Solar Wind Velocity and Anisotropic Coronal Kinetic Temperature Measured with the O Vi Doublet Ratio

Doppler dimming of the Ovi resonance lines (1032 Å, 1037 Å) in an expanding corona is calculated including the pumping effect on the Ovi 1037.61 Å of both Cii lines at 1036.34 Å and 1037.02 Å, and the effect of the width of the absorption profiles of the coronal oxygen ions along the incident radiation. The pumping effect of the Cii line at 1036.34 Å allows us to extend to approximately 450 km s–1 the measurement of solar wind velocities with the Ovi line ratio technique. Since the emissivity ratio of the Ovi doublet depends on the width of the oxygen coronal absorbing profiles, this ratio can provide an accurate measurement of the solar wind velocity in the case that the width of the absorbing profile along the direction of the incident radiation is independently determined. However, if on the one hand the ratio of the emissivities of the Ovi doublet has limitations in probing the wind velocity, on the other hand it can be used as a diagnostics for inferring the velocity distribution of the coronal Ovi ions along the radial, and detecting possible velocity anisotropies. This diagnostics, applied to recent observational results, allows us to infer that the velocity distribution of the oxygen ions is much broader in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field direction, and that the acceleration of the fast solar wind in the first 2 solar radii is high.     

Infrared Imaging Solar Spectrograph At Purple Mountain Observatory

Since 1986, we have made some improvements to the multichannel solar spectrograph at Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) step by step, and now we have developed and added to it a multichannel infrared imaging solar spectrograph. The original spectrograph can be used to observe simultaneously solar activity at 9 wave bands including Caii H and K line, Mgi b line, Hei D3 line and H through H. The newly developed infrared imaging spectrograph can work in three wavelengths, i.e., Hei 10830 Å, Caii 8542 Å, and H. We replaced plates in the original system with CCDs and placed an image reducer before each CCD in order to match the CCD pixel size. The dispersions for Hei 10830 Å, Caii 8542 Å, and H of the new imaging solar spectrograph are 0.0693 Å, 0.0767 Å, and 0.0754 Å per CCD pixel respectively, and each vertical CCD pixel represents 0.34 arc sec of solar disk. We can obtain the line-center and off-band intensities of the three lines and the intensities of continua adjacent to these lines through the new instrument. We can also acquire velocity maps and line profiles. Therefore, it is specially suitable for two-dimensional (2D) spectroscopic observations of solar flares and active regions. We carry out scanning observation by rotating the second mirror of the coelostat system. In this paper, we introduce the improvements we made and the new imaging solar spectrograph. Some observation results are also presented in this article.     

Flare-related changes in the profiles of six photospheric spectral lines

The profiles of six photospheric absorption spectral lines (Fei 5250 Å, Fei 5324 Å, Fei 5576 Å, Cai 5590 Å, Cai 6103 Å and Fei 6165 Å), measured in the kernel of a 2N solar flare and in a quiet-Sun area, were compared. The observations were carried out with an echelle spectrograph of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. It was shown that, compared to the quiet-Sun profiles, the flare profiles are shallower in the line core and are less steep in the wings. Therefore, measurements of the longitudinal magnetic field made with a magnetograph system which uses the Cai 6103 Å  spectral line, can be underestimated by 18–25% in areas of bright H ribbons of a moderate solar flare. Modeling of the solar photosphere performed by using a synthesis method showed that, in a solar flare, the enhanced core emission seems to be related to heating of the photosphere by the flare, whereas the decrease of the slope of the wings was presumably caused by the inhomogeneity of the photospheric magnetic field.     

Observational Study of the Three-Dimensional Magnetic Field Structure and Mass Motion in Active Regions

Spectro-polarimetric observations of active regions were carried out in the spectral lines of Sii 10827.1 Å and Hei 10830 Å to study the three-dimensional magnetic field structure and associated plasma flow properties. Comparison of Sii and Hei magnetograms with the potential field model shows that a large fraction of the magnetic field is consistent with the potential field structure, by assuming that the height difference between the origin of the two lines is about 1200 km. The slope of the scatter plot between Sii and Hei magnetograms is 0.5, 0.76 in an emerging flux and a larger active region, respectively. These values are lower than the scatter plot slopes obtained from Kitt Peak photospheric and chromospheric magnetograms, in which case the corresponding values are 0.83 and 0.9, respectively. Considering the height difference between these two sets of chromospheric magnetograms, this implies that the magnetic field spreads out faster near the transition region heights. Dopplergrams obtained by determining the centroid of the asymmetric line profiles show that, in case of emerging flux region, the chromospheric upflow regions are located in the magnetic neutral line areas.     

