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Rudenko, G. V. & Grechnev, V. V. 1999, in ASP Conf. Ser., Vol. 172, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems VIII, eds. D. M. Mehringer, R. L. Plante, & D. A. Roberts (San Francisco: ASP), 421
A Program Complex Equipped With a GUI for Investigation of 3D Structure
of Solar Magnetic Fields
G. V. Rudenko, V. V. Grechnev
Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Lermontov St. 126,
Irkutsk, Russia 664033, Email: rud@iszf.irk.ru
Abstract:
A program packet is developed
for the detailed research into the 3D structure of
the magnetic fields of solar active regions as well as the overall solar
magnetic field. The application realized in the IDL program environment
is supplied with the graphical user interface (GUI) which ensures
convenient and efficient manipulation with data.
Solar activity is the result of motion and interaction of the coronal magnetic
fields, so their study is of primary interest of solar physicists. We have
developed a program packet for the detailed research into the 3D structure of
the magnetic fields of solar active regions as well as the overall solar
magnetic field.
The work with data includes two stages. On the first step,
coefficients of decomposition are calculated for a selected
magnetogram and recorded into special ``weight'' files. Then the
viewing and processing of data after those coefficients is made using
an application supplied with graphical user interface (GUI). The
application is developed in the IDL1 program environment.
Initial data are taken from daily magnetograms of arbitrary regions on
the visible side of the solar disk, and synoptic magnetograms. On their basis,
coefficients of decomposition are calculated.
Input data for the GUI-supplied application are the special files containing
weight coefficients:
- of flat harmonic decomposition for the reconstruction of the magnetic
field for selected active regions, and
- of spherical harmonic decomposition for the reconstruction from
synoptic data.
Those ``weight files'' are computed and recorded separately by another FORTRAN
program.
a) for the reconstruction of partial frames: |
|
+ |
boundary conditions of
the magnetic component |
|
|
along the line of sight (Bd) at the
photopsheric level |
|
|
(at each point); |
|
|
|
b) for the reconstruction of the whole surface of the Sun: |
|
+ |
boundary conditions of the
magnetic component along the |
|
|
line of sight (Bl) at the
photopsheric level at the instant |
|
|
of passage of a point across the central meridian. |
In the former case, it is possible to select the constant of the
force-free approximation. In the latter case, only the potential approximation
is used.
The calculations of the coefficients of the plane decomposition are based on
a new method (Rudenko, Altyntsev, & Lubyshev 1997) which allows,
unlike the traditional ones, to reconstruct the
magnetic field above small regions according to photospheric magnetic fields
which are observed in an arbitrary site on the solar disk. In fact, it is
possible to use the magnetographic data on active regions which are located
close to the limb. This latter circumstance extends opportunities to study
magnetic fields of active regions and the evolution while they passing
across the solar disk.
The coefficients of decomposition are calculated from magnetograms.
Magnetograms of separate active regions can also be processed. Precise
scaling and positioning to fit the working coordinate system is accomplished
automatically and can also be made in the interactive mode, as well as
selection of a region of interest. Data of other types can be used.
The program packet was developed in the IDL program environment.
The program has GUI (Fig. 1) and provides the following
facilities:
Figure 1:
A screen dump of the GUI-supplied application.
|
- Loading files containing coefficients of a decomposition of the
magnetic field.
- Computation of all components of the magnetic field at arbitrary
heights and in plane radial sections. Visualization of any (optional)
Cartesian and spherical components of the magnetic field, modulus, Bl, and
Bd. Images are represented either as a picture plane for any specified date
and time, or as a synoptic map.
- Issue of all coordinates and the specified components of the magnetic
field corresponding to the position of the mouse pointer.
- Rotation of images by the specified number of days from the current
date, and setting the image to the current date and time.
- Selection of a region of interest by means of a flat rectangular box
and zooming in to the selected part of the image.
- Computation and visualization of the field lines starting with the
position on the photosphere specified by the mouse pointer.
- Highlighting an arbitrary field line, and issue of all coordinates
and components of the magnetic field for any point along it. The point on
the field line is specified by means of the mouse pointer, and its position
is indicated by the marker.
- Erasing the highlighted field lines, retaining the 3D coordinates of
all current starting points in a file, or loading them from a pre-existing
file.
- Drawing and controlling the position and size of the 3D box for
highlighting the bounded volume of computation and drawing field lines. All
coordinates and magnetic components at the position of the mouse pointer are
displayed which correspond to its either outer (depending on the mode) or
inner surfaces. When computing the field lines, the starting
points are taken from the boundary surfaces of the box.
- Provision is made for a joint processing with images loaded from
standard format (FITS, GIF, BMP) files. For FITS files containing standard
information about the centering of the image and the pixel size (Kitt Peak
magnetograms, Nobeyama and SSRT radio maps, Yohkoh/SXT images), automatic
attachment to the heliographical coordinates and to the current date and time
is accomplished. For arbitrary images, the location of the disk center and the
radius are determined in the interactive mode from three points on the limb.
After that,
rotational manipulations can be performed with this image, and it can be set
to any date and time. It is also possible to overlay field lines computed
from pre-loaded coefficients of harmonic decomposition of the magnetic
field.
- If the
additional image is a magnetogram, it is
possible to highlight (by means of the 3D box) the desired regions of
reconstruction of the magnetic field, and to record boundary conditions
into a file. As the boundary conditions, the Bd component is used.
This file is an input file for a FORTRAN program
computing the harmonic decomposition coefficients of the highlighted area.
When this file is generated, it is possible to specify the value of
in the equation
.
- It is possible to overlay onto the current image any other magnetic
values as well as an image loaded from another file.
- Three-dimensional rotations of contours, all field
lines, and of the 3D box are performed in the course of all transformations.
The program code has been checked under
MS Windows 95 and UNIX with IDL versions since 3.0.1 to 5.1.
We consider a possibility to make calculations of magnetic fields for
particular active regions after requests through Internet. In this case,
files containing coefficients of decomposition would be calculated by our
FORTRAN programs and made available.
We plan to develop a data bank and to supply it with files on the known
active regions in the future.
Acknowledgments
We are indebted to Dr. D. Stern (Research systems, Inc.) for his assistance
in familiarizing IDL 5.0. We are grateful to the ADASS'98 conference for the
financial aid which has made possible the attendance of the authors at the
conference. We are indebted to Mr. V. Mikhalkovsky (ISTP) for his assistance
in preparation of English version of the text. This work was supported by
grant of Russian Foundation RFFI.
Magnetograms which we use are produced by NSO/Kitt Peak in collaboration with
NSF/NOAO, NASA/GSFC and NOAA/SEL.
References
Rudenko, G. V., Altyntsev, A. T., & Lubyshev, B. I. 1997, in Ann. Rep. of Joint
Organization for Solar Observations, ed. A. Antalova & A. Kuera,
94
Footnotes
- ... IDL1
- IDL is the trademark of
Research Systems, Inc.
© Copyright 1999 Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 390 Ashton Avenue, San Francisco, California 94112, USA
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