| 1. |
- Felipe, T., et al.
(författare)
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Three-dimensional structure of a sunspot light bridge
- 2016
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 596
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Active regions are the most prominent manifestations of solar magnetic fields; their generation and dissipation are fundamental problems in solar physics. Light bridges are commonly present during sunspot decay, but a comprehensive picture of their role in the removal of the photospheric magnetic field is still lacking. Aims. We study the three-dimensional configuration of a sunspot, and in particular, its light bridge, during one of the last stages of its decay. Methods. We present the magnetic and thermodynamical stratification inferred from full Stokes inversions of the photospheric Si I 10 827 angstrom and Ca I 10 839 angstrom lines obtained with the GREGOR Infrared Spectrograph of the GREGOR telescope at the Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife, Spain. The analysis is complemented by a study of continuum images covering the disk passage of the active region, which are provided by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Results. The sunspot shows a light bridge with penumbral continuum intensity that separates the central umbra from a smaller umbra. We find that in this region the magnetic field lines form a canopy with lower magnetic field strength in the inner part. The photospheric light bridge is dominated by gas pressure (high-beta), as opposed to the surrounding umbra, where the magnetic pressure is higher. A convective flow is observed in the light bridge. This flow is able to bend the magnetic field lines and to produce field reversals. The field lines merge above the light bridge and become as vertical and strong as in the surrounding umbra. We conclude that this occurs because two highly magnetized regions approach each other during the sunspot evolution.
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| 2. |
- Joshi, Jayant, et al.
(författare)
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Magnetic field variations associated with umbral flashes and penumbral waves
- 2018
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 619
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Umbral flashes (UF) and running penumbral waves (RPWs) in sunspot chromospheres leave a dramatic imprint in the intensity profile of the Can 8542 angstrom line. Recent studies have focussed on also explaining the observed polarization profiles, which show even more dramatic variations during the passage of these shock fronts. While most of these variations can be explained with an almost constant magnetic field as a function of time, several studies have reported changes in the inferred magnetic field strength during UF phases. These changes could be explained by opacity effects or by intrinsic changes in the magnetic field strength.Aims. In this study we investigate the origin of these periodic variations of the magnetic field strength by analyzing a time-series of high-temporal-cadence observations acquired in the Can 8542 angstrom line with the CRISP instrument at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope. In particular, we analyze how the inferred geometrical height scale changes between quiescent and UF phases, and whether those changes are enough to explain the observed changes in the magnetic field, B.Methods. We have performed non local thermodynamical equilibrium (non-LTE) data inversions with the NICOLE code of a timeseries of very high spatio-temporal-resolution observations in the Can 8542 angstrom, Fei 6301.5, and Fei 6302.5 angstrom lines. We analyze in detail the variations of the different physical parameters of the model as a function of time.Results. Our results indicate that the Can 8542 angstrom line in sunspots is greatly sensitive to magnetic fields at log tau(500 )= -5 (hereafter log tau = -5) during UFs and quiescence. However this optical depth value does not correspond to the same geometrical height during the two phases. Our results indicate that during UFs and RPWs the log tau = -5 is located at a higher geometrical height than during quiescence. Additionally, the inferred magnetic field values are higher in UFs (up to similar to 270 G) and in RPWs (similar to 100 G).Conclusions. Our results suggest that opacity changes caused by UFs and RPWs cannot explain the observed temporal variations in the magnetic field, as the line seems to form at higher geometrical heights where the field is expected to be lower.
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| 3. |
- Joshi, Jayant, et al.
(författare)
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Signatures of ubiquitous magnetic reconnection in the lower solar atmosphere
- 2020
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 641
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ellerman Bomb-like brightenings of the hydrogen Balmer line wings in the quiet Sun, also known as quiet Sun Ellerman bombs (QSEBs), are a signature of the fundamental process of magnetic reconnection at the smallest observable scale in the lower solar atmosphere. We analyze high spatial resolution observations (0.″1) obtained with the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope to explore signatures of QSEBs in the Hβ line. We find that QSEBs are ubiquitous and uniformly distributed throughout the quiet Sun, predominantly occurring in intergranular lanes. We find up to 120 QSEBs in the field of view for a single moment in time; this is more than an order of magnitude higher than the number of QSEBs found in earlier Hα observations. This suggests that about half a million QSEBs could be present in the lower solar atmosphere at any given time. The QSEB brightenings found in the Hβ line wings also persist in the line core with a temporal delay and spatial offset toward the nearest solar limb. Our results suggest that QSEBs emanate through magnetic reconnection along vertically extended current sheets in the lower solar atmosphere. The apparent omnipresence of small-scale magnetic reconnection may play an important role in the energy balance of the solar chromosphere.
