18, thesefunctionalformsto the observedprofilesto determine
while the other two showevidenceof a maximum tempera- theparameters, To andF0. Thisassumes thattheobserved
ture in the low corona(Figure 2b) or an isothermalcorona radialprofilesrepresent thetruebehaviorof thephysicalpa-
(Figure2a). While we cannotexcludethepossibilityof line- rametersandarenot affectedby anygeometrical consider-
of-sighteffectsresultingin the rangeof behaviorobserved ations(seediscussion below). Applyingthisto the temper-
we will chooseto assumethat they reflect the presenceof aturevariationshownin Figure2c we find thatthe bestfits
differentheatingmechanisms in the solarcorona.In particu- to thedatayieldTo = 1.216MKandF0= 1.70x 102
lar, we are interestedin the existenceof a maximum temper- W m -2. These values are within 10% of those derived
ature low in the corona and will relate this to a mechanical by Wheatland
et al. [1997],despite
themarkedly
different
energyflux modelfirstproposedby Koppand Orrall [ 1976]. solarconditions.Substituting
thesevaluesinto (2) yields
This is notan unreasonable assumption sincethepresenceof 1
sucha maximumis clearlyrequiredat someheightin thelow no" (5.04-0.7) ?go x 1014m-3 , where
1isthetrue
coronaas evidencedby the observations of M. R. Aellig et line of sightintegrationdepth. This valueis a little larger
al. (preprint1998) and Gibsonet al. [thisissue]. thanno = 3.6x 10TM
m-3 foundbyWheatland
etal. [1997],
To comparethe resultsof this studywith that of Sturrock indicatingthatourassumed
valuefor l0 maybetoosmallby
a factor of 2 or so.
et al. [1996] and Wheatland et al. [1997], we adopt the
assumptions made by theseauthorsregardingthe geometry In applying the inward heat flux model to the coronal
of the field and elementalcompositionof the corona. With region of interest above, we have followed Wheatland et
theseassumptionswe apply the inward heat flux and me- al. [1997] in assumingthat the magneticfield has a sig-
chanicalenergyflux modelsdiscussed by Wheatlandet al. nificantcomponentwhich is both openand radial, allow-
[1997] aspotentialcandidatesfor the heatingof the regions ing for energyto be transportedto the low coronafrom its
summarizedin Figure2. presumeddepositionsomewhereabovethe Yohkoh field of
view. Clearly,this is an oversimplificationof the magnetic
4.1. Inward Heat Flux Model field. However,thethermalresponse of theSXT is strongly
biasedtowardsthehottertemperatures, in therangeof tem-
The strongstreamerregion in the northwestquadrantof
peraturesbeingdiscussed here[Tsunetaet al., 1991], sug-
the SXT observations on August18, 1996, displayedan in-
gestingthattheobserved increasein temperature withheight
creasingtemperaturewith height. This is similar to the be-
is notdueto geometrical effectsalongthelineof sight.Thus
haviorfoundby Sturrocket al. [1996] for a diffusecoronal
the energymusteitherbe preferentiallydepositedhigh in
regionas observedby Yohkohin May 1992. In orderto in-
the coronaor larger(andthereforehigher)loopsmusthave
terpretthis behavior,theseauthorsappliedan inward heat
highermaximumtemperatures at theirapex.
flux model which assumesthat the field lines are radial (at
least within the observedfield of view) and that energyis
depositedhigh in the coronaandconductsdown towardthe 4.2. Mechanical Energy Flux Model
surface,therebyheatingthe plasmaat lower heights. This
modelusestheconservation of flux,F(r) = Fo(r/rs)-2, While theregionsof thecoronafor whichthetemperature
where F0 is the heat flux at the base of the corona, within increases with heightcanbe readilyexplainedby theinward
a sphericallysymmetricatmosphereto yield the functional heat flux model, the otherprofiles,examplesof which are
relationship shownin Figures2a and 2b do not displaythe necessary
monotonicincreaseof temperature with height.The temper-
ature profilesfor angles,0 = 60 and 0 = 90, i.e., off
oo --1+ 2aoT7/2
1--
-0
(1)
the east limb, exhibit a distinctmaximumin the temper-
ature and an essentiallyisothermalbehavior,respectively,
whereTo is the temperatureat the baseof the corona,r = rs yet both maintainan essentiallymonotonically decreasing
andao = 1.8 x 10-6 ergcm-1 s-1 K-7/2 is thecoeffi- density.The differencein the temperatureprofilesmay be
cientof thermalconductivity[Spitzer,1962]. Assumingfur- a resultof the unknowndensitydependence alongthe line
ther that the atmosphereis in hydrostaticequilibriumyields of sight. However, at the temperatures observed,the SXT
an expressionfor the densityvariationwith radial distance, thermalresponse functionis a steeplyincreasingfunctionof
namely, temperaturewhich counteractsto somedegreethe density-
squareddependenceof the emission[cf. Alexanderand Kat-
- - Td sev, 1996]. We assumehere that the maximum in the tem-
where peratureresultsfrom the radial dependence of the coronal
temperatureratherthan a geometriceffect alongthe line of
2pGMmpno sight.With this assumptionwe consideran alternativeheat-
a- 5k%2Fo
m1.3
x10-1F
-1 (3) ing mechanismto that discussedabove.From a Gaussianfit
9706 ALEXANDER: TEMPERATURE STRUCTUREOF QUIET SUN X RAY CORONA