Investigation of He I 10 830 Å `Dark Points' at the Sayan Solar Observatory and the Baikal Astrophysical Observatory

A new two-bandpass birefringent filter has been produced at ISTP, Irkutsk for the investigation of the fine structure of the chromosphere. One filter passband is centered on the Hei 10830 Å line, the second one is centered on H. The FWHM of the Hei 10830 Å passband is 0.46 Å and of the H passband is 0.3 Å. A large number of filtergrams were obtained with the filter at the Sayan observatory. At the same time, spectral observations with high spatial and spectral resolution were carried out by the large solar vacuum telescope at the Baikal Observatory. We selected 29 `dark point' spectra with sizes from 2 to 13, as well as `dark points' on the filtergrams. Comparison of spectrograms and filtergrams has shown a good agreement of their size and intensity in relation with the surrounding chromosphere as well as the absence of primary line-of-sight velocities in both observation types. From spectral observations, the depth of 10830 Å is over 30% for some `dark points', and the FWHM is more than 1 Å. Hei 10830 Å line profiles in `dark points' are more deep and wide than in quiet regions. The optical depth of the chromosphere in `dark points' is estimated. Comparison with the unperturbed chromosphere showed that `dark points' in Hei 10830 Å are more optically thin than the nearby chromosphere.     

An Erupting Active Region Filament: Three-Dimensional Trajectory and Hydrogen Column Density

From 15:33 through 16:02 UT on 13 June 1998, observations of an erupting filament as it crossed solar disk center were obtained with the NSO/KPVT and SOHO/CDS instruments as part of the SOHO Joint Observing Program 70. Context observations show that this event was the eruption of the north-east section of a small active region filament associated with NOAA 8237, that the photospheric magnetic field was changing in this active region between 12–14 June 1998, and that a coronal Moreton-wave disk event occurred, as well as a white-light CME off the south-west solar limb. The NSO/KPVT imaging spectroscopy data covered 512 × 512 arc sec of the disk center and were spectrally centered at the Hei 1083 nm line and captured ±1.0 nm of surrounding solar spectrum. The Hei absorption line is seen blue-shifted to velocities of between 200 and 300 km s^–1. The true solar trajectory of the eruption is obtained by using the projected solar coordinates and by integrating the Doppler velocity. The filament travels with a total velocity of about 300 km s^–1 along a path inclined roughly 49 deg to the solar surface and rises to a height of just over 1.5 solar radii before it becomes too diffuse to follow. The filament also shows internal motions with multiple Doppler components shifted by ±25 km s^–1. Finally, the KPVT data show no Stokes V profiles in the Doppler-shifted Hei 1083.03 nm absorption to a limit of roughly 3×10^–3 times the continuum intensity. The SOHO/CDS scanned the center of the KPVT FOV using seven EUV lines; Doppler-shifted filament emission is seen in lines from Hei 58.4 nm, Heii 30.4 nm, Oiv 55.5 nm, Ov 63.0 nm, Nevi 56.3 nm, and Mgx 61.0 nm representing temperatures from about 2×10⁴K through 1×10⁶K. Bound-free continuum absorption from Hi, without confusion from foreground emission and line emission, is seen as the filament obscures underlying chromospheric emission. A fit to the wavelength dependence of the absorption from five lines between 55.5 to 63.0 nm yields a column density _H I =4.8±2.5×10¹⁷ cm^–2. Spatial maps show that this filament absorption is more confined than the regions which show emission.     

Comparison of Prominences in Hα and He II 304 Å

In this letter, we bring attention to prominences which show different morphology in H and Heii 304 Å, as observed simultaneously by BBSO and EIT on board SOHO. Those two lines have been thought to represent similar chromospheric structures although they are formed at significantly different temperatures. We give two examples representing two kinds of anomaly: (1) prominences showing strong H emissions in the lower part and strong Heii emissions in the upper part, and (2) erupting prominences showing extensive Heii emission, but nothing in H. Our results indicate that a part or the whole of a prominence may be too hot to emit H radiation, possibly due to heating or thermal instability. Please note that these are not just two isolated cases, many other prominences show the similar differences in H and Heii 304 Å.     

