Emission In Transition Region Lines Research Articles

Surges and Si iv Bursts in the Solar Atmosphere: Understanding IRIS and SST Observations through RMHD Experiments

Abstract Surges often appear as a result of the emergence of magnetized plasma from the solar interior. Traditionally, they are observed in chromospheric lines such as Hα 6563 and Ca ii 8542 . However, whether there is a response to the surge appearance and evolution in the Si iv lines or, in fact, in many other transition region lines has not been studied. In this paper, we analyze a simultaneous episode of an Hα surge and a Si iv burst that occurred on 2016 September 03 in active region AR 12585. To that end, we use coordinated observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph and the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope. For the first time, we report emission of Si iv within the surge, finding profiles that are brighter and broader than the average. Furthermore, the brightest Si iv patches within the domain of the surge are located mainly near its footpoints. To understand the relation between the surges and the emission in transition region lines like Si iv, we have carried out 2.5D radiative MHD (RMHD) experiments of magnetic flux emergence episodes using the Bifrost code and including the nonequilibrium ionization of silicon. Through spectral synthesis, we explain several features of the observations. We show that the presence of Si iv emission patches within the surge, their location near the surge footpoints and various observed spectral features are a natural consequence of the emergence of magnetized plasma from the interior to the atmosphere and the ensuing reconnection processes.

Molecular absorption in transition region spectral lines

Aims: We present observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) of absorption features from a multitude of cool atomic and molecular lines within the profiles of Si IV transition region lines. Many of these spectral lines have not previously been detected in solar spectra. Methods: We examined spectra taken from deep exposures of plage on 12 October 2013. We observed unique absorption spectra over a magnetic element which is bright in transition region line emission and the ultraviolet continuum. We compared the absorption spectra with emission spectra that is likely related to fluorescence. Results: The absorption features require a population of sub-5000 K plasma to exist above the transition region. This peculiar stratification is an extreme deviation from the canonical structure of the chromosphere-corona boundary . The cool material is not associated with a filament or discernible coronal rain. This suggests that molecules may form in the upper solar atmosphere on small spatial scales and introduces a new complexity into our understanding of solar thermal structure. It lends credence to previous numerical studies that found evidence for elevated pockets of cool gas in the chromosphere.

Transition Region Emission from Very Low Mass Stars

We present results from our cycle 10 HST program to search for transition region emission in very low-mass, main-sequence stars in the spectral range M7-M9. Our program is aimed at 1) detecting emission; and 2) distinguishing between flaring and quiescent origin for the emission. We have obtained HST/STIS time series observations of three active, very low mass stars (VB 8, VB 10, and LHS 2065) which show persistent activity in transition region lines including Si IV, C IV, He II. Emission in transition region lines appears to be variable between exposures, but is always observed. A strong flare was also observed in one 10 minute exposure on VB 10. Our results indicate that active, very low-mass stars maintain a persistent quiescent chromosphere and transition region that is similar to those observed in active, earlier type M dwarfs, in contrast to suggestions that these low-mass, main-sequence stars exhibit only relatively strong flares and no quiescent emission.

Soho Observations of the Structure and Dynamics of Sunspot Region Atmospheres

We present results from a study of the spatial distributions of line emission and relative line-of-sight velocity in the atmosphere above 17 sunspot regions, from the chromosphere, through the transition region and into the corona, based on simultaneous observations of ten EUV emission lines with the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer – CDS on SOHO. We find that the spatial distributions are nonuniform over the sunspot region and introduce the notation 'sunspot loop' to describe an enhanced transition region emission feature that looks like a magnetic loop, extending from inside the sunspot to the surrounding regions. We find little evidence for the siphon flow. Attention is given to the time variations since we observe both a rapid variation with a characteristic time of a few to several minutes and a slow variation with a time constant of several hours to ≈ 1 day. The most prominent features in the transition region intensity maps are the sunspot plumes. We introduce an updated criterion for the presence of plumes and find that 15 out of 17 sunspots contain a plume in the temperature range logT≈5.2–5.6. The relative line-of-sight velocity in sunspot plumes is high and directed into the Sun in the transition region. Almost all the sunspot regions contain one or a few prominent, strongly redshifted velocity channels, several of the channels extend from the sunspot plume to considerable distances from the sunspot. The flow appears to be maintained by plasmas at transition region temperatures, moving from regions located at a greater height outside the sunspots and towards the sunspot. The spatial correlation is high to moderate between emission lines formed in the transition region lines, but low between the transition region lines and the coronal lines. From detailed comparisons of intensity and velocity maps we find transition region emission features without any sign of coronal emission in the vicinity. A possible explanation is that the emission originates in magnetic flux tubes that are too cold to emit coronal emission. The comparisons suggest that gas at transition region temperature occur in loops different from loops with coronal temperature. However, we cannot exclude the presence of transition region temperatures close to the footpoints of flux tubes emitting at coronal temperatures. Regions with enhanced transition region line emission tend to be redshifted, but the correlation between line emission and relative line-of-sight velocity is weak. We extend our conditional probability studies and confirm that there is a tendency for line profiles with large intensities and red shifts (blue shifts) above the average to constitute an increasing (decreasing) fraction of the profiles as the wavelength shift increases.

