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Center-to-limb observations of the Sun with ALMA

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 نشر من قبل Costas Alissandrakis
 تاريخ النشر 2017
  مجال البحث فيزياء
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We measured the center-to-limb variation of the brightness temperature, $T_b$, from ALMA full-disk images at two frequencies and inverted the solution of the transfer equation to obtain the electron temperature, $T_e$ as a function of optical depth, $tau$. The ALMA images are very similar to AIA images at 1600AA. The brightness temperature at the center of the disk is 6180 and 7250 K at 239 and 100 GHz respectively, with dispersions of 100 and 170 K. Plage regions stand out clearly in the 239/100 GHz intensity ratio, while faculae and filament lanes do not. The solar disk radius, reduced to 1 AU, is $961.1pm2.5$ arcsec and $964.1pm4.5$ arcsec at 239 and 100 GHz respectively. A slight but statistically significant limb brightening is observed at both frequencies. The inversion of the center-to-limb curves shows that $T_e$ varies linearly with the logarithm of optical depth for $0.34<tau_{100,GHz}<12$, with a slope $dln T_e/dtau=-608$ K. Our results are 5% lower than predicted by the average quiet sun model C of Fontenla et al. (1993), but do not confirm previous reports that the mm-$lambda$ solar spectrum is better fitted with models of the cell interior.



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