Bibcode
Jafarzadeh, S.; Wedemeyer, S.; Szydlarski, M.; De Pontieu, B.; Rezaei, R.; Carlsson, M.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 622, id.A150, 18 pp.
Advertised on:
2
2019
Journal
Citations
27
Refereed citations
26
Description
Solar observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
(ALMA) provide us with direct measurements of the brightness temperature
in the solar chromosphere. We study the temperature distributions
obtained with ALMA Band 6 (in four sub-bands at 1.21, 1.22, 1.29, and
1.3 mm) for various areas at, and in the vicinity of, a sunspot,
comprising quasi-quiet and active regions with different amounts of
underlying magnetic fields. We compare these temperatures with those
obtained at near- and far-ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths (and with the
line-core intensities of the optically-thin far-UV spectra), co-observed
with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) explorer. These
include the emission peaks and cores of the Mg II k 279.6 nm and Mg II h
280.4 nm lines as well as the line cores of C II 133.4 nm, O I 135.6 nm,
and Si IV 139.4 nm, sampling the mid-to-high chromosphere and the low
transition region. Splitting the ALMA sub-bands resulted in an slight
increase of spatial resolution in individual temperature maps, thus,
resolving smaller-scale structures compared to those produced with the
standard averaging routines. We find that the radiation temperatures
have different, though somewhat overlapping, distributions in different
wavelengths and in the various magnetic regions. Comparison of the ALMA
temperatures with those of the UV diagnostics should, however, be
interpreted with great caution, the former is formed under the local
thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) conditions, the latter under non-LTE.
The mean radiation temperature of the ALMA Band 6 is similar to that
extracted from the IRIS C II line in all areas with exception of the
sunspot and pores where the C II poses higher radiation temperatures. In
all magnetic regions, the Mg II lines associate with the lowest mean
radiation temperatures in our sample. These will provide constraints for
future numerical models.