Multiresolution wavelet analysis of SUMER/SOHO observations in a solar prominence

We have studied through a multiresolution wavelet analysis the oscillations in a limb prominence. Intensity fluctuations in time and height corresponding to different lines of Siiv and Oiv observed with SUMER on board SOHO have been analyzed in the wavelet bands of J₃= 1 min 36 s to 3 min 12 s and J₄=3 min 12 s to 6 min 24 s. For all species, oscillations in the J₄ band were dominant. We found relevant differences between the behavior of line D₁ (1393.76 Å) corresponding to Siiv and the set D₂ (1401.16 Å), D₃ (1404.81 Å), D₄ (1402.77 Å) corresponding to Oiv, Oiv and Siiv respectively. We also report the identification of a pulse in the intensity of the line D₁ that appears in the range of 15–20 min. This disturbance seems to travel with a speed of about 170 km s^–1.     

Soft X-ray emission lines of Ni XVIII in the solar spectrum

R-matrix calculations of electron impact excitation rates in Nixviii are used to derive theoretical electron-temperature-sensitive emission line ratios involving 3s–4p,3p–4d,3p –4s, and 3d–4f transitions in the 41–53 Å wavelength range. A comparison of these with solar flare observations from a rocket-borne X-ray spectrograph (XSST) reveals generally excellent agreement between theory and experiment (within the experimental and theoretical uncertainties), which provides support for the atomic data adopted in the analysis. However the 3s 2S–4p 2P1/2 line of Nixviii at 41.22 Å appears to be blended with the Fexix 13.74 Å feature observed by XSST in third order. In addition, the measured Nixviii intensity ratio I(3p 2P3/2– 4s 2S)/I(3p 2P1/2–4s 2S)=I(51.02 Å)/I(50.26 Å)=0.56, a factor of 3.8 smaller than the theoretical (temperature and density-insensitive) value of 2.1. The reason for this discrepancy is currently unexplained, but is unlikely to be due to blending of the 50.26 Å line, as the intensity of this feature is consistent with that expected from the other Nixviii lines in the XSST spectrum. Future observations of the Nixviii lines by the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) should allow this problem to be resolved, and may also permit the use of the lines as electron-temperature diagnostics.     

The White-Light Limb Flare of 16 August 1989 and its Chromospheric Counterpart

After carefully comparing the white-light (5600±00 Å) and the slit-jaw H images (0.5 Å  passband) of the 2N/X20 white-light flare of 16 August 1989, we found that the H counterpart identification of the bright kernels in continuum by Hiei, Nakagomi, and Takuma (1992) was incorrect. Now we come to the conclusion that none of the two white-light kernels has a corresponding bright H area. Moreover, the loop shapes in white-light are also different from those in H. H loops rose more rapidly than white-light loops. However, their height–time variations on the whole are similar. This indicates that the continuum and chromospheric emissions of the flare presumably come from different plasmas, but may be modulated by some mutual factors, such as large-scale magnetic fields. Analysis of the Hei 10830 Å spectra taken simultaneously with the slit-jaw H images shows that the line-center intensity of Hei 10830 Å doesn't have a good correlation with the intensity of nearby continuum, which supports the above conclusions. In addition, the electron density at the white-light loop top estimated from the continuum around 5600 Å  and 10830 Å  is as high as 10¹²–10¹³ cm^–3.     

Filament channel structures in a Si iv line related to a 3d magnetic model

A recent 3D magnetic model of filament support (Aulanier and Démoulin, 1998) has shown that specific morphologies derived from the model, based on SOHO/MDI magnetograms, match quite well with the observations of a filament observed in H and Caii lines with the German telescope VTT in Tenerife on 25 September 1996 (Aulanier et al., 1998, 1999a). Some predictions of this model concern the filament channel. To continue the comparison of model and data, we have investigated the same filament region observed in ultraviolet by the SOHO spectrometers SUMER and CDS. The elongated EUV fine structures in the filament channel observed in the Siiv 1393.76 Å line by SUMER have similar orientations and locations to features predicted by the model of Aulanier et al. (1999a). These regions are near the bases of field lines which tangentially join to the photosphere in so called 'bald patches' and are parts of large arcades above the filament channel. In addition, we consider the Siiv Doppler shifts in these structures and compare them to what might be expected from the model field structure. Our study also suggests that the filament has a very low opacity in Siiv, lower than that of the Ov line observed by CDS.     

