Preprocessing of vector magnetograph data for a non-linear force-free magnetic field reconstruction

Abstract

Knowledge regarding the coronal magnetic field is important for the understanding of many phenomena, like flares and coronal mass ejections. Because of the low plasma beta in the solar corona the coronal magnetic field is often assumed to be force-free and we use photospheric vector magnetograph data to extrapolate the magnetic field into the corona with the help of a non-linear force-free optimization code. Unfortunately the measurements of the photospheric magnetic field contain inconsistencies and noise. In particular the transversal components (say Bx and By) of current vector magnetographs have their uncertainties. Furthermore the magnetic field in the photosphere is not necessary force-free and often not consistent with the assumption of a force-free field above. We develop a preprocessing procedure to drive the observed non force-free data towards suitable boundary conditions for a force-free extrapolation. As a result we get a data set which is as close as possible to the measured data and consistent with the force-free assumption.