419 research outputs found
Detection of polarization from the E^4\Pi-A^4\Pi system of FeH in sunspot spectra
Here we report the first detection of polarization signals induced by the
Zeeman effect in spectral lines of the E^4\Pi-A^4\Pi system of FeH located
around 1.6 m. Motivated by the tentative detection of this band in the
intensity spectrum of late-type dwarfs, we have investigated the full Stokes
sunspot spectrum finding circular and linear polarization signatures that we
associate with the FeH lines of the E^4\Pi-A^4\Pi band system. We investigate
the Zeeman effect in these molecular transitions pointing out that in Hund's
case (a) coupling the effective Land\'e factors are never negative. For this
reason, the fact that our spectropolarimetric observations indicate that the
Land\'e factors of pairs of FeH lines have opposite signs, prompt us to
conclude that the E^4\Pi-A^4\Pi system must be in intermediate angular momentum
coupling between Hund's cases (a) and (b). We emphasize that theoretical and/or
laboratory investigations of this molecular system are urgently needed for
exploiting its promising diagnostic capabilities.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical
Journal Letter
Rayleigh-Taylor instability in partially ionized compressible plasmas: one fluid approach
We study the modification of the classical criterion for the linear onset and
growth rate of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) in a partially ionized
(PI) plasma in the one-fluid description, considering a generalized induction
equation. The governing linear equations and appropriate boundary conditions,
including gravitational terms, are derived and applied to the case of the RTI
in a single interface between two partially ionized plasmas. The boundary
conditions lead to an equation for the frequencies in which some of them have
positive complex parts, marking the appearance of the RTI. We study the
ambipolar term alone first, extending the result to the full induction equation
later. We find that the configuration is always unstable because of the
presence of a neutral species. In the classical stability regime the growth
rate is small, since the collisions prevent the neutral fluid to fully develop
the RTI. For parameters in the classical instability regime the growth rate is
lowered, but for the considered theoretical values of the collision frequencies
and diffusion coefficients for solar prominences the differences with the
compressible MHD case are small. We conclude that PI modifies some aspects of
the linear RTI instability, since it takes into account that neutrals do not
feel the stabilizing effect of the magnetic field. For the set of parameters
representative for solar prominences, our model gives the resulting timescale
comparable with observed lifetimes of RTI plumes.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic
Numerical simulations of quiet Sun magnetic fields seeded by Biermann battery
The magnetic fields of the quiet Sun cover at any time more than 90\% of its
surface and their magnetic energy budget is crucial to explain the thermal
structure of the solar atmosphere. One of the possible origins of these fields
is due to the action of local dynamo in the upper convection zone of the Sun.
Existing simulations of the local solar dynamo require an initial seed field,
and sufficiently high spatial resolution, in order to achieve the amplification
of the seed field to the observed values in the quiet Sun. Here we report an
alternative model of seeding based on the action of the Bierman battery effect.
This effect generates a magnetic field due to the local imbalances in electron
pressure in the partially ionized solar plasma. We show that the battery effect
self-consistently creates from zero an initial seed field of a strength of the
order of micro G, and together with dynamo amplification, allows the generation
of quiet Sun magnetic fields of a similar strength to those from solar
observations.Comment: To appear in Astronomy & Astrophysic
Three-dimensional simulations of solar magneto-convection including effects of partial ionization
Over the last decades, realistic 3D radiative-MHD simulations have become the
dominant theoretical tool for understanding the complex interactions between
the plasma and the magnetic field on the Sun. Most of such simulations are
based on approximations of magnetohydrodynamics, without directly considering
the consequences of the very low degree of ionization of the solar plasma in
the photosphere and bottom chromosphere. The presence of large amount of
neutrals leads to a partial decoupling of the plasma and the magnetic field. As
a consequence of that, a series of non-ideal effects (ambipolar diffusion, Hall
effect and battery effect) arises. The ambipolar effect is the dominant one in
the solar chromosphere. Here we report on the first three-dimensional realistic
simulations of magneto-convection including ambipolar diffusion and battery
effects. The simulations are done using the newly developed Mancha3D code. Our
results reveal that ambipolar diffusion causes measurable effects on the
amplitudes of waves excited by convection in the simulations, on the absorption
of Poynting flux and heating and on the formation of chromospheric structures.
We provide a low limit on the chromospheric temperature increase due to the
ambipolar effect using the simulations with battery-excited dynamo fields.Comment: To appear in Astronomy & Astrophysic
On the nature of transverse coronal waves revealed by wavefront dislocations
Coronal waves are an important aspect of the dynamics of the plasma in the
corona. Wavefront dislocations are topological features of most waves in nature
and also of magnetohydrodynamic waves. Are there dislocations in coronal waves?
The finding and explanation of dislocations may shed light on the nature and
characteristics of the propagating waves, their interaction in the corona and
in general on the plasma dynamics. We positively identify dislocations in
coronal waves observed by the Coronal Multi-channel Polarimeter (CoMP) as
singularities in the Doppler shifts of emission coronal lines. We study the
possible singularities that can be expected in coronal waves and try to
reproduce the observed dislocations in terms of localization and frequency of
appearance. The observed dislocations can only be explained by the interference
of a kink and a sausage wave modes propagating with different frequencies along
the coronal magnetic field. In the plane transverse to the propagation, the
cross-section of the oscillating plasma must be smaller than the spatial
resolution, and the two waves result in net longitudinal and transverse
velocity components that are mixed through projection onto the line of sight.
Alfv\'en waves can be responsible of the kink mode, but a magnetoacoustic
sausage mode is necessary in all cases. Higher (flute) modes are excluded. The
kink mode has a pressure amplitude that is smaller than the pressure amplitude
of the sausage mode, though its observed velocity is larger. This concentrates
dislocations on the top of the loop. To explain dislocations, any model of
coronal waves must include the simultaneous propagation and interference of
kink and sausage wave modes of comparable but different frequencies, with a
sausage wave amplitude much smaller than the kink one.Comment: 11 pages. 5 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
Penumbral thermal structure below the visible surface
. The thermal structure of the penumbra below its visible surface
(i.e., ) has important implications for our present understanding
of sunspots and their penumbrae: their brightness and energy transport, mode
conversion of magneto-acoustic waves, sunspot seismology, and so forth. .
We aim at determining the thermal stratification in the layers immediately
beneath the visible surface of the penumbra: ( km below the visible continuum-forming layer). . We analyzed
spectropolarimetric data (i.e., Stokes profiles) in three Fe \textsc{i} lines
located at 1565 nm observed with the GRIS instrument attached to the 1.5-meter
solar telescope GREGOR. The data are corrected for the smearing effects of
wide-angle scattered light and then subjected to an inversion code for the
radiative transfer equation in order to retrieve, among others, the temperature
as a function of optical depth . . We find that the
temperature gradient below the visible surface of the penumbra is smaller than
in the quiet Sun. This implies that in the region the penumbral
temperature diverges from that of the quiet Sun. The same result is obtained
when focusing only on the thermal structure below the surface of bright
penumbral filaments. We interpret these results as evidence of a thick
penumbra, whereby the magnetopause is not located near its visible surface. In
addition, we find that the temperature gradient in bright penumbral filaments
is lower than in granules. This can be explained in terms of the limited
expansion of a hot upflow inside a penumbral filament relative to a granular
upflow, as magnetic pressure and tension forces from the surrounding penumbral
magnetic field hinder an expansion like this.Comment: 5 pages; 2 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysics Letter
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