| 1. |
- Joshi, Jayant, et al.
(författare)
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Three-dimensional magnetic structure of a sunspot : Comparison of the photosphere and upper chromosphere
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 604
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims. We investigate the magnetic field of a sunspot in the upper chromosphere and compare it to the photospheric properties of the field. Methods. We observed the main leading sunspot of the active region NOAA 11124 during two days with the Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter-2 (TIP-2) mounted at the German Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT). Through inversion of Stokes spectra of the He i triplet at 10 830 angstrom, we obtained the magnetic field vector of the upper chromosphere. For comparison with the photosphere, we applied height-dependent inversions of the Si i 10 827.1 angstrom and Ca i 10 833.4 angstrom lines. Results. We found that the umbral magnetic field strength in the upper chromosphere is lower by a factor of 1.30-1.65 compared to the photosphere. The magnetic field strength of the umbra decreases from the photosphere toward the upper chromosphere by an average rate of 0.5-0.9Gkm 1. The difference in the magnetic field strength between both atmospheric layers steadily decreases from the sunspot center to the outer boundary of the sunspot; the field, in particular its horizontal component, is stronger in the chromopshere outside the spot and this is suggestive of a magnetic canopy. The sunspot displays a twist that on average is similar in the two layers. However, the differential twist between the photosphere and chromosphere increases rapidly toward the outer penumbral boundary. The magnetic field vector is more horizontal with respect to the solar surface by roughly 5-20 degrees in the photosphere compared to the upper chromosphere. Above a lightbridge, the chromospheric magnetic field is equally strong as that in the umbra, whereas the field of the lightbridge is weaker than its surroundings in the photosphere by roughly 1 kG. This suggests a cusp-like magnetic field structure above the lightbridge.
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| 2. |
- Joshi, Jayant, et al.
(författare)
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Vertical magnetic field gradient in the photospheric layers of sunspots
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 599
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims. We investigate the vertical gradient of the magnetic field of sunspots in the photospheric layer. Methods. Independent observations were obtained with the Solar Optical Telescope/Spectropolarimeter (SOT/SP) on board the Hinode spacecraft and with the Tenrife Infrared Polarimeter-2 (TIP-2) mounted at the German Vacuum Tower Telescope (VTT). We apply state-of-the-art inversion techniques to both data sets to retrieve the magnetic field and the corresponding vertical gradient along with other atmospheric parameters in the solar photosphere. Results. In the sunspot penumbrae we detected patches of negative vertical gradients of the magnetic field strength, i.e., the magnetic field strength decreases with optical depth in the photosphere. The negative gradient patches are located in the inner and partly in the middle penumbrae in both data sets. From the SOT/SP observations we found that the negative gradient patches are restricted mainly to the deep photospheric layers and are concentrated near the edges of the penumbral filaments. Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations also show negative gradients in the inner penumbrae, also at the locations of filaments. In the observations and the simulation negative gradients of the magnetic field vs. optical depth dominate at some radial distances in the penumbra. The negative gradient with respect to optical depth in the inner penumbrae persists even after averaging in the azimuthal direction in the observations and, to a lesser extent, in the MHD simulations. If the gradients in the MHD simulations are determined with respect to geometrical height, then the azimuthal averages are always positive within the sunspot (above log tau = 0), corresponding to magnetic field increasing with depth, as generally expected. Conclusions. We interpret the observed localized presence of negative vertical gradient of the magnetic field strength in the observations as a consequence of stronger field from spines expanding with height and closing above the weaker field inter-spines. The presence of the negative gradients with respect to optical depth after azimuthal averaging can be explained by two different mechanisms: the high corrugation of equal optical depth surfaces and the cancellation of polarized signal due to the presence of unresolved opposite polarity patches in the deeper layers of the penumbra.
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| 3. |
- Kaepylae, Petri J., et al.
(författare)
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Extended Subadiabatic Layer in Simulations of Overshooting Convection
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - : IOP PUBLISHING LTD. - 2041-8205 .- 2041-8213. ; 845:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present numerical simulations of hydrodynamic overshooting convection in local Cartesian domains. We find that a substantial fraction of the lower part of the convection zone (CZ) is stably stratified according to the Schwarzschild criterion while the enthalpy flux is outward directed. This occurs when the heat conduction profile at the bottom of the CZ is smoothly varying, based either on a Kramers-like opacity prescription as a function of temperature and density or a static profile of a similar shape. We show that the subadiabatic layer arises due to nonlocal energy transport by buoyantly driven downflows in the upper parts of the CZ. Analysis of the force balance of the upflows and downflows confirms that convection is driven by cooling at the surface. We find that the commonly used prescription for the convective enthalpy flux being proportional to the negative entropy gradient does not hold in the stably stratified layers where the flux is positive. We demonstrate the existence of a non-gradient contribution to the enthalpy flux, which is estimated to be important throughout the convective layer. A quantitative analysis of downflows indicates a transition from a tree-like structure where smaller downdrafts merge into larger ones in the upper parts to a structure in the deeper parts where a height-independent number of strong downdrafts persist. This change of flow topology occurs when a substantial subadiabatic layer is present in the lower part of the CZ.
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| 4. |
- Scharmer, Göran B., et al.
(författare)
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CRISP spectropolarimetric imaging of penumbral fine structure
- 2008
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - : American Astronomical Society. - 2041-8205 .- 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 689:1, s. L69-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We discuss penumbral fine structure in a small part of a pore, observed with the CRISP imaging spectropolarimeter at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST), close to its diffraction limit of 0.16 . Milne-Eddington inversions applied to these Stokes data reveal large variations of field strength and inclination angle over dark-cored penumbral intrusions and a dark-cored light bridge. The mid-outer part of this penumbra structure shows 0.3 wide spines, separated by 1.6 (1200 km) and associated with 30° inclination variations. Between these spines, there are no small-scale magnetic structures that easily can be identified with individual flux tubes. A structure with nearly 10° more vertical and weaker magnetic field is seen midway between two spines. This structure is cospatial with the brightest penumbral filament, possibly indicating the location of a convective upflow from below.
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| 5. |
- Singh, Nishant K., et al.
(författare)
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Bihelical Spectrum of Solar Magnetic Helicity and Its Evolution
- 2018
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP). - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 863:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Using a recently developed two-scale formalism to determine the magnetic helicity spectrum, we analyze synoptic vector magnetograms built with data from the Vector Spectromagnetograph instrument on the Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun telescope during 2010 January-2016 July. In contrast to an earlier study using only three Carrington rotations (CRs), our analysis includes 74 synoptic CR maps. We recover here bihelical spectra at different phases of solar cycle. 24, where the net magnetic helicity in the majority of the data is consistent with a large-scale dynamo with helical turbulence operating in the Sun. More than 20% of the analyzed maps, however, show violations of the expected sign rule.
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