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Register a new userObservations of solar chromospheric heating at sub-arcsec spatial resolution
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Added by
H. Narayanamurthy Smitha
Publication date
2018
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
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A wide variety of phenomena such as gentle but persistent brightening, dynamic slender features (~100 km), and compact (~1) ultraviolet (UV) bursts are associated with the heating of the solar chromosphere. High spatio-temporal resolution is required to capture the finer details of the likely magnetic reconnection-driven, rapidly evolving bursts. Such observations are also needed to reveal their similarities to large-scale flares, which are also thought to be reconnection driven, and more generally their role in chromospheric heating. Here we report observations of chromospheric heating in the form of a UV burst obtained with the balloon-borne observatory, SUNRISE. The observed burst displayed a spatial morphology similar to that of a large-scale solar flare with circular ribbon. While the co-temporal UV observations at 1.5 spatial resolution and 24s cadence from the Solar Dynamics Observatory showed a compact brightening, the SUNRISE observations at diffraction-limited spatial resolution of 0.1 at 7s cadence revealed a dynamic sub-structure of the burst that it is composed of extended ribbon-like features and a rapidly evolving arcade of thin (~0.1 wide) magnetic loop-like features, similar to post-flare loops. Such a dynamic sub-structure reveals the small-scale nature of chromospheric heating in these bursts. Furthermore, based on magnetic field extrapolations, this heating event is associated with a complex fan-spine magnetic topology. Our observations strongly hint at a unified picture of magnetic heating in the solar atmosphere from some large-scale flares to small-scale bursts, all being associated with such a magnetic topology.
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The weak, turbulent magnetic fields that supposedly permeate most of the solar photosphere are difficult to observe, because the Zeeman effect is virtually blind to them. The Hanle effect, acting on the scattering polarization in suitable lines, can in principle be used as a diagnostic for these fields. However, the prediction that the majority of the weak, turbulent field resides in intergranular lanes also poses significant challenges to scattering polarization observations because high spatial resolution is usually difficult to attain. We aim to measure the difference in scattering polarization between granules and intergranules. We present the respective center-to-limb variations, which may serve as input for future models. We perform full Stokes filter polarimetry at different solar limb positions with the CN band filter of the Hinode-SOT Broadband Filter Imager, which represents the first scattering polarization observations with sufficient spatial resolution to discern the granulation. Hinode-SOT offers unprecedented spatial resolution in combination with high polarimetric sensitivity. The CN band is known to have a significant scattering polarization signal, and is sensitive to the Hanle effect. We extend the instrumental polarization calibration routine to the observing wavelength, and correct for various systematic effects. The scattering polarization for granules (i.e., regions brighter than the median intensity of non-magnetic pixels) is significantly larger than for intergranules. We derive that the intergranules (i.e., the remaining non-magnetic pixels) exhibit (9.8 pm 3.0)% less scattering polarization for 0.2<u<0.3, although systematic effects cannot be completely excluded. These observations constrain MHD models in combination with (polarized) radiative transfer in terms of CN band line formation, radiation anisotropy, and magnetic fields.
The structure and energy balance of the solar chromosphere remain poorly known. We have used the imaging spectrometer IBIS at the Dunn Solar Telescope to obtain fast-cadence, multi-wavelength profile sampling of Halpha and Ca II 854.2 nm over a sizable two-dimensional field of view encompassing quiet-Sun network. We provide a first inventory of how the quiet chromosphere appears in these two lines by comparing basic profile measurements in the form of image displays, temporal-average displays, time slices, and pixel-by-pixel correlations. We find that the two lines can be markedly dissimilar in their rendering of the chromosphere, but that, nevertheless, both show evidence of chromospheric heating, particularly in and around network: Halpha in its core width, Ca II 854.2 in its brightness. We discuss venues for improved modeling.
