Comparison of force-free coronal magnetic field modeling using vector fields from Hinode and Solar Dynamics Observatory

Photospheric magnetic vector maps from two different instruments are used to model the nonlinear force-free coronal magnetic field above an active region. We use vector maps inferred from polarization measurements of the Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) and the Solar Optical Telescope Spectropolarimeter (SP) aboard Hinode. Besides basing our model calculations on HMI data, we use both, SP data of original resolution and scaled down to the resolution of HMI. This allows us to compare the model results based on data from different instruments and to investigate how a binning of high-resolution data effects the model outcome. The resulting 3D magnetic fields are compared in terms of magnetic energy content and magnetic topology. We find stronger magnetic fields in the SP data, translating into a higher total magnetic energy of the SP models. The net Lorentz forces of the HMI and SP lower boundaries verify their force-free compatibility. We find substantial differences in the absolute estimates of the magnetic field energy but similar relative estimates, e.g., the fraction of excess energy and of the flux shared by distinct areas. The location and extension of neighboring connectivity domains differs and the SP model fields tend to be higher and more vertical. Hence, conclusions about the magnetic connectivity based on force-free field models are to be drawn with caution. We find that the deviations of the model solution when based on the lower-resolution SP data are small compared to the differences of the solutions based on data from different instruments.

J. K. Thalmann, S. K. Tiwari, T. Wiegelmann · 2013