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Register a new userDynamics of the solar magnetic bright points derived from their horizontal motions
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Lakshmi Pradeep Chitta
Publication date
2012
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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The sub-arcsec bright points (BP) associated with the small scale magnetic fields in the lower solar atmosphere are advected by the evolution of the photospheric granules. We measure various quantities related to the horizontal motions of the BPs observed in two wavelengths, including the velocity auto-correlation function. A 1 hr time sequence of wideband H$alpha$ observations conducted at the textit{Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope} (textit{SST}), and a 4 hr textit{Hinode} textit{G}-band time sequence observed with the Solar Optical telescope are used in this work. We follow 97 textit{SST} and 212 textit{Hinode} BPs with 3800 and 1950 individual velocity measurements respectively. For its high cadence of 5 s as compared to 30 s for textit{Hinode} data, we emphasize more on the results from textit{SST} data. The BP positional uncertainty achieved by textit{SST} is as low as 3 km. The position errors contribute 0.75 km$^2$ s$^{-2}$ to the variance of the observed velocities. The textit{raw} and textit{corrected} velocity measurements in both directions, i.e., $(v_x,v_y)$, have Gaussian distributions with standard deviations of $(1.32,1.22)$ and $(1.00, 0.86)$ km s$^{-1}$ respectively. The BP motions have correlation times of about $22 - 30$ s. We construct the power spectrum of the horizontal motions as a function of frequency, a quantity that is useful and relevant to the studies of generation of Alfven waves. Photospheric turbulent diffusion at time scales less than 200 s is found to satisfy a power law with an index of 1.59.
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Context. Small-scale bright features in the photosphere of the Sun, such as faculae or G-band bright points, appear in connection with small-scale magnetic flux concentrations. Aims. Here we report on a new class of photospheric bright points that are free of magnetic fields. So far, these are visible in numerical simulations only. We explore conditions required for their observational detection. Methods. Numerical radiation (magneto-)hydrodynamic simulations of the near-surface layers of the Sun were carried out. The magnetic field-free simulations show tiny bright points, reminiscent of magnetic bright points, only smaller. A simple toy model for these non-magnetic bright points (nMBPs) was established that serves as a base for the development of an algorithm for their automatic detection. Basic physical properties of 357 detected nMBPs were extracted and statistically evaluated. We produced synthetic intensity maps that mimic observations with various solar telescopes to obtain hints on their detectability. Results. The nMBPs of the simulations show a mean bolometric intensity contrast with respect to their intergranular surroundings of approximately 20%, a size of 60-80 km, and the isosurface of optical depth unity is at their location depressed by 80-100 km. They are caused by swirling downdrafts that provide, by means of the centripetal force, the necessary pressure gradient for the formation of a funnel of reduced mass density that reaches from the subsurface layers into the photosphere. Similar, frequently occurring funnels that do not reach into the photosphere, do not produce bright points. Conclusions. Non-magnetic bright points are the observable manifestation of vertically extending vortices (vortex tubes) in the photosphere. The resolving power of 4-m-class telescopes, such as the DKIST, is needed for an unambiguous detection of them.
Six high-resolution TiO-band image sequences from the New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST) are used to investigate the properties of intergranular bright points (igBPs). We detect the igBPs using a Laplacian and morphological dilation algorithm (LMD) and track them using a three-dimensional segmentation algorithm automatically, and then investigate the morphologic, photometric and dynamic properties of igBPs, in terms of equivalent diameter, the intensity contrast, lifetime, horizontal velocity, diffusion index, motion range and motion type. The statistical results confirm the previous studies based on G-band or TiO-band igBPs from the other telescopes. It illustrates that the TiO data from the NVST have a stable and reliable quality, which are suitable for studying the igBPs. In addition, our method is feasible to detect and track the igBPs in the TiO data from the NVST. With the aid of the vector magnetograms obtained from the Solar Dynamics Observatory /Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager, the properties of igBPs are found to be influenced by their embedded magnetic environments strongly. The area coverage, the size and the intensity contrast values of igBPs are generally larger in the regions with higher magnetic flux. However, the dynamics of igBPs, including the horizontal velocity, the diffusion index, the ratio of motion range and the index of motion type are generally larger in the regions with lower magnetic flux. It suggests that the absence of strong magnetic fields in the medium makes it possible for the igBPs to look smaller and weaker, diffuse faster, move faster and further in a straighter path.
