High-order Harmonics of a Kink Wave and a Narrow Quasiperiodic Fast-propagating Wave Train Excited Simultaneously in a Plasma Resonator

Abstract

We present the observations of multimode kink waves and a narrow quasiperiodic fast-propagating (QFP) wave train in association with a jet on 2011 December 11. The jet impinged on a loop, which excited a propagating kink mode transitioning into a standing kink mode and also excited a QFP wave train away from the jet. Motion magnification is used to fit the higher harmonic standing wave oscillation profile with three periods at three different spatial locations. The periods have the ratio 6:3:2. The ratio of the fundamental mode to the second harmonic of the standing wave is about 1.95, suggesting that the magnetic field strength variation effect is strong enough to cancel out the density stratification. The differential emission measure is used to estimate the loop’s plasma property at these three points, and it found the density and the temperature are roughly constant. The magnetic field strength, B = 51 ± 16 G, is derived by the coronal seismology using the fundamental kink mode. It is striking to find that the the ratio of the second harmonic to the third harmonic of the kink wave coincides with that of the periods of the QFP wave train, and the ratio of periods is about 1.5 in both cases. We propose that the excitation of the high-order harmonics and the QFP wave train could be the nonlinear response of the steep density-gradient plasma interacting with electromagnetic field in the southwest foot region. This region, like a resonator, might play an important role in energy reservoir capture and act as a frequency filter to generate propagating waves of particular frequencies.

Keywords

• Solar coronal loops
• Solar coronal waves