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Register a new userDensity diagnostics derived from the OIV and SIV intercombination lines observed by IRIS
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The intensity of the oiv~2s$^{2}$ 2p $^{2}$P-2s2p$^{2}$ $^{4}$P and siv~3 s$^{2}$ 3p $^{2}$P- 3s 3p$^{2}$ $^{4}$ P intercombination lines around 1400~AA~observed with the textit{Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph} (IRIS) provide a useful tool to diagnose the electron number density ($N_textrm{e}$) in the solar transition region plasma. We measure the electron number density in a variety of solar features observed by IRIS, including an active region (AR) loop, plage and brightening, and the ribbon of the 22-June-2015 M 6.5 class flare. By using the emissivity ratios of oiv and siv lines, we find that our observations are consistent with the emitting plasma being near isothermal (log$T$[K] $approx$ 5) and iso-density ($N_textrm{e}$ $approx$~10$^{10.6}$ cm$^{-3}$) in the AR loop. Moreover, high electron number densities ($N_textrm{e}$ $approx$~10$^{13}$ cm$^{-3}$) are obtained during the impulsive phase of the flare by using the siv line ratio. We note that the siv lines provide a higher range of density sensitivity than the oiv lines. Finally, we investigate the effects of high densities ($N_textrm{e}$ $gtrsim$ 10$^{11}$ cm$^{-3}$) on the ionization balance. In particular, the fractional ion abundances are found to be shifted towards lower temperatures for high densities compared to the low density case. We also explored the effects of a non-Maxwellian electron distribution on our diagnostic method.
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A comprehensive study of the physical parameters of active region fan loops is presented using the observations recorded with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrometer (IRIS), the EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on-board Hinode and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on-board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The fan loops emerging from non-flaring AR~11899 (near the disk-center) on 19th November, 2013 are clearly discernible in AIA 171~{AA} images and those obtained in ion{Fe}{8} and ion{Si}{7} images using EIS. Our measurements of electron densities reveal that the footpoints of these loops are approximately at constant pressure with electron densities of $log,N_{e}=$ 10.1 cm$^{-3}$ at $log,[T/K]=5.15$ (ion{O}{4}), and $log,N_{e}=$ 8.9 cm$^{-3}$ at $log,[T/K]=6.15$ (ion{Si}{10}). The electron temperature diagnosed across the fan loops by means of EM-Loci suggest that at the footpoints, there are two temperature components at $log,[T/K]=4.95$ and 5.95, which are picked-up by IRIS lines and EIS lines respectively. At higher heights, the loops are nearly isothermal at $log,[T/K]=5.95$, that remained constant along the loop. The measurement of Doppler shift using IRIS lines suggests that the plasma at the footpoints of these loops is predominantly redshifted by 2-3~km~s$^{-1}$ in ion{C}{2}, 10-15~km~s$^{-1}$ in ion{Si}{4} and $~$15{--}20~km~s$^{-1}$ in ion{O}{4}, reflecting the increase in the speed of downflows with increasing temperature from $log,[T/K]=4.40$ to 5.15. These observations can be explained by low frequency nanoflares or impulsive heating, and provide further important constraints on the modeling of the dynamics of fan loops.
In the work described here we investigate atomic processes leading to the formation of emission lines within the IRIS wavelength range at temperatures near $10^5$~K. We focus on (1) non-equilibrium and (2) density-dependent effects influencing the formation and radiative properties of S IV and O IV. These two effects have significant impacts on spectroscopic diagnostic measurements of quantities associated with the plasma that emission lines from S IV and O IV provide. We demonstrate this by examining nanoflare-based coronal heating to determine what the detectable signatures are in transition region emission. A detailed comparison between predictions from numerical experiments and several sets of observational data is presented to show how one can ascertain when non-equilibrium ionization and/or density-dependent atomic processes are important for diagnosing nanoflare properties, the magnitude of their contribution, and what information can be reliably extracted from the spectral data. Our key findings are the following. (1) The S/O intensity ratio is a powerful diagnostic of non-equilibrium ionization. (2) Non-equilibrium ionization has a strong effect on the observed line intensities even in the case of relatively weak nanoflare heating. (3) The density-dependence of atomic rate coefficients is only important when the ion population is out of equilibrium. (4) In the sample of active regions we examined, weak nanoflares coupled with non-equilibrium ionization and density-dependent atomic rates were required to explain the observed properties (e.g. the S/O intensity ratios). (5) Enhanced S/O intensity ratios cannot be due solely to the heating strength and must depend on other processes (e.g. heating frequency, non-Maxwellian distributions).