to the temperatureprofile we find that the temperaturepeaks
at a heightof 0.08rs abovethe easternlimb.
Kopp and Orrall [1976] and Withbroe[1988] invokeda
mechanicalenergyflux F, at the coronalbasewhich typ-
ically dissipatesover a characteristicdampinglength lt to
heatingfunctionin sucha quiescentcoronawould be more
or lessthe sameacrossthe solardisk. The resultsreported
in this paper,however,suggestthe possibilitythat different
heatingmechanisms areat work in differentpartsof thequiet
corona.

-accountfor the observedradial variationof coronalplasma Interpretingthetemperature anddensityprofilesdiscussed

parameters. The mechanicalenergyflux is assumedto be in the precedingsectionclearly requiresa detailedknowl-
guided by the magneticfield which controlsthe geometry edgeof the 3-D geometryof the emittingcoronalstructures
and that the mechanicalenergyonly heatsthe plasmawith- which lie alongthe line of sight. Reconstructing the com-
out inducingbulk motions. The exact natureof this me- plete picturefrom the 2-D imagesrequiresa nonnegligible
chanicalflux is unspecifiedby Koppand Orrall [1976] and degreeof modeling[cf. Alexanderand Katsev,1996; Gary,
Withbroe[ 1988] savethat it actsas an energysourcefor the1997] and even then we have no direct knowledgeof the
heatingof the corona. However,this model is interesting distributionof the physicalparameterswithin thesestruc-
to consideras a counterpointto the inwardheatflux model tures. Deriving the three-dimensionaldistributionsis be-
and becausethe assumeddissipationlengthscaleresultsin yond the scopeof the presentwork. However,it shouldbe
a temperature maximumlow in thecorona.The formof this notedthat the informationcollectedduring the Whole Sun
mechanicalflux is suchthat along radial lines the heating Month campaign,much of which is describedin this vol-
law is of the form ume, could potentiallyprovide enoughinformationto ob-
tain a first-orderapproximationto the geometryof the three-
2
(rs)e-(r--rs)/1 a
r2f (r)F,(r) _ rsF, (4) dimensional corona.
The observedvariationin the radial temperatureprofiles
wherer 2f(r) is thecross-sectional areaof thehypotheti- suggestthat the coronamay be heatedin a numberof dis-
cal tubealongwhichthe mechanical heatflux is traveling. tinctlydifferentwayswith theform of theheatingdepending
Ignoringenergylossesto radiationand assuming uniform on the type of the structureinvolved.While it is evidentthat
cross-section tubes(f (r) = 1), (4) impliesthatthetempera- differentheatingmechanismsmay be at work in the corona,
turepeaksat a height[seeWheatlandet al., 1997] the exact nature of the heatingmechanismsresponsibleis
still opento question.
We havefound a set of parameters,within the contextof
hmax-lclln{[1-Fc/Fm(rs)]
-} (5)
the inward heat flux model [Sturrocket al., 1996], which
where Fc is the base thermal conductiveheat flux [see Ros- were similarto that foundby Wheatlandet al. [1997] de-