One of the most important features in the solar atmosphere is magnetic network and its rela- tionship with the transition region (TR), and coronal brightness. It is important to understand how energy is transported into the corona and how it travels along the magnetic-field lines be- tween deep photosphere and chromosphere through the TR and corona. An excellent proxy for transportation is the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) raster scans and imaging observations in near-ultraviolet (NUV) and far-ultraviolet (FUV) emission channels with high time-spatial resolutions. In this study, we focus on the quiet Sun as observed with IRIS. The data with high signal to noise ratio in Si IV, C II and Mg II k lines and with strong emission intensities show a high correlation in TR bright network points. The results of the IRIS intensity maps and dopplergrams are compared with those of Atmo- spheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) instruments onboard the Solar Dynamical Observatory (SDO). The average network intensity profiles show a strong correlation with AIA coronal channels. Furthermore, we applied simultaneous observations of magnetic network from HMI and found a strong relationship between the network bright points in all levels of the solar atmosphere. These features in network elements exhibited high doppler velocity regions and large mag- netic signatures. A dominative fraction of corona bright points emission, accompanied by the magnetic origins in photosphere, suggest that magnetic-field concentrations in the network rosettes could help couple between inner and outer solar atmosphere.
Magnetic elements on the quiet sun are buffeted by convective flows that cause lateral motions on timescales of minutes. The magnetic elements can be observed as bright points (BPs) in the G band at 4305 {AA}. We present observations of BPs based on a long sequence of G-band images recorded with the Dutch Open Telescope (DOT) and post-processed using speckle masking techniques. From these images we measured the proper motions of isolated BPs and derived the auto-correlation function of their velocity relative to the solar granulation pattern. The accuracy of BP position measurements is estimated to be less than 23 km on the Sun. The rms velocity of BPs (corrected for measurement errors) is about 0.89 km s$^{-1}$, and the correlation time of BP motions is about 60 s. This rms velocity is about 3 times the velocity measured using cork tracking, almost certainly due to the fact that isolated BPs move more rapidly than clusters of BPs. We also searched for evidence of vorticity in the motions of G band BPs.
By use of the high-resolution spectral data and the broadband imaging obtained with the Goode Solar Telescope at the Big Bear Solar Observatory on 2013 June 6, the spectra of three typical photospheric bright points (PBPs) have been analyzed. Based on the H$alpha$ and Ca II 8542 AA line profiles, as well as the TiO continuum emission, for the first time, the non-LTE semi-empirical atmospheric models for the PBPs are computed. The attractive characteristic is the temperature enhancement in the lower photosphere. The temperature enhancement is about 200 -- 500 K at the same column mass density as in the atmospheric model of the quiet-Sun. The total excess radiative energy of a typical PBP is estimated to be 1$times$10$^{27}$ - 2$times$10$^{27}$ ergs, which can be regarded as the lower limit energy of the PBPs. The radiation flux in the visible continuum for the PBPs is about 5.5$times$10$^{10}$ ergs cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$. Our result also indicates that the temperature in the atmosphere above PBPs is close to that of a plage. It gives a clear evidence that PBPs may contribute significantly to the heating of the plage atmosphere. Using our semi-empirical atmospheric models, we estimate self-consistently the average magnetic flux density $B$ in the PBPs. It is shown that the maximum value is about one kilo-Gauss, and it decreases towards both higher and lower layers, reminding us of the structure of a flux tube between photospheric granules.
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