NASAs Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) small explorer mission will study how the solar atmosphere is energized. IRIS contains an imaging spectrograph that covers the Mg II h&k lines as well as a slit-jaw imager centered at Mg II k. Understanding the observations requires forward modeling of Mg II h&k line formation from 3D radiation-MHD models. We compute the vertically emergent h&k intensity from a snapshot of a dynamic 3D radiation-MHD model of the solar atmosphere, and investigate which diagnostic information about the atmosphere is contained in the synthetic line profiles. We find that the Doppler shift of the central line depression correlates strongly with the vertical velocity at optical depth unity, which is typically located less than 200 km below the transition region (TR). By combining the Doppler shifts of the h and the k line we can retrieve the sign of the velocity gradient just below the TR. The intensity in the central line depression is anticorrelated with the formation height, especially in subfields of a few square Mm. This intensity could thus be used to measure the spatial variation of the height of the transition region. The intensity in the line-core emission peaks correlates with the temperature at its formation height, especially for strong emission peaks. The peaks can thus be exploited as a temperature diagnostic. The wavelength difference between the blue and red peaks provides a diagnostic of the velocity gradients in the upper chromosphere. The intensity ratio of the blue and red peaks correlates strongly with the average velocity in the upper chromosphere. We conclude that the Mg II h&k lines are excellent probes of the very upper chromosphere just below the transition region, a height regime that is impossible to probe with other spectral lines.
Fine-structure dynamics in solar prominences holds critical clues to understanding their physical nature of significant space-weather implications. We report evidence of rotational motions of horizontal helical threads in two active-region prominences observed by the emph{Hinode} and/or emph{IRIS} satellites at high resolution. In the first event, we found transverse motions of brightening threads at speeds up to 55~km~s$^{-1}$ seen in the plane of the sky. Such motions appeared as sinusoidal space--time trajectories with a typical period of $sim$390~s, which is consistent with plane-of-sky projections of rotational motions. Phase delays at different locations suggest propagation of twists along the threads at phase speeds of 90--270~km~s$^{-1}$. At least 15 episodes of such motions occurred in two days, none associated with any eruption. For these episodes, the plane-of-sky speed is linearly correlated with the vertical travel distance, suggestive of a constant angular speed. In the second event, we found Doppler velocities of 30--40~km~s$^{-1}$ in opposite directions in the top and bottom portions of the prominence, comparable to the plane-of-sky speed. The moving threads have about twice broader line widths than stationary threads. These observations, when taken together, provide strong evidence for rotations of helical prominence threads, which were likely driven by unwinding twists triggered by magnetic reconnection between twisted prominence magnetic fields and ambient coronal fields.
We have used an electron beam ion trap to measure electron-density-diagnostic line-intensity ratios for extreme ultraviolet lines from F XII, XIII, and XIV at wavelengths of 185-205 255-276 Angstroms. These ratios can be used as density diagnostics for astrophysical spectra and are especially relevant to solar physics. We found that density diagnostics using the Fe XIII 196.53/202.04 and the Fe XIV 264.79/274.21 and 270.52A/274.21 line ratios are reliable using the atomic data calculated with the Flexible Atomic Code. On the other hand, we found a large discrepancy between the FAC theory and experiment for the commonly used Fe XII (186.85 + 186.88)/195.12 line ratio. These FAC theory calculations give similar results to the data tabulated in CHIANTI, which are commonly used to analyze solar observations. Our results suggest that the discrepancies seen between solar coronal density measurements using the Fe XII (186.85 + 186.88)/195.12 and Fe XIII 196.54/202.04 line ratios are likely due to issues with the atomic calculations for Fe XII.
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