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NASA NTRS1973

Theoretical understanding of chromospheric inhomogeneities

Detailed theoretical studies of chromospheric inhomogeneities consider dynamics as well as radiative transfer of mass flow as a consequence of energy deposition. It is shown that pressure is exerted by the heating waves, especially in inhomogeneous structures, where they can be defracted. A dynamical model is formulated that depicts the inhomogeneous structure of the chromosphere-corona transition region through mass flow regimes.

Delache, P.↗
NASA NTRS1973

New observations of the solar ultraviolet chromosphere.

We present some of the results of a rocket flight which obtained a stigmatic spectrum of the sun in the region 1190 to 1320A. The experiment achieved a spectral resolution of 0.01A throughout this range, and the effective angular resolution was about 20 sec. Lines which are formed in the chromosphere and transition zone show strong fluctuations with position on the disk. The correspondence between the H Lyman-alpha profile and chromospheric details seen in the Ca K-line is demonstrated.

Bruner, E. C., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Solar rotation in the chromosphere and corona

Extreme ultraviolet spectroheliograms in Mg X (625 A) and the Lyman continuum (897 A) obtained from OSO-6 are used to determine the differential rotation rate in the solar chromosphere and corona. The equatorial rotation rate agrees with spectroscopic measurements of the photospheric plasma velocity; the variation of rate with latitude is less pronounced than in most other determinations. We cannot discern a variation in the rotation rate between the chromosphere and corona.

Henze, W., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1974

The galloping chromosphere

Oscillating velocity fields can be observed on H-alpha filtergrams as a shifting pattern of intensity fluctuations known as 'the galloping chromosphere'. The characteristics of this activity are those of horizontal running waves of typical period of about 300 sec and long wavelength (about 20,000 km) that can be interpreted as acoustic-gravity waves propagating in the acoustic domain. Periods are longer in dark, structured regions, and in fibrils, and the change is quantitatively consistent with the reduction of resonance frequency in a magnetic field of 1 to 10 gauss. These easily observed fluctuations thus offer a means of estimating magnetic-field strength at specific locations in the chromosphere. Phase velocities are high, ranging upward from typical values between 50 and 100 km per sec, and tending to be lower in active regions and toward the limb.

Sawyer, C.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Observations of the chromospheric network - Initial results from the Apollo Telescope Mount

A preliminary analysis of early data taken by the HCO spectrometer on Skylab shows that the solar chromospheric network can be clearly seen with varying contrast in the extreme-ultraviolet emission characteristic of temperatures between 10,000 K (the Lyman continuum) and 300,000 K (O VI). In the emission of Mg X, a coronal line formed at about 1,500,000 K, the network is generally unrecognizable. This is interpreted as being due to a spreading of the magnetic field lines of the network boundary in the height interval corresponding to the temperature difference between 300,000 and 1,500,000 K. We note that in certain anomalous cases, bright points of the network are seen to extend with high contrast and essentially unchanged in their cross-section through the full range of temperatures characteristic of the chromosphere, transition region, and low corona.

Reeves, E. M.↗
NASA NTRS1974

On spatial variations in the intensity of chromospheric H-alpha

Investigation of the formation of patterns in H-alpha spectroheliograms and filtergrams. Introducing a source-sink-control diagram, it is concluded that the H-alpha line source function in the quiet solar chromosphere is indirectly controlled by the photospheric radiation fields in the Balmer and Paschen continua. It is demonstrated that in producing the observed patterns, horizontal spatial variations in the shape of the absorption profile are extremely effective compared to changes in the source and sink terms. Applying this mechanism, asymptotic values are computed for the contrasts and visibilities in chromospheric H-alpha.

Gebbie, K. B.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Slow X-ray bursts and chromospheric flares with filament disruption

The data from OGO-5 and OSO-7 X-ray experiments have been analyzed to study six chromospheric flares with filament disruption associated with slow thermal X-ray bursts. Filament activation accompanied by a slight X-ray enhancement precedes the first evidence of H alpha flare by a few minutes. Rapid increase of the soft X-ray flux is accompanied by a sudden brightening of the filament when viewed on-band H alpha. Thereafter the bright chromospheric strands reach their maximum brightness with maximum X-ray flux. Any plateau or slow decay phase in the X-ray flux is accompanied by a quieting in filament activity and even by filament re-appearance. The height of the disrupted prominence is proportional to the soft X-ray flux for the August 3, 1970 limb occulted event.