ner et al., 1978]. A fit to the pointsin Figure 2b yields a spitethe widely differing solarconditionsbetweenthe two
value of hm,x = 0.079rs. Assuminga basalmechanical studies.This suggests that an energydepositionsite high
flux,Fro(rs)= 8.0 x 102W m-2, anda conductive flux, in the coronamay be a commonfeaturein the solaratmo-
Fc = 2.5 x 102W m-2, forthequietSun[Withbroe, 1988], sphere.The observation of a maximumin the temperature
we determinea dissipationlength,la = 0.21 rs, which com- at a givenheightopensthe possibilitythat a differentheat-
paresfavorablyto the valueof 0.25rs obtainedby Withbroe ing mechanismis presentin somecoronalstructures.In the
[1988]. For comparison,usingthe Kopp and Orrall [1976] presentstudy,we applieda mechanical heatfluxmodel[e.g.,
values(F(rs) = 1.15 x 103W m-2, Fc = 8.0 x 102W Withbroe,1988]whichreadilyexplainedtheobserved radial
m-2 yieldsla - 0.07rssome40%higherthanthatfound profilescontaininga peakin thetemperature.
It is notpos-
by Kopp and Orrall [1976]. sibleto determinecategorically the actualheatingmecha-
nismfrom the spatiallyandtemporallyintegratedobserva-
5. Conclusions
tionspresented here. However,the apparentsuccess of the
twodistinctlyseparate modelsappliedto differentregionsof
The quiet coronaobservedduringthe Whole SunMonth thelarge-scale coronadoesindicatethatthesteadystatena-
campaignincludeda periodof minimumsolaractivitydur- tureof coronalstructures duringsolarminimumcanprovide
ing whichthe solardiskwasdevoidof activeregions.Treat- someusefulconstraints on the heatingprocess.The obser-
ing the Sun as a star,Acton [1996] usedsome28,000 filter vationspresented herearebasedontheintegration of a num-
pairsto derivethe variationof the averagesoftX ray temper- ber of images over the period of a wholeday. As a resultany
ature of the Sun over the course of the Yohkoh mission. In time dependence in the heatingof the coronais washedout
determiningthisvariation,the temperature is averagedover andonlyaveraged quantitiescharacterizingtheenergyredis-
the whole visible X ray coronaand furtheraveragedover tributionremain. The large-scale coronalstructures which
eachCarringtonrotation.Not surprisingly, it wasfoundthat make up the diffuse corona are observed to last for several
the temperature,definedin this way, decreased as the cycle days(and evenseveralrotations)suggesting that theseav-
declined.TheActon[ 1996]resultsindicatedthattheaverage eragedquantitiescan provideusefulinformationaboutthe
temperatureof the quiet Sun at X ray wavelengths(as ex- globalpropertiesof the coronalheating.
emplifiedby August18, 1996)was 1.5MK, significantly The resultsof thispaperprovideinformationon onepiece
coolerthanthe (2.8 + 0.3) MK foundduringsolarmaximum of thepuzzlethatis the solarcorona.The WholeSunMonth
periods.From this,it mightbe expectedthatthe form of the campaignprovidesseveralsuchpieces,andit is necessary
 ALEXANDER:
TEMPERATURE
STRUCTURE
OFQUIETSUNX RAYCORONA 9707

