Momentum Distribution in Solar Flare Processes

Hudson, H. S., L. Fletcher, G. H. Fisher, W. P. Abbett, and A. Russell, Momentum Distribution in Solar Flare Processes, Sol. Phys., 277, 77-88 (2012) (ADS)

The cartoon

(click on the image for a larger version)

A feeble attempt to show the time sequencing of the major events in the development of the vertical component of momentum during a flare/CME. Note that the "arbitrary scale" legend on the X-axis does not emphasize that it is hopelessly nonlinear, but that the "arbitrary" is precisely correct. The height scale should have been labeled the same way. The arrows suggest action/reaction pairs via the lettered phenomena somehow. Few of the other cartoons in the Archive discuss the behavior of this important property (the conservation of momentum) but it is mentioned in the Temmer discussion. The Archivist looks forward to a cartoon treatment of the conservation of the angular momentum as well, a prosaic quantity doubtless related to the more trendy helicity. On the other hand, creating this 1D cartoon was hard enough, and trying to cartoonify a vector properly may be beyond any artist's capability.

Date: 2019 December 27