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| 4. |
- 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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| 5. |
- Joshi, Jayant, et al.
(författare)
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Upper chromospheric magnetic field of a sunspot penumbra : observations of fine structure
- 2016
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 596
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aims. The fine-structure of the magnetic field in a sunspot penumbra in the upper chromosphere is to be explored and compared to that in the photosphere. Methods. Spectropolarimetric observations with high spatial resolution were recorded with the 1.5-m GREGOR telescope using the GREGOR Infrared Spectrograph (GRIS). The observed spectral domain includes the upper chromospheric Hei triplet at 10 830 angstrom and the photospheric Si I 10 827.1 angstrom and Ca I 10 833.4 angstrom spectral lines. The upper chromospheric magnetic field is obtained by inverting the Hei triplet assuming a Milne-Eddington-type model atmosphere. A height-dependent inversion was applied to the Si I 10 827.1 angstrom and Ca I 10 833.4 angstrom lines to obtain the photospheric magnetic field. Results. We find that the inclination of the magnetic field varies in the azimuthal direction in the photosphere and in the upper chromosphere. The chromospheric variations coincide remarkably well with the variations in the inclination of the photospheric field and resemble the well-known spine and interspine structure in the photospheric layers of penumbrae. The typical peak-to-peak variations in the inclination of the magnetic field in the upper chromosphere are found to be 10 degrees-15 degrees, which is roughly half the variation in the photosphere. In contrast, the magnetic field strength of the observed penumbra does not vary on small spatial scales in the upper chromosphere. Conclusions. Thanks to the high spatial resolution of the observations that is 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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| 6. |
- 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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| 7. |
- Leenaarts, Jorrit, et al.
(författare)
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The cause of spatial structure in solar He I 1083 nm multiplet images
- 2016
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 594
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. The HeI 1083 nm is a powerful diagnostic for inferring properties of the upper solar chromosphere, in particular for the magnetic field. The basic formation of the line in one-dimensional models is well understood, but the influence of the complex three-dimensional structure of the chromosphere and corona has however never been investigated. This structure must play an essential role because images taken in HeI 1083 nm show structures with widths down to 100 km. Aims. We aim to understand the effect of the three-dimensional temperature and density structure in the solar atmosphere on the formation of the HeI 1083 nm line. Methods. We solved the non-LTE radiative transfer problem assuming statistical equilibrium for a simple nine-level helium atom that nevertheless captures all essential physics. As a model atmosphere we used a snapshot from a 3D radiation-MHD simulation computed with the Bifrost code. Ionising radiation from the corona was self-consistently taken into account. Results. The emergent intensity in the HeI 1083 nm is set by the source function and the opacity in the upper chromosphere. The former is dominated by scattering of photospheric radiation and does not vary much with spatial location. The latter is determined by the photonionisation rate in the HeI ground state continuum, as well as the electron density in the chromosphere. The spatial variation of the flux of ionising radiation is caused by the spatially-structured emissivity of the ionising photons from material at T approximate to 100 kK in the transition region. The hotter coronal material produces more ionising photons, but the resulting radiation field is smooth and does not lead to small-scale variation of the UV flux. The corrugation of the transition region further increases the spatial variation of the amount of UV radiation in the chromosphere. Finally we find that variations in the chromospheric electron density also cause strong variation in Het 1083 nm opacity. We compare our findings to observations using SST, IRIS and SDO/AIA data.
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| 8. |
- Libbrecht, Tine, et al.
