High-Resolution Studies of Complex Solar Active Regions

Details High-Resolution Studies of Complex Solar Active Regions High-Resolution Studies of Complex Solar Active Regions

Jun 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006spd....37.3401d&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, SPD meeting #37, #34.01; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.258

Physics

Optics

Scientific paper

Most Flares and CMEs occur or originate in solar active regions, typically in sunspots with complex magnetic fields such as delta-spots. Rapid and substantial changes of the sunspot structure have been discovered to be associated with flares/CMEs. Rapid penumbral decay and umbral enhancements are intensity changes, which are interpreted as signatures of magnetic reconnection during the flare. The magnetic field lines switch from an inclined to a more vertical orientation. Strong and long-lived shear flows near the flaring magnetic inversion line have been detected using Local Correlation Tracking (LCT) techniques based on multi-wavelength high resolution observations. A newly observed and important phenomenon is the increased local shear flow and magnetic shear right after the flare in spite of theoretical models requiring an overall decrease in the magnetic free energy. The emergence of a twisted or pre-sheared flux rope near the neutral line is a possible interpretation. Using high-order adaptive optics combined post-facto speckle masking image reconstruction, we can obtain time-series with highly improved image quality and spatial resolution in the order of 0.14" or about 100 km on the solar surface. We combine the observed longitudinal Dopplergrams obtained with two-dimensional imaging spectrometer and transverse LCT flow maps derived from time-series of speckle reconstructed images to create real local 3D flow maps (view from above). Using these precise 3D flow maps observed in a typical sunspot in the course of its center to limb disc passage, we observe distinct division line between radially inward and outward flow in the penumbra and its evolution during the decaying phase of the sunspot. The inclination angles of penumbral flow channels are also calculated.Acknowledgments: This work is supported by NSF under grant ATM 03-42560, ATM 03-13591, ATM 02-36945, ATM 05-48952, and MRI AST 00-79482 and by NASA under grant NAG 5-13661.

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