Hinode, SDO AIA, and CoMP Observations of a Coronal Cavity with a Hot Core

Abstract:

Coronal cavities are low emission regions often situated around quiescent prominences. Prominences may exist for days or months prior to eruption and the magnetic structure of the cavity during the quiescent period is important to understanding the pre-eruption phase. We describe observations of a coronal cavity with a hot core situated above a polar crown prominence. The cavity, visible on the southwest limb, was observed for a period of three hours as a Hinode Coordinated Observation (HOP 114). Using Hinode’s X-ray Telescope (XRT) and EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) we present the thermal emission properties and coronal velocity structures of the cavity. We find the core has hotter temperatures than the surrounding plasma and there is evidence of turbulent velocities within the cavity. We also investigate the interaction of the cavity with the prominence material using Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO) Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) data and H-alpha data from Hinode’s Solar Optical Telescope (SOT). We find evidence of hot plasma at the spine of the prominence reaching into the cavity. These observations suggest a cylindrical flux tube best represents the cavity structure. The magnetic structure of the cavity is further discussed using data from the Coronal Multichannel Polarimeter (CoMP).

This work is supported by under contract SP02H1701R from Lockheed-Martin to SAO, contract NNM07AB07C from NASA to SAO and grant number NNX12AI30G from NASA to SAO.