Abstract

Coronal prominence cavities are fundamental parts of prominences. They hold clues to the magnetic structure of pre-CME equilibria, and better represent the coronal source of the expanding volume in CMEs and magnetic clouds than a prominence does alone. However, prominence cavities have not been n... Show moreCoronal prominence cavities are fundamental parts of prominences. They hold clues to the magnetic structure of pre-CME equilibria, and better represent the coronal source of the expanding volume in CMEs and magnetic clouds than a prominence does alone. However, prominence cavities have not been nearly as comprehensively observed and studied as prominences. This is in part due to projection effects which can complicate interpretation of observations, and in part because spectroscopic diagnostic studies require targeted observations, which have only recently been attempted. I will present recent work using white-light observations of cavities to model the morphological and density properties of polar crown filament cavities, with projection effects taken into account. I will also comment on recent attempts to obtain spectral diagnostics of coronal prominence cavities, and will discuss the implications of all of these observations for cavity stability and thermal and magnetic properties. Show less