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Solar Faculae and Flocculent Flows: Spectropolarimetric and Filter Observations in the Fe I, Ba II, and Ca II Lines

  • SOLAR PHYSICS
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Abstract

The results of spectropolarimetric and filter observations of a faculae region located near the solar disc center in the Fe I 1564.3, Fe I 1565.8, Ba II 455.4, and Ca II H 396.8 nm lines are discussed. The observation data are obtained using the German vacuum tower telescope of Observatorio del Teide (Tenerife, Spain). Observations of the faculae region are made simultaneously in the three spectral regions: spectropolarimetric observations of the I, Q, U, and V Stokes parameters of two neutral iron lines Fe I 1564.8 and Fe I 1565.2 nm with a time resolution of 6 min 50 s; filter observations in 37 sections of the profile of the ionized barium Ba II 455.4 nm line with a time resolution of 25.6 s; and filter observations only in the center of the ionized calcium Ca II H 396.8 nm line with a time resolution of 4.9 s. The following observation data are studied: (1) the power of the magnetic field at the altitude of the formation of a continuous spectrum near the Fe I 1564.8 and Fe I 1565.2 nm lines (h ≈ −100 km); (2) wave velocities at fourteen altitude levels in the atmosphere of the Sun, at which radiation in the Ba II 455.4 nm spectral line is formed (h ≈ 0−650 km), and calculated phase shifts Φ(V,V) between fluctuations of velocity V in the photosphere at the height of radiation formation in the center of this line (h ≈ 650 km) and velocity fluctuations at the other thirteen altitude levels; and (3) the faculae contrast at the altitude of formation of the Ca II H 396.8 nm line center (h ≈ 1600 km). The following two trends are shown: (1) The power of velocity fluctuations greatly varies depending on the frequency of oscillations with a change in the altitude in the atmosphere of the Sun. At the altitudes ranging from 0 to 300 km, the maximum oscillation power occurs at a frequency of 3.5 mHz. Another maximum occurs near a frequency of 4.5 mHz at the altitude level of h = 650 km, and the maximum oscillation power at a frequency of approximately 1.5 mHz is quite noticeable at an altitude of h = 1600 km. (2) The contrast in the center of the Ca II H 396.8 nm line (h = 650 km) does not monotonically increase with an increase in the intensity of the photospheric magnetic field, as might be expected from general considerations. At large magnetic fields (B > 140 mT), this dependence becomes inverse.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am sincerely grateful to Prof. Manuel Callados and Prof. Elena Khomenko, the members of the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics, for their assistance in obtaining observation data from the vacuum tower telescope (Observatory del Teide, Tenerife Island, Spain) and for providing us with the SIR software package and also to the reviewer for his useful comments.

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This study was supported by ongoing institutional funding. No additional grants to carry out or direct this particular research were obtained.

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  1. Main Astronomical Observatory, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 03143, Kyiv, Ukraine

    R. I. Kostik

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Kostik, R.I. Solar Faculae and Flocculent Flows: Spectropolarimetric and Filter Observations in the Fe I, Ba II, and Ca II Lines. Kinemat. Phys. Celest. Bodies 40, 40–46 (2024). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0884591324010069

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