| Title: |
Estimating Electron Densities in the Middle Solar Corona Using White-light and Radio Observations |
| Authors: |
Mondal, Surajit; Shaik, Shaheda Begum; Howard, Russell A.; Zhang 张, Peijin 沛锦; Chen, Bin; Chen, Xingyao; Yu, Sijie; Gary, Dale; Anderson, Marin M.; Bowman, Judd D.; Byrne, Ruby; Catha, Morgan; Chhabra, Sherry; D'Addario, Larry; Davis, Ivey; Dowell, Jayce; Hallinan, Gregg; Harnach, Charlie; Hellbourg, Greg; Hickish, Jack; Hobbs, Rick; Hodge, David; Hodges, Mark; Huang, Yuping; Isella, Andrea; Jacobs, Daniel C.; Kemby, Ghislain; Klinefelter, John T.; Kolopanis, Matthew; Kosogorov, Nikita; Lamb, James; Law, Casey; Mahesh, Nivedita; O'Donnell, Brian; Plant, Kathryn; Posner, Corey; Powell, Travis; Prayag, Vinand; Rizo, Andres; Romero-Wolf, Andrew; Shi, Jun; Taylor, Greg; Trim, Jordan; Virgin, Mike; Vydula, Akshatha; Weinreb, Sandy; White, Scott; Woody, David; Zentmeyer, Thomas |
| Source: |
Astrophysical Journal, 999(2), 237, (2026-03-10) |
| Publisher Information: |
American Astronomical Society |
| Publication Year: |
2026 |
| Collection: |
Caltech Authors (California Institute of Technology) |
| Subject Terms: |
Quiet solar corona; Solar radio emission |
| Description: |
The electron density of the solar corona is a fundamental parameter in many areas of solar physics. Traditionally, routine estimates of coronal density have relied exclusively on white-light observations. However, these density estimates, obtained by inverting the white-light data, require simplifying assumptions, which may affect the robustness of the measurements. Hence, to improve the reliability of coronal density measurements, it is highly desirable to explore other complementary methods. In this study, we estimate the coronal electron densities in the middle corona, between approximately 1.7 and 3.5 R ⊙ , using low-frequency radio observations from the recently commissioned Long Wavelength Array at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO-LWA). The results demonstrate consistency with those derived from white-light coronagraph data and predictions from theoretical models. We also derive a density model valid between 1.7 and 3.5 r ⊙ , given by ρ(r′) = 1.27 r′ ⁻ ² + 29.02 r′ ⁻ ⁴ + 71.18 r′ ⁻ ⁶ , where r′ = r/R⊙, with r the heliocentric distance. OVRO-LWA is a solar-dedicated radio interferometer that provides science-ready images with low latency, making it well suited for generating regular and independent estimates of coronal densities to complement existing white-light techniques. ; © 2026. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence . Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. ; The OVRO-LWA expansion project was supported by NSF under grant AST-1828784. OVRO-LWA operations for solar and space weather sciences are supported by NSF under grant AGS-2436999. SOHO is a joint mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). LASCO was built by a consortium of the Naval Research Laboratory, USA; the Laboratoire d’Astronomie ... |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
https://arxiv.org/abs/arXiv:2602.09819; https://authors.library.caltech.edu/communities/caltechauthors/ |
| DOI: |
10.3847/1538-4357/ae4353 |
| Availability: |
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae4353 |
| Rights: |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess ; Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International ; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.9637D72C |
| Database: |
BASE |