Roy, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Magnetic fields and dense chromospheres in dMe stars

The hypothesis is investigated that dense chromospheres of dMe stars are heated by dissipation of hydromagnetic waves which may be generated in active regions where the nonspot magnetic field strength can be as large as 5 to 10 kG. It is proposed that dMe stars are a set of magnetic stars on the lower main sequence which have strong fields generated by dynamo action in deep convective envelopes, while dM stars are nonmagnetic or weakly magnetic stars having no starspots on their surfaces. The combination of magnetic fields and dense chromospheres in dMe stars is shown to provide consistent evidence for several conclusions, including: (1) the dMe stars which are most likely to be flare stars are those with hydrogen emission lines and (2) propagation of flare-initiated coronal waves can trigger sympathetic stellar flares. It is suggested that grain formation occurs in starspots of dMe stars and that such grains in a circumstellar shell are responsible for the systematic IR excesses of dMe stars relative to dM stars.

Mullan, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Flare model chromospheres and photospheres

Homogeneous plane-parallel model atmospheres for solar flares have been constructed to approximately simulate observations of flares. The wings of the Ca II lines have been used to derive flare upper photosphere models, which indicate temperature increases of about 100 K over the temperature distribution in the pre-existing facula at a height of 300 km. In the case of flares covering sunspots the temperature rise seems to occur much higher in the atmosphere. We find that with increasing flare importance the heights of the upper chromosphere and transition region occur lower in the solar atmosphere, accounting for the factor of 60-600 increase in pressure in these regions relative to the quiet sun. The Ca II line profiles agree with observations only by assuming a macrovelocity distribution that increases with height. Also, the chromospheric parts of flares appear to be highly inhomogeneous. We show that shock and particle heated flare models do not agree with the observations and propose a thermal response model for flares. In particular, it appears that heating in the photosphere is an essential aspect of flares.

Machado, M. E.↗
NASA NTRS1976

The EUV chromospheric network in the quiet sun

Investigations on the structure and intensity of the chromospheric network from quiet solar regions have been carried out with EUV data obtained with a spectroheliometer on the Apollo Telescope Mount of Skylab. The distribution of intensities within supergranulation cell interiors follows a near-normal function, where the standard deviation exceeds the value expected from the counting rate, which indicates fine-scale structure below the 5 arcsec resolution of the data. The intensities from the centers of supergranulation cells appear to be the same in both quiet regions and coronal holes, although the network is significantly different in the two types of regions. The average halfwidth of the network elements was measured as 10 arcsec and was independent of the temperature of formation of the observing line for effective-temperature logarithms (log Te) from 3.8 to 5.8. The contrast between the network and the centers of cells is greatest for lines with log Te about equal to 5.2, where the network contributes approximately 75% of the intensity of quiet solar regions. The contrast and fractional-intensity contributions decrease to higher and lower temperatures characteristic of the corona and chromosphere.

Reeves, E. M.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Stellar model chromospheres. V - Alpha Centauri A /G2 V/ and Alpha Centauri B /K1 V/

Models for the upper photospheres and lower chromospheres of Alpha Centauri A and B are derived from high-dispersion spectrograms of the Ca II K-line emission cores and damping wings. Effective temperatures, surface gravities, and ages consistent with the measured broadband colors, metallicities, and absolute magnitudes are estimated for the two stars. The spectrograms are calibrated by fitting the far-wing K profiles with synthetic fluxes based on radiative-equilibrium models, and the model atmospheres are obtained through a partial-redistribution analysis of the line cores and damping wings. These models are compared with those previously proposed for Procyon, Arcturus, and the sun. Many features in all the models are found to be quite similar, and some evidence suggests that Alpha Cen A may be significantly older and more evolved than the sun, even though both stars exhibit similar chromospheric properties.

