On the dynamic nature of the prolate solar chromosphere: jet formation

Abstract

Context. In spectral lines, the smoothed upper edge of the solar chromosphere is prolate in the South-North direction at the epoch of minimum solar activity and nearly spherically symmetric at the maximum phase. We attribute the effect to the dynamical nature of the upper chromosphere, which consists of a large number of small jet-like structures ascending into the corona. We could not resolve the source region of an individual jetlet, although similar but larger structures are visible, especially in EUV coronal lines. Aims. We consider the problem of the formation of an individual jet above the limb, assuming that a large number of jet-like events is responsible for the prolate solar upper chromosphere. We then assume that spicules, being the cool part of the phenomenon. behave similarly, and we will mainly concentrate the analysis on the magnetic origin of the event. Methods. Image processing is used to reveal the displacement of magnetic field tubes filled with coronal plasma and jet formation due to field aligned motion above the null point created in the corona by the emerging magnetic bipole. Results. The growth of the bipole leads to a reconnection of the field lines and to a specific plasma motion in the vicinity of the null point that results in a plasma flow along the spine line of the 3D null. We assume that similar but smaller processes could happen very often at a smaller scale in the chromosphere, near emerging magnetic ephemeral regions, forming numerous jetlets in the upper chromosphere. As the field aligned motion is guided by the magnetic field, at the epoch of low activity the large-scale structure of the polar magnetic field and the one of the quiet equatorial region is sufficiently different to explain the prolateness of the chromosphere.