Valery M Nakariakov

Kink oscillations of solar coronal loops are of intense interest due to their potential for diagnosing plasma parameters in the corona. The accurate measurement of the kink oscillation damping time is crucial for precise seismological diagnostics, such as the transverse density profile, and for the determination of the damping mechanism. Previous studies of large-amplitude rapidly decaying kink oscillations have shown that both an exponential damping model and a generalized model (consisting of Gaussian and exponential damping patterns) fit observed damping profiles sufficiently well. However, it has recently been shown theoretically that the transition from the decaying regime to the decayless regime could be characterized by a superexponential damping model. In this work, we reanalyse a sample of decaying kink oscillation events, and utilize the Markov chain Monte Carlo Bayesian approach to compare the exponential, Gaussian–exponential, and superexponential damping models. It is found that in 7 out of 10 analysed oscillations, the preferential damping model is the superexponential one. In two events, the preferential damping is exponential, and in one it is Gaussian–exponential. This finding indicates the plausibility of the superexponential damping model. The possibility of a non-exponential damping pattern needs to be taken into account in the analysis of a larger number of events, especially in the estimation of the damping time and its associated empirical scalings with the oscillation period and amplitude, and in seismological inversions.

Decayless kink oscillations of solar coronal loops are studied in terms of a low-dimensional model based on a randomly driven Rayleigh oscillator with coefficients experiencing random fluctuations. The model considers kink oscillations as natural modes of coronal loops, decaying by linear resonant absorption. The damping is counteracted by random motions of the loop footpoints and the interaction of the loop with external quasi-steady flows with random fluctuations. In other words, the model combines the self-oscillatory and randomly driven mechanisms for the decayless behaviour. The random signals are taken to be of the stationary red noise nature. In the noiseless case, the model has an asymptotically stationary oscillatory solution, i.e. a kink self-oscillation. It is established that the kink oscillation period is practically independent of noise. This finding justifies the seismological estimations of the kink and Alfvén speeds, and the magnetic field in an oscillating loop by kink oscillations, based on the observed oscillation period. The oscillatory patterns are found to be almost harmonic. Noisy fluctuations of external flows modulate the amplitude of the almost monochromatic oscillatory pattern symmetrically, while random motions of the loop footpoints cause antisymmetric amplitude modulation. Such modulations are also consistent with the observed behaviour.