1,420 research outputs found
High-resolution imaging spectroscopy of two micro-pores and an arch filament system in a small emerging-flux region
Aims. The purpose of this investigation is to characterize the temporal
evolution of an emerging flux region, the associated photospheric and
chromospheric flow fields, and the properties of the accompanying arch filament
system. Methods. This study is based on imaging spectroscopy with the
G\"ottingen Fabry-P\'erot Interferometer at the Vacuum Tower Telescope, on 2008
August 7. Cloud model (CM) inversions of line scans in the strong chromospheric
absorption H line yielded CM parameters, which describe the cool plasma
contained in the arch filament system. Results. The observations cover the
decay and convergence of two micro-pores with diameters of less than one
arcsecond and provide decay rates for intensity and area. The photospheric
horizontal flow speed is suppressed near the two micro-pores indicating that
the magnetic field is sufficiently strong to affect the convective energy
transport. The micro-pores are accompanied by an arch filament system, where
small-scale loops connect two regions with H line-core brightenings
containing an emerging flux region with opposite polarities. The chromospheric
velocity of the cloud material is predominantly directed downwards near the
footpoints of the loops with velocities of up to 12 km/s, whereas loop tops
show upward motions of about 3 km/s. Conclusions. Micro-pores are the smallest
magnetic field concentrations leaving a photometric signature in the
photosphere. In the observed case, they are accompanied by a miniature arch
filament system indicative of newly emerging flux in the form of
-loops. Flux emergence and decay take place on a time-scale of about
two days, whereas the photometric decay of the micro-pores is much more rapid
(a few hours), which is consistent with the incipient submergence of
-loops. The results are representative for the smallest emerging flux
regions still recognizable as such.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, 3 tables, published in A&
The Thermal Environment of the Fiber Glass Dome for the New Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory
The New Solar Telescope (NST) is a 1.6-meter off-axis Gregory-type telescope
with an equatorial mount and an open optical support structure. To mitigate the
temperature fluctuations along the exposed optical path, the effects of
local/dome-related seeing have to be minimized. To accomplish this, NST will be
housed in a 5/8-sphere fiberglass dome that is outfitted with 14 active vents
evenly spaced around its perimeter. The 14 vents house louvers that open and
close independently of one another to regulate and direct the passage of air
through the dome. In January 2006, 16 thermal probes were installed throughout
the dome and the temperature distribution was measured. The measurements
confirmed the existence of a strong thermal gradient on the order of 5 degree
Celsius inside the dome. In December 2006, a second set of temperature
measurements were made using different louver configurations. In this study, we
present the results of these measurements along with their integration into the
thermal control system (ThCS) and the overall telescope control system (TCS).Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, submitted to SPIE Optics+Photonics, San Diego,
U.S.A., 26-30 August 2007, Conference: Solar Physics and Space Weather
Instrumentation II, Proceedings of SPIE Volume 6689, Paper #2
Temporal evolution of arch filaments as seen in He I 10830 \r{A}
We study the evolution of an arch filament system (AFS) and of its individual
arch filaments to learn about the processes occurring in them. We observed the
AFS at the GREGOR solar telescope on Tenerife at high cadence with the very
fast spectroscopic mode of the GREGOR Infrared Spectrograph (GRIS) in the He I
10830 \AA\ spectral range. The He I triplet profiles were fitted with analytic
functions to infer line-of-sight (LOS) velocities to follow plasma motions
within the AFS. We tracked the temporal evolution of an individual arch
filament over its entire lifetime, as seen in the He I 10830 \AA\ triplet. The
arch filament expanded in height and extended in length from 13" to 21". The
lifetime of this arch filament is about 30 min. About 11 min after the arch
filament is seen in He I, the loop top starts to rise with an average Doppler
velocity of 6 km/s. Only two minutes later, plasma drains down with supersonic
velocities towards the footpoints reaching a peak velocity of up to 40 km/s in
the chromosphere. The temporal evolution of He I 10830 \AA\ profiles near the
leading pore showed almost ubiquitous dual red components of the He I triplet,
indicating strong downflows, along with material nearly at rest within the same
resolution element during the whole observing time. We followed the arch
filament as it carried plasma during its rise from the photosphere to the
corona. The material then drained toward the photosphere, reaching supersonic
velocities, along the legs of the arch filament. Our observational results
support theoretical AFS models and aids in improving future models.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 12 pages, 15
figures, 1 online movi
Finite type approximations of Gibbs measures on sofic subshifts
Consider a H\"older continuous potential defined on the full shift
A^\nn, where is a finite alphabet. Let X\subset A^\nn be a specified
sofic subshift. It is well-known that there is a unique Gibbs measure
on associated to . Besides, there is a natural nested
sequence of subshifts of finite type converging to the sofic subshift
. To this sequence we can associate a sequence of Gibbs measures
. In this paper, we prove that these measures weakly converge
at exponential speed to (in the classical distance metrizing weak
topology). We also establish a strong mixing property (ensuring weak
Bernoullicity) of . Finally, we prove that the measure-theoretic
entropy of converges to the one of exponentially fast.
We indicate how to extend our results to more general subshifts and potentials.
We stress that we use basic algebraic tools (contractive properties of iterated
matrices) and symbolic dynamics.Comment: 18 pages, no figure
Ca II 8542 \AA\ brightenings induced by a solar microflare
We study small-scale brightenings in Ca II 8542 \AA\ line-core images to
determine their nature and effect on localized heating and mass transfer in
active regions. High-resolution 2D spectroscopic observations of an active
region in the Ca II 8542 \AA\ line were acquired with the GFPI attached to the
1.5-meter GREGOR telescope. Inversions of the spectra were carried out using
NICOLE. We identified three brightenings of sizes up to 2"x2". We found
evidence that the brightenings belonged to the footpoints of a microflare (MF).
The properties of the observed brightenings disqualified the scenarios of
Ellerman bombs or IRIS bombs. However, this MF shared some common properties
with flaring active-region fibrils or flaring arch filaments (FAFs): (1) FAFs
and MFs are both apparent in chromospheric and coronal layers according to the
AIA channels, and (2) both show flaring arches with lifetimes of about 3.0-3.5
min and lengths of about 20". The inversions revealed heating by 600 K at the
footpoint location in the ambient chromosphere during the impulsive phase.
Connecting the footpoints, a dark filamentary structure appeared in the Ca II
line-core images. Before the start of the MF, the spectra of this structure
already indicated average blueshifts, meaning upward motions of the plasma
along the LOS. During the impulsive phase, these velocities increased up to
-2.2 km/s. Downflows dominated at the footpoints. However, in the upper
photosphere, slight upflows occurred during the impulsive phase. Hence,
bidirectional flows are present in the footpoints of the MF. Conclusions: We
detected Ca II brightenings that coincided with the footpoint location of an
MF. The MF event led to a rise of plasma in the upper photosphere, both before
and during the impulsive phase. Excess mass, previously raised to at most
chromospheric layers, slowly drained downward along arches toward the
footpoints of the MF.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 13 pages, 6
figures, 1 online movi
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