Aims: To study the heating of solar chromospheric magnetic and nonmagnetic regions by acoustic and magnetoacoustic waves, the deposited acoustic-energy flux derived from observations of strong chromospheric lines is compared with the total integrated radiative losses. Methods: A set of 23 quiet-Sun and weak-plage regions were observed in the Mg II k and h lines with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). The deposited acoustic-energy flux was derived from Doppler velocities observed at two different geometrical heights corresponding to the middle and upper chromosphere. A set of scaled nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium 1D hydrostatic semi-empirical models (obtained by fitting synthetic to observed line profiles) was applied to compute the radiative losses. The characteristics of observed waves were studied by means of a wavelet analysis. Results: Observed waves propagate upward at supersonic speed. In the quiet chromosphere, the deposited acoustic flux is sufficient to balance the radiative losses and maintain the semi-empirical temperatures in the layers under study. In the active-region chromosphere, the comparison shows that the contribution of acoustic-energy flux to the radiative losses is only 10 - 30 %. Conclusions: Acoustic and magnetoacoustic waves play an important role in the chromospheric heating, depositing a main part of their energy in the chromosphere. Acoustic waves compensate for a substantial fraction of the chromospheric radiative losses in quiet regions. In active regions, their contribution is too small to balance the radiative losses and the chromosphere has to be heated by other mechanisms.
We use UV spectral observations of active regions with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) to investigate the properties of the coronal FeXII 1349.4A emission at unprecedented high spatial resolution (~0.33). We find that by using appropriate observational strategies (i.e., long exposures, lossless compression), FeXII emission can be studied with IRIS at high spatial and spectral resolution, at least for high density plasma (e.g., post-flare loops, and active region moss). We find that upper transition region (moss) FeXII emission shows very small average Doppler redshifts (v_Dop ~3 km/s), as well as modest non-thermal velocities (with an average ~24 km/s, and the peak of the distribution at ~15 km/s). The observed distribution of Doppler shifts appears to be compatible with advanced 3D radiative MHD simulations in which impulsive heating is concentrated at the transition region footpoints of a hot corona. While the non-thermal broadening of FeXII 1349.4A peaks at similar values as lower resolution simultaneous Hinode/EIS measurements of FeXII 195A, IRIS observations show a previously undetected tail of increased non-thermal broadening that might be suggestive of the presence of subarcsecond heating events. We find that IRIS and EIS non-thermal line broadening measurements are affected by instrumental effects that can only be removed through careful analysis. Our results also reveal an unexplained discrepancy between observed 195.1/1349.4A FeXII intensity ratios and those predicted by the CHIANTI atomic database.
We studied chromospheric oscillations using Atacama Large millimeter and sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) time-series of interferometric observations of the quiet Sun obtained at 3 mm with a 2-s cadence and a spatial resolution of a few arcsec. The same analysis, over the same fields of view and for the same intervals, was performed for simultaneous Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) image sequences in 1600 A. Spatially-resolved chromospheric oscillations at 3 mm, with frequencies of $ 4.2 +- 1.7$ mHz are observed in the quiet Sun, in both cell and network. The coherence length-scale of the oscillations is commensurate with the spatial resolution of our ALMA observations. Brightness-temperature fluctuations in individual pixels could reach up to a few hundred K, while the spatially averaged power spectral densities yield rms in the range ~ 55-75 K, i.e., up to ~ 1 % of the averaged brightness temperatures and exhibit a moderate increase towards the limb. For AIA 1600 A, the oscillation frequency is 3.7 +- 1.7 mHz. The relative rms is up to 6 % of the background intensity, with a weak increase towards disk center (cell, average). ALMA 3 mm time-series lag AIA 1600 A by ~ 100 s, which corresponds to a formation-height difference of ~ 1200 km. The ALMA oscillations that we detected exhibit higher amplitudes than those derived from the lower (~ 10 arcsec) resolution observations at 3.5 mm by White et al. (2006). Chromospheric oscillations are, therefore, not fully resolved at the length-scale of the chromospheric network, and possibly not even at the spatial resolution of our ALMA observations. Any study of transient brightenings in the mm-domain should take into account the oscillations.
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