CORONAL RADIATION AND HELIUM λ584 EMISSION IN ACTIVE REGIONS

Based on EUV observations of eleven sunspot regions obtained with the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer, CDS, on SOHO we have studied the spatial distribution, temporal variation and wavelength shift of the Hei 584 line. We find a relatively high spatial correlation between the coronal line Fexvi 360 and the Hei 584 line. This points to coronal back-radiation as an important contributor to the formation of the Hei line in active regions. However, contribution to the line formation from another source is suggested by the following two findings: First, the red-shifted line profiles of both Hei 584 and the transition region lines tend to be more intense than blue-shifted profiles. Second, the Hei 584 emission changes significantly faster than the coronal line emission.     

Diagnosis of Faraday Rotation with the Video Vector Magnetograph at Huairou

In this paper we present the results of inversion of Stokes polarization profiles of a sunspot, to recover the vector magnetic field parameters of the spectral-line-forming region, using the Fei 5324.19 Å line and a nonlinear least-squares fitting. Observations of the simple sunspot were obtained using the Video Vector Magnetograph at the Huairou Solar Observing Station (HSOS) of the National Astronomical Observatories of China, over the wavelength interval of 150 mÅ redward of line center of Fei 5324.19 Å to 150 mÅ to the blue, in steps of 10 mÅ. The curves of the observed variation of azimuth with wavelength are also compared with model calculations of the azimuth at each wavelength, as derived from the inverse Zeeman effect modified by Faraday rotation. The results show that the rotation of azimuth is less significant in the observations taken near the center of the Fei 5324.19 Å line than those taken near the center of the Fei 5250.22 Å line.     

Earth Tides and Lense–Thirring Effect

The general relativistic Lense—Thirring effect can be measured by inspecting a suitable combination of the orbital residuals of the nodes of LAGEOS and LAGEOS II and the perigee of LAGEOS II. The solid and ocean Earth tides affect the recovery of the parameter by means of which the gravitomagnetic signal is accounted for in the combined residuals. Thus an extensive analysis of the perturbations induced on these orbital elements by the solid and ocean Earth tides is carried out. It involves the l=2 terms for the solid tides and the l=2,3,4 terms for the ocean tides. The perigee of LAGEOS II turns out to be very sensitive to the l=3 part of the ocean tidal spectrum, contrary to the nodes of LAGEOS and LAGEOS II. The uncertainty in the solid tidal perturbations, mainly due to the Love number k ₂, ranges from 0.4% to 1.5%, while the ocean tides are uncertain at 5–15% level. The obtained results are used in order to check in a preliminary way which tidal constituents the Lense-Thirring shift is sensitive to. In particular it is tested if the semisecular 18.6-year zonal tide really does not affect the combined residuals. It turns out that, if modeled at the level of accuracy worked out in the paper, the l=2,4 m=0 and also, to a lesser extent, the l=3, m=0 tidal perturbations cancel out.This revised version was published online in October 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Structure and Evolution of the Transition Region Network Observed in he ii λ304

The length scale and life time of the transition region network cells were studied using Heii 304 filtergrams. The temporal structure function was calculated from spatially aligned Heii 304 images. The estimated life time of the network cell was about 27 hr. We compared this life time with the life time of photospheric magnetic network and of the extrapolated magnetic network. The spatial structure function was calculated from the Heii 304 filtergrams. The calculated spatial structure function saturates at 25000 km. The transition region network elements are bigger in size than the photospheric magnetic network element. The magnetic network element equals the size of the Heii 304 network element when the photospheric magnetic field is extrapolated to a height of 3000 km above the photosphere where the magnetic fluxes are deployed. The derived value of the diffusion speed of the network elements was 0.098 km s^–1.     

Dynamics of Blinkers

The relative Doppler and non-thermal velocities of quiet-Sun and active-region blinkers identified in Ov with CDS are calculated. Relative velocities for the corresponding chromospheric plasma below are also determined using the Hei line. Ov blinkers and the chromosphere directly below, have a preference to be more red-shifted than the normal transition region and chromospheric plasma. The ranges of these enhanced velocities, however, are no larger than the typical spread of Doppler velocities in these regions. The anticipated ranges of Doppler velocities of blinkers are 10–15 km s^–1 in the quiet Sun (10–20 km s^–1 in active regions) for Hei and 25–30 km s^–1 in the quiet Sun (20–40 km s^–1 in active regions) for Ov. Blinkers and the chromosphere below also have preferentially larger non-thermal velocities than the typical background chromosphere and transition region. Again the increase in magnitude of these non-thermal velocities is no greater than the typical ranges of non-thermal velocities. The ranges of non-thermal velocities of blinkers in both the quiet Sun and active regions are estimated to be 15–25 km s^–1 in Hei and 30–45 km s^–1 in Ov. There are more blinkers with larger Doppler and non-thermal velocities than would be expected in the whole of the chromosphere and transition region. The recently suggested mechanisms for blinkers are revisited and discussed further in light of the new results.     

