Ca II 854.2 nm BISECTORS AND CIRCUMFACULAR REGIONS

Abstract

Active regions appear bright in Ca II 854.2 nm line core intensity while the surrounding areas, referred to as circumfacular regions, are darker than the active region or the quiet Sun. We use Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun Vector Spectromagnetograph Ca II 854.2 nm data (photospheric and chromospheric full disk magnetograms as well as high spectral resolution Stokes I and V profiles) to study the connection between magnetic canopies, circumfacular regions, and Ca II 854.2 nm bisector amplitudes (spans). The line bisector amplitude is reduced in circumfacular regions, where the 3 minute period power in chromospheric Hα intensity oscillations is also reduced relative to the surrounding quiet Sun. The latter is consistent with magnetic canopies in circumfacular regions suppressing upward propagating steepening acoustic waves. Our results provide further strong evidence for shock waves as the cause of the inverse C-shaped bisector and explain the observed solar cycle variation of the shape and amplitude of Sun-as-a-star Ca II 854.2 nm bisectors.