Bibcode
DOI
Socas-Navarro, H.; Martínez Pillet, V.; Sobotka, M.; Vázquez, M.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 614, Issue 1, pp. 448-456.
Advertised on:
10
2004
Journal
Citations
54
Refereed citations
48
Description
This paper presents the analysis of high-resolution Stokes observations
of eight different umbral dots in a sunspot. The spectra were recorded
with the La Palma Stokes Polarimeter, attached to the Swedish Vacuum
Solar Telescope. The observed line profiles have been inverted to yield
the height stratifications of temperature, magnetic field, and
line-of-sight velocity, as well as their respective Wilson depressions.
We report on systematic differences in the properties of umbral dots
with respect to the nearby umbra, including small upflows (~100 m
s-1), higher temperatures (~1 kK), and weaker fields (~500 G)
with more horizontal orientations (~10°). The field weakening is
strongly correlated with the Wilson depression, suggesting that it may
be due to an opacity effect (as one is looking at higher layers). The
inclination excess, on the other hand, is real and cannot be ascribed to
formation height issues. The results obtained from our semiempirical
modeling are discussed within the context of the currently existing
scenarios for the subsurface structure of sunspots. The observational
signatures revealed by our analysis fit well within both the
``spaghetti'' and the monolithic models.