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Register a new userMagnetohydrodynamic Non-linearities in Sunspot Atmospheres: Chromospheric Detections of Intermediate Shocks
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The formation of shocks within the solar atmosphere remains one of the few observable signatures of energy dissipation arising from the plethora of magnetohydrodynamic waves generated close to the solar surface. Active region observations offer exceptional views of wave behavior and its impact on the surrounding atmosphere. The stratified plasma gradients present in the lower solar atmosphere allow for the potential formation of many theorized shock phenomena. In this study, using chromospheric Ca II 854.2nm spectropolarimetric data of a large sunspot, we examine fluctuations in the plasma parameters in the aftermath of powerful shock events that demonstrate polarimetric reversals during their evolution. Modern inversion techniques are employed to uncover perturbations in the temperatures, line-of-sight velocities, and vector magnetic fields occurring across a range of optical depths synonymous with the shock formation. Classification of these non-linear signatures is carried out by comparing the observationally-derived slow, fast, and Alfven shock solutions to the theoretical Rankine-Hugoniot relations. Employing over 200,000 independent measurements, we reveal that the Alfven (intermediate) shock solution provides the closest match between theory and observations at optical depths of log(tau) = -4, consistent with a geometric height at the boundary between the upper photosphere and lower chromosphere. This work uncovers first-time evidence of the manifestation of chromospheric intermediate shocks in sunspot umbrae, providing a new method for the potential thermalization of wave energy in a range of magnetic structures, including pores, magnetic flux ropes, and magnetic bright points.
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Recent observations of sunspots umbra suggested that it may be finely structured at a sub-arcsecond scale representing a mix of hot and cool plasma elements. In this study we report the first detailed observations of the umbral spikes, which are cool jet-like structures seen in the chromosphere of an umbra. The spikes are cone-shaped features with a typical height of 0.5-1.0 Mm and a width of about 0.1 Mm. Their life time ranges from 2 to 3 min and they tend to re-appear at the same location. The spikes are not associated with photospheric umbral dots and they rather tend to occur above darkest parts of the umbra, where magnetic fields are strongest. The spikes exhibit up and down oscillatory motions and their spectral evolution suggests that they might be driven by upward propagating shocks generated by photospheric oscillations. It is worth noting that triggering of the running penumbral waves seems to occur during the interval when the spikes reach their maximum height.
High-quality imaging spectroscopy in the H{alpha} line, obtained with the CRisp Imaging SpectroPolarimeter (CRISP) at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) at La Palma and covering a small sunspot and its surroundings, are studied. They exhibit ubiquitous flows both along fibrils making up the chromospheric canopy away from the spot and in the superpenumbra. We term these flows flocculent to describe their intermittent character, that is morphologically reminiscent of coronal rain. The flocculent flows are investigated further in order to determine their dynamic and morphological properties. For the measurement of their characteristic velocities, accelerations and sizes, we employ a new versatile analysis tool, the CRisp SPectral EXplorer (CRISPEX), which we describe in detail. Absolute velocities on the order of 7.2-82.4 km/s are found, with an average value of 36.5pm5.9 km/s and slightly higher typical velocities for features moving towards the sunspot than away. These velocities are much higher than those determined from the shift of the line core, which shows patches around the sunspot with velocity enhancements of up to 10-15 km/s (both red- and blueshifted). Accelerations are determined for a subsample of features, that show clear accelerating or decelerating behavior, yielding an average of 270pm63 m/s^2 and 149pm63 m/s^2 for accelerating and decelerating features, respectively. Typical flocculent features measure 627pm44 km in length and 304pm30 km in width. On average 68 features are detected per minute, with an average lifetime of 67.7pm8.8 s. The dynamics and phenomenology of the flocculent flows suggest they may be driven by a siphon flow, where the flocculence could arise from a density perturbation close to one of the footpoints or along the loop structure.