Ayres, T. R.↗
NASA NTRS1977

High resolution spectroscopy of the disk chromosphere. V - Space-time variations observed simultaneously in seven lines

Time sequence spectroscopic observations of the quiet solar chromosphere along a 200 Mm strip near the center of the disk were reduced to obtain 30 min of data. Oscillations appear in most of the observations in selected photospheric and chromospheric lines, but rarely in continuum observations. At a given point, the oscillations may be prominent or weak, they are never regular in time, and there is no unique relationship between the amplitudes at different heights. There are several examples of granules which apparently excite a burst of short period oscillations. By considering the line shift and intensity variations of all the lines, a working model is derived for the velocity field and related temperature variation.

Cram, L. E.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Chromospheric oscillations observed in the 1336-A C II line with OSO-8

Satellite observations of velocity and intensity oscillations of the upper-chromospheric C II line at 1336 A were made. The dominant period of oscillation is 300 s, with little evidence of the power peak in the range 150-200 s which has been observed in other chromospheric lines. Peak-to-peak amplitudes are 2 km/s and 8% in velocity and intensity, respectively. Tentative evidence for a 900-s periodicity is presented. Relative phase measurements show that the maximum intensity for the 300-s oscillation leads the maximum blueshift by approximately 145 s. Comparison of line and background (scattered light) intensity variation shows upward wave propagation with time delays between the 1800-A continuum and the 1336-A C II variation of 27 s and 70 s for different cases.

Chipman, E. G.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Line formation in the solar chromosphere. I - The C II resonance lines observed with OSO 8

The temperature structure of the upper chromosphere is investigated using center-to-limb measurements of the C II resonance lines at 1335 A from the University of Colorado spectrometer aboard OSO 8. Spectrum synthesis of these lines shows them to be extremely sensitive to the temperature and the physical extent of the 20,000 K plateau proposed by Vernazza et al (1973). Hydrostatic equilibrium models of the quiet chromosphere are computed to obtain theoretical spectra of the Lyman lines and continuum as well as the center-to-limb behavior of the C II lines. Good agreement is found with observations for a plateau at 16,500 K with about 25% more material than that of Vernazza et al.

Lites, B. W.↗
NASA NTRS1978

D sub 3 spicules and the lower chromosphere

High resolution filtergrams of the solar limb in D sub 3 and off-band H-alpha have been used to investigate the spatial structure of the D sub 3 chromosphere. It was found that spicules provide the major contribution to the intensity of the D sub 3 emission band observed above the limb, with the remainder of the emission coming from a semi-homogeneous background component at low heights. The observations can be understood on the basis of the photoionization model, whereby it is found that helium is only slightly ionized at the height of peak intensity in the D sub 3 emission band, and that spicules are at least three times denser than their surroundings at this height. In coronal holes, the D sub 3 emission is confined to isolated emission patches, and these patches contain a fine structure resembling normal chromospheric spicules.

Marsh, K. A.↗
NASA NTRS1978

OSO 8 observations of wave propagation in the solar chromosphere and transition region

The University of Colorado instrument on OSO 8 has been used to observe relative phases of the 300-s intensity variation between the temperature-minimum region and several emission lines formed in the solar chromosphere and chromosphere-corona transition region. The lines used are due to Fe II, Si II, C II, Si IV, and C IV. The scattered light in the spectrograph, which originates almost entirely in the spectral region between 1700 and 1900 A, was used as a probe of the temperature-minimum region. The lines of Fe II, Si II, and C II show almost identical delays of approximately 30 s relative to the temperature minimum, while the intensity oscillations of the lines of Si IV and C IV appear to lead the temperature-minimum intensity oscillations by about 10 s.

Chipman, E. G.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Physical properties of solar chromospheric plages. III - Models based on Ca II and Mg II observations

Solar plages are modeled using observations of both the Ca II K and the Mg II h and k lines. A partial-redistribution approach is employed for calculating the line profiles on the basis of a grid of five model chromospheres. The computed integrated emission intensities for the five atmospheric models are compared with observations of six regions on the sun as well as with models of active-chromosphere stars. It is concluded that the basic plage model grid proposed by Shine and Linsky (1974) is still valid when the Mg II lines are included in the analysis and the Ca II and Mg II lines are analyzed using partial-redistribution diagnostics.

Kelch, W. L.↗