When investigating
that we use this extensivedatabaseto its fullest effect. A start the large-scalestructureof the quiet
hasbeenmadeby the collectionof papersin thisvolume corona where the SXT countratestend to be low it may be
andmanymorecoordinated studies areunderway. Only important to correctfor scatteredX rays due to the pres-
byutilizing
thecombined
strengthofthesolarobservatoriesence of bright centersin the image. A correctionfunction
bothin spaceandon thegroundcanwe beginto reacha for this instrumental effect has been derived and is used in
consistent
understanding
of theglobalSun. the presentanalysis[seeHara, 1996].
4. The imagesfor each filter were summedand the un-
Appendix: Data Reduction certaintyarrayscombinedin quadrature to producepairsof
time-integratedimagesand their corresponding uncertainty
Thedetermination of temperatures andemission measures
arrays.
fromSXT datais carriedoutusinga filterratiotechnique de-
5. The singleimage-paircreatedby this summingpro-
scribedbelow.Beforecombiningtheinformationfrom two
cessis then usedto derivetemperatureand emissionmea-
distinctfilter observationsthe data have to be processedto
suremaps.This is doneusinga filter ratio techniquewhich
correct for a number of effects inherent to observations of
assumes thatthe plasmais isothermalalongthe line of sight
thistype. Thisis particularly important whendealingwith
[seeTsunetaet al., 1991].TheintensityratioRij of images
quietSunconditions.
In theinvestigation
beingpresented
in taken with two different SXT filters is written as
thispaperthedatawereanalyzedusingthefollowingproce-
dure:
DNi/dti Fi(T)
1. The selected
background,
imageswereco-aligned
straylight,vignetting,
andcorrected
andcosmicrayhits.
for tiJ---DXj/6tj
= Fj(T) (A1)
Co-alignment: Typically,anSXT full diskimageis taken where DN is SXT signaldata number(a measureof the
every128s whichcreates thepossibility
forsmallerrorsdue numberof photoelectrons detected),5t is theexposuretime,
to spacecraft jitterbetween frames.Thisis correctedby co- andthesubscripts (i, j) indicatethedifferentfiltersused.The
alignment (orregistering)of eachimageusingthespacecraftfunctionsof temperatureF for each filter are determined
attitude information. from the emissivityof the plasma,P(A, T) [seeMewe et
Background subtraction:The background currentof the al., 1985, 1986] andthe effectiveareaof the SXT, r]i(),
CCD createsa spurious signalwhichmustbe subtracted be- namely,
fore any ratiosare taken. This is possiblebecauseof the
regularcollectionof "darkframes"aspartof thenormalop-
eration of the SXT. Fi(t)
- xP(&,
T)rli(&)d& (A2)

Straylightcorrection:Over the lifetime of the Yohkoh

mission,the SXT entrancefilters have sufferedfrom a num- with71i() : ar(X)ti(X)e(X);a is thetelescope
aperture,
ber of punctures throughwhichvisiblelight can enterthe r(A) isthemirrorreflectivity, ti(A) isthefiltertransmission,
telescope importantfor thethin ande(A) is theCCD quantum
optics.This is particularly efficiency. Thefilterratiois
filtersusedin thepresentanalysis.Corrections for thepres- a function of plasma temperature only(assuming isothermal
ence of straylightare appliedusinginformationobtained plasma along theline of sight)
and consequently can beused
fromregularimagestakenasthespacecraft passestheEarth- to derive the temperature. The temperature dependence of
Sun terminator. the the filter ratio for several
filter pairsis shown in Figure
Vignetting:Off limb observations of the quietSunwith 10 of Tsunetaet al. [1991]. Oncethetemperature is known,
we can determine the emission measure EM, defined as
SXT requiresthe analysisof low signal-to-noise datataken
off-axis.In suchcircumstances,vignetting(i.e., the off-axis
variationof the telescopeeffectivearea)may be nonnegli-
gible [seeTsunetaet al., 1991]. Thisis takeninto account
EM - A
f02
ne(1)dl (A3)

by applyinganempirically derivedvignettecorrection to the whereA is theareaontheSuncorresponding to onepixel (or

