Filaments and the underlying surface from He I and Hα line observations

Abstract

Bright bands are observed along filaments in the He I 1083 nm line, while both bright and dark bands are observed along Hα 656.3 nm filaments. The range of brightness variations near He I filaments is 1.005–1.10 times the unperturbed brightness, with an average of 1.031 ± 0.01, while this range is 0.91–1.5 times the unperturbed brightness for Hα filaments. The physical state of the matter in these bands is investigated. Computations of the band brightness have been carried out for various chromospheric models, aimed at explaining the observed features of the bands. Two types of models are considered: with temperature or density variations in the upper chromosphere, and with temperature variations in the middle and lower chromosphere. In the first type of model, the brightness in the He I line is changed, but the Hα brightness is not. In the second type of model, only the Hα brightness is changed. Using the variations of the chromospheric parameters and both types of models, we obtained various combinations of band brightnesses in the He I line and in Hα. The brightnesses of regions were estimated by calculating the profiles of the He I and Hα lines in the corresponding models in a non-LTE approximation. A comparison of the observed and calculated quantities indicates that the enhancement in the brightness in the He I line is due to a decrease in temperature or density in the upper chromosphere (where the temperatures are about 10 000–24 000 K). The enhancement and dimming of the brightness in Hα are due to an increase or decrease of the temperature in the middle and lower chromosphere (where the temperatures are 6000–9000 K) by 800–1000 K. The dependence of the band brightness on distance from the center of the solar disk is also considered. The brightness in the He I line increases from the center to the limb by 2–4%. Computations of the center–limb brightness variaions correspond to the observed results.