A narrow-band tunable solar filter for the near-infrared spectral region

A narrow-band tunable solar filter was constructed for the near-infrared spectral region. It is a pre-monochromator consisting of a double monochromator with dispersion subtraction, while the final passband is formed by a scanning Fabry–Pérot interferometer. Such a filter can be realized in practice for any optical spectral region. The tuning range of the filter for the near-infrared is 9000–11000 Å, FWHM of the passband equals 0.24 Å at the Hei 10830 Å line. The angular field of view on the sky is 3.6 for a diameter of the telescope of 100 mm. Filtergrams of the active region NOAA 8076 in the Hei 10830 Å line were obtained on 28 August 1997, the profiles of this line in the selected points of the image, and radial velocity field are presented.     

Statistical Characteristics of CMEs and Flares Associated with Solar Type II Radio Bursts

We present results from a study of sunspots and faculae on continuum and Caii K images taken at the San Fernando Observatory (SFO) during 1989–1992; a total of approximately 800 images in each bandpass were used. About 18000 red sunspots, 147000 red faculae, and 800000 Caii K faculae were identified based on their contrasts. In addition, we computed the contrasts of pixels on the red images cospatial with Caii K faculae. Sunspot contrasts show a strong dependence on size but no dependence on heliocentric angle. There are continuous but systematic differences among facular regions. We find that the contrast of Caii K faculae is relatively insensitive to heliocentric angle, but is a strong function of facular size, in the sense that larger Caii K faculae are always brighter. The contrast of red faculae is a function of both heliocentric angle and size: the contrast functions show that larger regions contain larger flux tubes, contain deeper flux tubes, and have larger filling factors than small facular regions. Comparisons of cospatial pixels on red and Caii K images show a tight correlation between the average contrast of a region in the continuum and its size and heliocentric angle in the Caii K images. The average contrast of all facular regions is positive everywhere on the disk, even though the largest regions contain flux tubes which appear dark at disk center.     

Studies of Microflares and C5.2 flare of 27 September 1998

On 27 September 1998, Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) and Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) coordinated observations from 16:00 to 19:00 UT to study properties of microflares in AR NOAA No. 8340. Fortuitously, a C5.2 flare occurred at 16:30 UT in this active region. H and magnetograph movies were obtained at BBSO; Civ 1550 Å, Feix 171 Å, and Fexii 195 Å movies were obtained by TRACE; both with a cadence about 1 min. In this paper, we concentrate on the study of magnetic properties of 70 Civ microflares, as well as their relationship to the C5.2 flare. We obtained the following results: (1) We found two kinds of microflares: microflares of transient brightenings with a time scale of 1 to 5 min (impulsive events) and microflares lasting half an hour or longer (persistent events). Ninety percent of the microflares are impulsive events. Most of the event in this category are associated with well defined magnetic neutral lines, but some are found in non-neutral line areas. All of seven persistent events are found at parasitic magnetic configurations with inclusions of small magnetic flux within dominant magnetic flux of opposite polarity. (2) More than a third of the impulsive microflares occurred near the C5.2 flare site indicating that a local instability is responsible for both the C5.2 flare and microflares. This indirectly supports the avalanche theory of flare energy release, which implies that a big flare may be spatially associated with many small flares.     

Electron densities above a polar coronal hole based on improved Si IX density diagnostics

Using new close-coupling excitation rates for the C-like ion Siix, density-diagnostic ratios based on Siix lines have been re-evaluated and applied to a sequence of CDS observations taken above a polar coronal hole. The derived electron densities are in excellent agreement with previous values of N_eestimated from the N-like ion Siviii for another coronal hole. The confirmed trend is for a fall-off of one order of magnitude within the first 0.3 Rabove the limb. These densities are well fitted with an analytic formula for the density profile out to at least 8 R, by which stage the electron density has fallen to 4×10³ cm^–3, from 1.5×10⁸ cm^–3at 1.0 R.