datausedin this study. macropixel)and1 is thedistancealongtheline of sight.In
Cosmicray hits:Cosmicraysfrequentlyimpactthe SXT theSXT, a photonenergyof 3.65eV is necessary for thecre-
CCD creatinganarrayof"hot"pixelswhichappearasspikes ationof an electron-hole pairin theCCD. Thusthe number
in the unprocessed images.An algorithmhasbeendevel- of electrons (Ni) createdperunittimewitha specificfilteris
oped within the Yohkoh softwareto subtractsuch pixels Ni - Ei/3.65ke,whereEi istheenergyoftheXray photon
from the images. andkeis a conversion
factor(1.6 x 10-2 ergeV-). The
2. Uncertaintyarrayswere calculatedfor eachimagein- data number(DNi) is definedas the unit usedto measure
corporatingphotonstatisticsanddecompression errors. thenumberof electrons'DNi - Ni6ti/100, where6ti is
When transmittingtheinformationfrom the satelliteto the theexposure
duration.Fromthisdefinitionwe determine
groundthe SXT datais compressed usinga squarerootcom-
pressionalgorithm[seeTsunetaet al., 1991]. This process DNi (A4)
introducessomeerrorsin additionto the regularstatistical EMi= fi(T)Sti
errors.

3. The imageswere correctedfor the effectsof scattered where fi(T) - cFi(T)withc- (47rD
2'3.65ke'
100)-x -
light. 6 x 10-x9 cm -2 erg
-x [see
Hara, 1996].
9708 ALEXANDER: TEMPERATURE STRUCTURE OF QUIET SUN X RAY CORONA

Acknowledgments.I wouldliketothankJames
Lemen,Greg Processeson the Sun, edited by E. R. Priest and V. Krishnan,
Slater,andLorenActonfor usefuldiscussions
regardingthenature IAU Symp.,142, 207-212, 1990.
ofthequietcorona
andSamFreeland
formuchhelpwiththeSXT Inverarity,G. W., andE. R. Priest,TurbulentcoronalheatingIII:
calibrationsoftware. We would also like to thank the refereesfor Wave heatingin coronalloops,Astron. Astrophys.,302, 567-
manyusefulcomments
andsuggestions improve 578, 1995.
whichhavehelped
thispaper.
Yohkohisa mission
oftheJapanese forSpace Klimchuk, J.A., and D. E. Gary, A comparisonof activeregion
Institute
andAstronautical
Science.This workis supported
by NASA under temperatures
andemissionmeasuresobservedin softX raysand
contract NAS 8-37334. microwavesandimplicationsfor coronalheating,Astrophys.J.,
JanetG. Luhmann thanksP. Charbonneauand anotherreferee 448, 925-937, 1995.
for their assistance
in evaluatingthis paper. Kopp, R. A., and F. Q. Orrall, Temperatureand densitystructure
of the coronaand inner solarwind, Astron.Astrophys.,53, 363-
375, 1976.
References Mewe, R., E. H. B. M. Gronenschild, and G. H. J. van den Oord,
CalculatedX-radiation from opticallythin plasmas. V, Astron.
Acton,L. W., Comparison of YohkohX rayandOtherSolarActiv-
Astrophys.Suppl.,62, 197, 1985.
ity Parameters
forNovember 1991toNovember 1995,paperpre- Mewe, R., J. R. Lemen, and G. H. J. van den Oord, Calculated
sentedat theVI CanaryIslandsWinterSchoolfor Astrophysics, X-radiation from optically thin plasmas. VI - Improvedcal-
The Structureof the Sun, Tenerife,Dec. 5 to Dec. 16 1994,
1996. culationsfor continuumemissionand approximationformulae
Alexander,D., and S. Katsev,Geometricalconsiderations
in imag- for non-relativisticaverageGauntfactors,Astron. Astrophys.
ing the solarcorona,Sol. Phys.,167, 153-166,1996. Suppl.,65, 511, 1986.
Browning,P.K., Mechanismsof solarcoronalheating,Plasma Morrison,M., Yohkoh AnalysisGuide,Vol. 3., LMSC-P098510,
1994.
Phys.Control.Fusion,33, 539-552, 1991.
Cargill,P. L., andJ. A. Klimchuk,A nanoflareexplanationfor the Parker,E. N., Nanoflaresandthe solarX ray corona,Astrophys.
J.,
330, 474-479, 1988.
heatingof coronalloopsobserved by Yohkoh,Astrophys.
J., 478,
799-806, 1997. Rosner,R., W. H. Tucker,andG. S. Vaiana,Dynamicsof the qui-
Fludra, A., G. del Zanna, and D. Alexander,Electrondensityand escentsolarcorona,Astrophys. J., 220, 643-665,1978.
temperatureof the lower solarcorona,J. Geophys.Res.,thisis- Spitzer,
L., Physics
ofFullyIonizedGases,
Interscience,
NewYork,
sue.
1962.

