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Register a new userThe solar chromosphere at millimetre and ultraviolet wavelengths. I. Radiation temperatures and a detailed comparison
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Solar observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) provide us with direct measurements of the brightness temperature in the solar chromosphere. We study the temperature distributions obtained with ALMA Band 6 (in four sub-bands at 1.21, 1.22, 1.29, and 1.3 mm) for various areas at, and in the vicinity of, a sunspot, comprising quasi-quiet and active regions with different amounts of underlying magnetic fields. We compare these temperatures with those obtained at near- and far-ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths (and with the line-core intensities of the optically-thin far-UV spectra), co-observed with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) explorer. These include the emission peaks and cores of the Mg II k 279.6 nm and Mg II h 280.4 nm lines as well as the line cores of C II 133.4 nm, O I 135.6 nm, and Si IV 139.4 nm, sampling the mid-to-high chromosphere and the low transition region. Splitting the ALMA sub-bands resulted in an slight increase of spatial resolution in individual temperature maps, thus, resolving smaller-scale structures compared to those produced with the standard averaging routines. We find that the radiation temperatures have different, though somewhat overlapping, distributions in different wavelengths and in the various magnetic regions. Comparison of the ALMA temperatures with those of the UV diagnostics should, however, be interpreted with great caution, the former is formed under the local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) conditions, the latter under non-LTE. The mean radiation temperature of the ALMA Band 6 is similar to that extracted from the IRIS C II line in all areas with exception of the sunspot and pores where the C II poses higher radiation temperatures. In all magnetic regions, the Mg II lines associate with the lowest mean radiation temperatures in our sample. These will provide constraints for future numerical models.
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We present joint observations of the Sun by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). The observations were made of a solar active region on 2015 December 18 as part of the ALMA science verification effort. A map of the Suns continuum emission of size $2.4 times 2.3$ was obtained by ALMA at a wavelength of 1.25 mm (239 GHz) using mosaicing techniques. A contemporaneous map of size $1.9times 2.9$ was obtained in the Mg II h doublet line at 2803.5AA by IRIS. Both mm/submm$-lambda$ continuum emission and ultraviolet (UV) line emission are believed to originate from the solar chromosphere and both have the potential to serve as powerful and complementary diagnostics of physical conditions in this poorly understood layer of the solar atmosphere. While a clear correlation between mm-$lambda$ brightness temperature $T_B$ and the Mg II h line radiation temperature $T_{rad}$ is observed the slope is $<1$, perhaps as a result of the fact that these diagnostics are sensitive to different parts of the chromosphere and/or the Mg II h line source function includes a scattering component. There is a significant offset between the mean $T_B$(1.25 mm) and mean $T_{rad}$(Mg II), the former being $approx 35%$ greater than the latter. Partitioning the maps into sunspot, quiet regions, and plage regions we find that the slope of the scatter plots between the IRIS Mg II h line $T_{rad}$ and the ALMA brightness temperature $T_B$ is 0.4 (sunspot), 0.56 (quiet regions), and 0.66 (plage regions). We suggest that this change may be caused by the regional dependence of the formation heights of the IRIS and ALMA diagnostics, and/or the increased degree of coupling between the UV source function and the local gas temperature in the hotter, denser gas in plage regions.
Aims: The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that millimeter wave data can be used to distinguish between various atmospheric models of sunspots, whose temperature structure in the upper photosphere and chromosphere has been the source of some controversy. Methods: We use observations of the temperature contrast (relative to the quiet Sun) above a sunspot umbra at 3.5 mm obtained with the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Array (BIMA), complemented by submm observations from Lindsey & Kopp (1995) and 2 cm observations with the Very Large Array. These are compared with the umbral contrast calculated from various atmospheric models of sunspots. Results: Current mm and submm observational data suggest that the brightness observed at these wavelengths is low compared to the most widely used sunspot models. These data impose strong constraints on the temperature and density stratifications of the sunspot umbral atmosphere, in particular on the location and depth of the temperature minimum and the location of the transition region. Conclusions: A successful model that is in agreement with millimeter umbral brightness should have an extended and deep temperature minimum (below 3000 K). Better spatial resolution as well as better wavelength coverage are needed for a more complete determination of the chromospheric temperature stratification above sunspot umbrae.
A white paper prepared for the Space Studies Board, National Academy of Sciences (USA), for its Decadal Survey of Solar and Space Physics (Heliophysics), reviewing and encouraging studies of flare physics in the chromosphere.
In this work we use solar observations with the ALMA radio telescope at the wavelength of 1.21 mm. The aim of the analysis is to improve understanding of the solar chromosphere, a dynamic layer in the solar atmosphere between the photosphere and corona. The study has an observational and a modeling part. In the observational part full-disc solar images are analyzed. Based on a modified FAL atmospheric model, radiation models for various observed solar structures are developed. Finally, the observational and modeling results are compared and discussed.
Detecting and studying pulsars above a few GHz in the radio band is challenging due to the typical faintness of pulsar radio emission, their steep spectra, and the lack of observatories with sufficient sensitivity operating at high frequency ranges. Despite the difficulty, the observations of pulsars at high radio frequencies are valuable because they can help us to understand the radio emission process, complete a census of the Galactic pulsar population, and possibly discover the elusive population in the Galactic Centre, where low-frequency observations have problems due to the strong scattering. During the decades of the 1990s and 2000s, the availability of sensitive instrumentation allowed for the detection of a small sample of pulsars above 10$,$GHz, and for the first time in the millimetre band. Recently, new attempts between 3 and 1$,$mm ($approx$86$-$300$,$GHz) have resulted in the detections of a pulsar and a magnetar up to the highest radio frequencies to date, reaching 291$,$GHz (1.03$,$mm). The efforts continue, and the advent of new or upgraded millimetre facilities like the IRAM 30-m, NOEMA, the LMT, and ALMA, warrants a new era of high-sensitivity millimetre pulsar astronomy in the upcoming years.
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