The origin of the near-ultraviolet and optical continuum radiation in flares is critical for understanding particle acceleration and impulsive heating in stellar atmospheres. Radiative-hydrodynamic simulations in 1D have shown that high energy deposition rates from electron beams produce two flaring layers at T~10^4 K that develop in the chromosphere: a cooling condensation (downflowing compression) and heated non-moving (stationary) flare layers just below the condensation. These atmospheres reproduce several observed phenomena in flare spectra, such as the red wing asymmetry of the emission lines in solar flares and a small Balmer jump ratio in M dwarf flares. The high beam flux simulations are computationally expensive in 1D, and the (human) timescales for completing NLTE models with adaptive grids in 3D will likely be unwieldy for a time to come. We have developed a prescription for predicting the approximate evolved states, continuum optical depth, and the emergent continuum flux spectra of radiative-hydrodynamic model flare atmospheres. These approximate prescriptions are based on an important atmospheric parameter: the column mass (m_ref) at which hydrogen becomes nearly completely ionized at the depths that are approximately in steady state with the electron beam heating. Using this new modeling approach, we find that high energy flux density (>F11) electron beams are needed to reproduce the brightest observed continuum intensity in IRIS data of the 2014-Mar-29 X1 solar flare and that variation in m_ref from 0.001 to 0.02 g/cm2 reproduces most of the observed range of the optical continuum flux ratios at the peaks of M dwarf flares.
The effects of acoustic wave absorption, mode conversion and transmission by a sunspot on the helioseismic inferences are widely discussed, but yet accounting for them has proved difficult for lack of a consistent framework within helioseismic modelling. Here, following a discussion of problems and issues that the near-surface magnetohydrodynamics hosts through a complex interplay of radiative transfer, measurement issues, and MHD wave processes, I present some possibilities entirely from observational analyses based on imaging spectropolarimetry. In particular, I present some results on wave evolution as a function of observation height and inclination of magnetic field to the vertical, derived from a high-cadence imaging spectropolarimetric observation of a sunspot and its surroundings using the instrument IBIS (NSO/Sac Peak, USA). These observations were made in magnetically sensitive (Fe I 6173 A) and insensitive (Fe I 7090 A) upper photospheric absorption lines. Wave travel time contributions from within the photospheric layers of a sunspot estimated here would then need to be removed from the inversion modelling procedure, that does not have the provision to account for them.
The fine-structure of magnetic field of a sunspot penumbra in the upper chromosphere is to be explored and compared to that in the photosphere. High spatial resolution spectropolarimetric observations were recorded with the 1.5-meter GREGOR telescope using the GREGOR Infrared Spectrograph (GRIS). The observed spectral domain includes the upper chromospheric He I triplet at 1083.0 nm and the photospheric Si I 1082.7 nm and Ca I 1083.3 nm spectral lines. The upper chromospheric magnetic field is obtained by inverting the He I triplet assuming a Milne-Eddington type model atmosphere. A height dependent inversion was applied to the Si I 1082.7 nm and Ca I 1083.3 nm lines to obtain the photospheric magnetic field. We find that the inclination of the magnetic field shows variations in the azimuthal direction both in the photosphere, but also in the upper chromosphere. The chromospheric variations remarkably well coincide with the variations in the inclination of the photospheric field and resemble the well-known spine and inter-spine structure in the photospheric layers of penumbrae. The typical peak-to-peak variations in the inclination of the magnetic field in the upper chromosphere is found to be 10-15 degree, i.e., roughly half the variation in the photosphere. In contrast, the magnetic field strength of the observed penumbra does not show variations on small spatial scales in the upper chromosphere. Thanks to the high spatial resolution observations possible with the GREGOR telescope at 1.08 microns, we find that the prominent small-scale fluctuations in the magnetic field inclination, which are a salient part of the property of sunspot penumbral photospheres, also persist in the chromosphere, although at somewhat reduced amplitudes. Such a complex magnetic configuration may facilitate penumbral chromospheric dynamic phenomena, such as penumbral micro-jets or transient bright dots.
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