0000000000149659
AUTHOR
I. Cabello
Evolution of small-scale magnetic elements in the vicinity of granular-size swirl convective motions
Advances in solar instrumentation have led to a widespread usage of time series to study the dynamics of solar features, specially at small spatial scales and at very fast cadences. Physical processes at such scales are determinant as building blocks for many others occurring from the lower to the upper layers of the solar atmosphere and beyond, ultimately for understanding the bigger picture of solar activity. Ground-based (SST) and space-borne (Hinode) high-resolution solar data are analyzed in a quiet Sun region displaying negative polarity small-scale magnetic concentrations and a cluster of bright points observed in G-band and Ca II H images. The studied region is characterized by the …
Center-to-limb variation of the area covered by magnetic bright points in the quiet Sun
CONTEXT: The quiet Sun magnetic fields produce ubiquitous bright points (BPs) that cover a significant fraction of the solar surface. Their contribution to the total solar irradiance (TSI) is so-far unknown. AIMS: To measure the center-to-limb variation (CLV) of the fraction of solar surface covered by quiet Sun magnetic bright points. The fraction is referred to as 'fraction of covered surface', or FCS. METHODS: Counting of the area covered by BPs in G-band images obtained at various heliocentric angles with the 1-m Swedish Solar Telescope on La Palma. Through restoration, the images are close to the diffraction limit of the instrument (~0.1 arcsec). RESULTS: The FCS is largest at disk cen…
Convectively driven vortex flows in the Sun
We have discovered small whirlpools in the Sun, with a size similar to the terrestrial hurricanes (<~0.5 Mm). The theory of solar convection predicts them, but they had remained elusive so far. The vortex flows are created at the downdrafts where the plasma returns to the solar interior after cooling down, and we detect them because some magnetic bright points (BPs) follow a logarithmic spiral in their way to be engulfed by a downdraft. Our disk center observations show 0.009 vortexes per Mm^2, with a lifetime of the order of 5 min, and with no preferred sense of rotation. They are not evenly spread out over the surface, but they seem to trace the supergranulation and the mesogranulation. T…
Spatial distribution and statistical properties of small-scale convective vortex-like motions in a quiet-Sun region
High-resolution observations of a quiet Sun internetwork region taken with the Solar 1-m Swedish Telescope in La Palma are analyzed. We determine the location of small-scale vortex motions in the solar photospheric region by computing the horizontal proper motions of small-scale structures on time series of images. These plasma convectively-driven swirl motions are associated to: (1) downdrafts (that have been commonly explained as corresponding to sites where the plasma is cooled down and hence returned to the interior below the visible photospheric level), and (2) horizontal velocity vectors converging into a central point. The sink cores are proved to be the final destination of passive …
Centre-to-limb variation of photospheric facular radiance and image resolution
Abstract We study the effect of the angular resolution on the determination of the angular properties of the facular radiance. We analyze photospheric intensity in the continuum, around the Ni 676.8 nm line, and longitudinal magnetic field along the line of sight, measured by the MDI instrument aboard SOHO with two spatial resolutions, 4″ and 1.2″ (2″ and 0.6″ pixels, respectively). The effect of the limited photometric sensitivity of the instrument and the limited information on the angular structure of the magnetic field tubes are considered. Our study of the high-resolution data shows that intensity contrast of magnetic features between 80 and 600 Gauss increases from centre to limb up t…
Observations of vortex motion in the solar photosphere using HINODE-SP data
In this work, we focus in the magnetic evolution of a small region as seen by Hinode-SP during the time interval of about one hour. High-cadence LOS magnetograms and velocity maps were derived, allowing the study of different small-scale processes such as the formation/disappearance of bright points accompanying the evolution of an observed convective vortical motion.
Evidence of small-scale magnetic concentrations dragged by vortex motion of solar photospheric plasma
Vortex-type motions have been measured by tracking bright points in high-resolution observations of the solar photosphere. These small-scale motions are thought to be determinant in the evolution of magnetic footpoints and their interaction with plasma and therefore likely to play a role in heating the upper solar atmosphere by twisting magnetic flux tubes. We report the observation of magnetic concentrations being dragged towards the center of a convective vortex motion in the solar photosphere from high-resolution ground-based and space-borne data. We describe this event by analyzing a series of images at different solar atmospheric layers. By computing horizontal proper motions, we detec…