The relation between hard X-ray and transition-region line emission in solar flares

Observational evidence suggests that both the hard X-ray and ultraviolet emission from the impulsive phase of flares result from an electron beam. We present the results of model calculations that are consistent with this theory. The impulsive phase is envisioned as occurring in many small magnetically confined loops, each of which maintains an electron beam for only a few seconds. This model successfully matches several observed aspects of the impulsive phase. The corona is heated to less than 2 × 106 K, maximum enhanced emission occurs in lines formed near 105 K, and there is only slight enhancement between 105 and 2 × 106 K. The slope of the observed relationship between hard X-ray and Ov 1371 A emission is also matched, but the relative emission is not. The calculations indicate that UV emission lines formed below a temperature of about 105 K will arise predominantly from the chromospheric region heated by the electron beam to transition region temperatures. Emission lines formed at higher temperatures will be produced in the transition region. This should be detectable in density-sensitive line ratios. To account successfully for the impulsive UV emission, the peak temperature in the impulsively heated loops must remain below about 2 × 106 K. Thus our model implies that the impulsive heating takes place in different loops from the hotter gradual phase emission.

Ultraviolet observations of stellar chromospheric activity

view Abstract Citations (81) References (52) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS Ultraviolet observations of stellar chromospheric activity. Hartmann, L. ; Dupree, A. K. ; Raymond, J. C. Abstract A survey is presented of chromospheric and transition region (TR) line emission in late-type stars obtained with the IUE satellite. A wide variation in TR emission (ions formed near T = 100,000 K) at a given position in the H-R diagram is found, contradicting theories that incorporate only acoustic energy generation and deposition. The behavior of the Hyades giants is thought to suggest that age does not uniquely determine emission levels. The data are consistent with the picture advanced by many others that rapid rotation appears to result in enhanced fluxes. Emission in TR lines is correlated with chromospheric emission; the range in observed surface fluxes from different stars increases with the temperature of line formation. It is noted that although emission measures of high temperature gas generally decline with decreasing stellar gravity, it is not possible to define a sharp division in the H-R diagram between stars with TR emitting regions and those without. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: January 1982 DOI: 10.1086/159549 Bibcode: 1982ApJ...252..214H Keywords: Chromosphere; Emission Spectra; Late Stars; Stellar Spectra; Stellar Structure; Ultraviolet Astronomy; Dwarf Stars; Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram; Iue; Line Spectra; Radiant Flux Density; Stellar Envelopes; Stellar Evolution; Stellar Gravitation; Stellar Temperature; Transition Points; Astrophysics full text sources ADS | data products SIMBAD (31) MAST (1) INES (1)

Outer atmospheres of cool stars. V - IUE observations of Capella - The rotation-activity connection

UV spectra of Capella (G6 III + F9 III) obtained with the IUE are analyzed. High-resolution emission-line profiles taken near the elongation at phase 78 days suggest that virtually all of the emission in transition-region lines and most of the emission in chromospheric lines comes from the late-F secondary of the system. It is suggested that the origin of the extraordinary activity levels on these otherwise very similar stars can be traced to the one property that is obviously different, i.e., rotation. The Capella primary is a normal sharp-line slow rotating giant, whereas the secondary has broader lines and is a rapid rotator for a late-type giant.