Formation of the Solar 10830 Å Line

Abstract

One-dimensional hydrostatic-equilibrium models are shown here for faint, average, and bright components of the quiet Sun, and for a plage region, describing in each case how the atmosphere is stratified through the photosphere, chromosphere, and transition region up to a temperature of 10⁵ K. The observed coronal line radiation is assumed to be the inward incident radiation at the 10⁵ K boundary. This coronal radiation penetrates into the upper chromosphere causing sufficient helium ionization to populate the lower level of the He I 10830 Å line, producing optically-thin absorption of the photospheric continuum at 10830Å. The amount of absorption, which is proportional to the optical thickness of the upper chromosphere in the 10830 line, depends on 1) the strength of the coronal lines at wavelengths in the He I 504 Å ionizing continuum, and 2) the density and geometrical thickness of the upper chromosphere. The computed 10830 Å line is shown for the four atmospheric models and for three values of the coronal illumination. The calculated off-limb 10830 intensity distribution shows a minimum in the low chromosphere and a maximum at roughly 2000 km above the photosphere, in general agreement with observations, indicating that this is the predominant height of the transition region over most of the solar surface.