(författare)
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Line formation of He I D3 and He I 10 830 Å in a small-scale reconnection event
- 2021
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 652
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Ellerman bombs (EBs) and UV bursts are small-scale reconnection events that occur in the region of the upper photosphere to the chromosphere. It has recently been discovered that these events can have emission signatures in the He I D3 and He I 10 830 Å lines, suggesting that their temperatures are higher than previously expected.Aims. We aim to explain the line formation of He I D3 and He I 10 830 Å in small-scale reconnection events.Methods. We used a simulated EB in a Bifrost-generated radiative magnetohydrodynamics snapshot. The resulting He I D3 and He I 10 830 Å line intensities were synthesized in 3D using the non-local thermal equilibrium (non-LTE) Multi3D code. The presence of coronal extreme UV (EUV) radiation was included self-consistently. We compared the synthetic helium spectra with observed raster scans of EBs in He I 10 830 Å and He I D3 obtained at the Swedish Solar Telescope with the TRI-Port Polarimetric Echelle-Littrow Spectrograph.Results. Emission in He I D3 and He I 10 830 Å is formed in a thin shell around the EB at a height of ∼0.8 Mm, while the He I D3 absorption is formed above the EB at ∼4 Mm. The height at which the emission is formed corresponds to the lower boundary of the EB, where the temperature increases rapidly from 6 × 103 K to 106 K. The synthetic line profiles at a heliocentric angle of μ = 0.27 are qualitatively similar to the observed profiles at the same μ-angle in dynamics, broadening, and line shape: emission in the wing and absorption in the line core. The opacity in He I D3 and He I 10 830 Å is generated through photoionization-recombination driven by EUV radiation that is locally generated in the EB at temperatures in the range of 2 × 104 − 2 × 106 K and electron densities between 1011 and 1013 cm−3. The synthetic emission signals are a result of coupling to local conditions in a thin shell around the EB, with temperatures between 7 × 103 and 104 K and electron densities ranging from ∼1012 to 1013 cm−3. This shows that both strong non-LTE and thermal processes play a role in the formation of He I D3 and He I 10 830 Å in the synthetic EB/UV burst that we studied.Conclusions. In conclusion, the synthetic He I D3 and He I 10 830 Å emission signatures are an indicator of temperatures of at least 2 × 104 K; in this case, as high as ∼106 K.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Libbrecht, Tine, et al.
(författare)
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Observations of Ellerman bomb emission features in He I D-3 and He I 10 830 angstrom
- 2017
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 598
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Ellerman bombs (EBs) are short-lived emission features, characterised by extended wing emission in hydrogen Balmer lines. Until now, no distinct signature of EBs has been found in the He I 10 830 angstrom line, and conclusive observations of EBs in He I D-3 have never been reported.Aims. We aim to study the signature of EBs in neutral helium triplet lines. Methods. The observations consisted of ten consecutive SST/TRIPPEL raster scans close to the limb, featuring the H beta, He I D-3 and He I 10 830 angstrom spectral regions. We also obtained raster scans with IRIS and made use of the SDO/AIA 1700 angstrom channel. We used HAZEL to invert the neutral helium triplet lines.Results. Three EBs in our data show distinct emission signatures in neutral helium triplet lines, most prominently visible in the He I D-3 line. The helium lines have two components: a broad and blueshifted emission component associated with the EB, and a narrower absorption component formed in the overlying chromosphere. One of the EBs in our data shows evidence of strong velocity gradients in its emission component. The emission component of the other two EBs could be fitted using a constant slab. Our analysis hints towards thermal Doppler motions having a large contribution to the broadening for helium and IRIS lines. We conclude that the EBs must have high temperatures to exhibit emission signals in neutral helium triplet lines. An order of magnitude estimate places our observed EBs in the range of T similar to 2 x 10(4) 10(5) K.
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| 11. |
- Mathur, Harsh, et al.
(författare)
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Do Hα Stokes V Profiles Probe the Chromospheric Magnetic Field? An Observational Perspective
- 2023
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Ingår i: Astrophysical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-637X .- 1538-4357. ; 946:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We investigated the diagnostic potential of the Stokes V profile of the Hα line to probe the chromospheric line-of-sight (LOS) magnetic field (BLOS) by comparing the BLOS inferred from the weak field approximation (WFA) with that inferred from the multiline inversions of the CaII 8542 Å, Si I 8536 Å, and Fe I 8538 Å lines using the STiC inversion code. Simultaneous spectropolarimetric observations of a pore in the Ca II 8542 Å and Hα spectral lines obtained from the SPINOR at the Dunn Solar Telescope on 2008 December 4 are used in this study. The WFA was applied on the Stokes I and V profiles of Hα line over three wavelength ranges, viz., around line core (Δλ = ±0.35 Å), line wings (Δλ = [−1.5, −0.6], and [+0.6, +1.5] Å), and full spectral range of the line (Δλ = ± 1.5 Å) to derive the BLOS. We found the maximum BLOS strengths of ∼+800 and ∼+600 G at log t500 = −1 and −4.5, respectively, in the pore. The morphological map of the BLOS inferred from the Hα line core is similar to the BLOS map at log t500 = −4.5 inferred from multiline inversions. The BLOS map inferred from the Hα line wings and full spectral range have a similar morphological structure to the BLOS map inferred at log t500 = −1. The BLOS estimated from Hα using WFA is weaker by a factor of ≈0.53 than that of inferred from the multiline inversions.
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