Foley,C. R., J. L., Culhane,andL. W. Acton,YohkohsoftX ray Sturrock,P. A., M. S. Wheatland,andL. W. Acton,YohkohSoftX
determinationof plasmaparametersin a polarcoronalhole,As- rayTelescope
imagesof thediffusesolarcorona,
Astrophys.
J.
Lett., 461, L 115-L117, 1996.
trophys.J., 491,933-938, 1997.
Galvin, A. B. and J. L. Kohl, Whole Sun Month at Solar Minimum: Tsuneta,S., et al., The SoftX-ray Telescope
for the Solar-Amis-
An Introduction,J. Geophys.Res.,this issue. sion,Sol. Phys.,136, 37-67, 1991.
Gary, G. A., Renderingthree-dimensional solarcoronalstructures, Wheatland, M. S., P. A. Sturrock,and L. W. Acton, Coronal heat-
Sol. Phys., 174, 241-263, 1997. ing and the verticaltemperature structureof the quietcorona,
Gibson,S. E., A. Fludra,F. Bagenal,D. A. Biesecker,G. del Zanna, Astrophys. J., 482, 510-518, 1997.
andB. J. I. Bromage,Solarminimumstreamerdensitiesandtem- Withbroe,G., The temperature structure,mass,andenergyflowin
peraturesusingWhole SunMonth coordinated data-sets,J. Geo- the coronaand inner solarwind, Astrophys.J., 325, 442-467,
1988.
phys.Res.,this issue.
Gomez, D. O., Heatingof the solarcorona,Fund. CosmicPhys., Withbroe,G., and R. Noyes,Mass and energyflow in the solar
14, 131-233, 1990. chromosphere
andcorona,Ann. Rev. Astron.Astrophys.,
15,
Grevesse, N., and E. Anders, Solar element abundances,in Solar 363-387, 1977.
editedby A. Cox, W. Livingston,and Yoshida,T., and S. Tsuneta,Temperaturestructureof solaractive
Interior and Atmosphere,
M. Matthews,pp. 1227-1234, Univ. of Ariz. Press,Tucson, regions,Astrophys. J., 459, 342-346,1996.
1991. Zirker,J. B., CoronalHeating,SolarPhys.,148,43-60, 1993.
Guhathakurta, M., G. J. Rottman, R. R. Fisher, F. Q. Orrall, and
R. C. Altrock, Coronaldensityand temperaturestructurefrom D. Alexander,Org. Hl-12, B252, LockheedMartin Solarand
coordinatedobservationsassociatedwith the total solareclipse Astrophysics
Laboratory,3251 HanoverStreet,Palo Alto, CA
of 1988 March 1, Astrophys.J., 388, 633-643, 1992. 94304. (dalexander@solar.stanford.edu)
Hara, H., Structuresand heatingmechanismsof the solarcorona,
Ph.D. thesis,Univ. of Tokyo,Tokyo,Japan,1996. (ReceivedMarch 12, 1998;revisedAugust18, 1998;
Heyvaerts,J., Coronal heatingby DC currents,in Basic Plasma acceptedAugust 19, 1998.)