Inversions of spectropolarimetric observations of penumbral filaments deliver the stratification of different physical quantities in an optical depth scale. However, without establishing a geometrical height scale their three-dimensional geometrical structure can not be derived. This is crucial in understanding the correct spatial variation of physical properties in the penumbral atmosphere and to provide insights into the mechanism capable of explaining the observed penumbral brightness. The aim of this work is to determine a global geometrical height scale in the penumbra by minimizing the divergence of the magnetic field vector and the deviations from static equilibrium as imposed by a force balance equation that includes pressure gradients, gravity and the Lorentz force. Optical depth models are derived from the SIR inversion of spectropolarimetric data of an active region observed with SOT on-board the Hinode satellite. We use a genetic algorithm to determine the boundary condition for the inference of geometrical heights. The retrieved geometrical height scale permits the evaluation of the Wilson depression at each pixel and the correlation of physical quantities at each height. Our results fit into the uncombed penumbral scenario, i.e., a penumbra composed of flux tubes with channelled mass flow and with a weaker and more horizontal magnetic field as compared with the background field. The ascending material is hotter and denser than their surroundings. We do not find evidence of overturning convection or field free regions in the inner penumbral area analyzed. The penumbral brightness can be explained by the energy transfer of the ascending mass carried by the Evershed flow, if the physical quantities below z=-75km are extrapolated from the results of the inversion.
We study the presence of reversed polarity magnetic flux in sunspot penumbra. We applied a new regularized method to deconvolve spectropolarimetric data observed with the spectropolarimeter SP onboard Hinode. The new regularization is based on a principal component decomposition of the Stokes profiles. The resulting Stokes profiles were inverted to infer the magnetic field vector using SIR. We find, for the first time, reversed polarity fields at the border of many bright penumbral filaments in the whole penumbra.
Spatial distributions of the dominant oscillation frequency obtained for four sunspots show a feature shared by all the analysed levels of the solar atmosphere in these sunspots. This feature located in the inner penumbrae indicates that this region has favourable conditions for 2.5-4 mHz oscillation propagation. This agrees with the fact that the spectral composition of the oscillations at three atmospheric heights (FeI 6173Å, 1700Å, and He II 304Å) in this region are similar. There have been previous evidence of particular similarities along height of photospheric magnetic field strength, li…
To investigate the penumbral plasma flow on a small scale, spectropolari- metric data of sunspots recorded by HINODE was used. Maps of Doppler velocities were created by evaluating the bisector in the line-wing, thereby visualizing the flow pattern in the low photosphere where the Evershed effect is most pronounced. In penumbrae close to the disk center, the vertical component of the Evershed flow dominates. The latter consists of a series of elongated up-flow patterns extending radially through the entire center-side penumbra at a constant azimuth. Along this structure, strong up-flows appear…
The satellite Hinode has recently revealed penumbral structures with a magnetic polarity opposite to the main sunspot polarity. They may be a direct confirmation of magnetic field lines and mass flows returning to the solar interior throughout the penumbra, a configuration previously inferred from interpretation of observed Stokes profile asymmetries. The paper points out the relationship between the reverse polarity features found by Hinode, and the model Micro-Structured Magnetic Atmospheres (MISMAs) proposed for sunspots. We show how the existing model MISMAs produce strongly redshifted rev…
Sunspot penumbrae show high-velocity patches along the periphery. The high-velocity downflow patches are believed to be the return channels of the Evershed flow. We aim to investigate their structure in detail using Hinode SOT/SP observations. We employ Fourier interpolation in combination with spatially coupled height dependent LTE inversions of Stokes profiles to produce high-resolution, height-dependent maps of atmospheric parameters of these downflows and investigate their properties. High-speed downflows are observed over a wide range of viewing angles. They have supersonic line-of-sight …
Recent spectro-polarimetric observations of a sunspot showed the formation of bipolar magnetic patches in the mid penumbra and their propagation toward the outer penumbral boundary. The observations were interpreted as being caused by sea-serpent magnetic fields near the solar surface (Sainz Dalda & Bellot Rubio 2008). In this Letter, we develop a 3D radiative MHD numerical model to explain the sea-serpent structure and the wave-like behavior of the penumbral magnetic field lines. The simulations reproduce the observed behavior, suggesting that the sea-serpent phenomenon is a consequence of ma…
We have employed a penumbral model, that includes the Evershed flow and convective motions inside penumbral filaments, to reproduce the azimuthal variation of the net circular polarization (NCP) in sunspot penumbrae at different heliocentric angles for two different spectral lines. The theoretical net circular polarization fits the observations as satisfactorily as penumbral models based on flux-tubes. The reason for this is that the effect of convective motions on the NCP is very small compared to the effect of the Evershed flow. In addition, the NCP generated by convective upflows cancels ou…
Aims: We search for penumbral magnetic fields of opposite polarity and for their correspondence with downflows. Methods: We used spectropolarimetric HINODE data of a spot very close to disk center to suppress the horizontal velocity components as much as possible. We focus our study on 3-lobe Stokes V profiles. Results: From forward modeling and inversions, we show that 3-lobe profiles testify to the presence of opposite magnetic fields. They occur predominately in the mid and outer penumbra and are associated with downflows in the deep layers of the photosphere. Conclusions. Standard magnetog…
Recently, there have been some reports of unusually strong photospheric magnetic fields (which can reach values of over 7 kG) inferred from Hinode SOT/SP sunspot observations within penumbral regions. These superstrong penumbral fields are even larger than the strongest umbral fields on record and appear to be associated with supersonic downflows. The finding of such fields has been controversial since they seem to show up only when spatially coupled inversions are performed. Here, we investigate and discuss the reliability of those findings by studying in detail observed spectra associated wi…
Daily records of sunspot group areas compiled by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, from May of 1874 through 1976 indicate a curious history for the penumbral areas of the smaller sunspot groups. On average, the ratio of penumbral area to umbral area in a sunspot group increases from 5 to 6 as the total sunspot group area increases from 100 to 2000 microHem (a microHem is a millionth the area of a solar hemisphere). This relationship does not vary substantially with sunspot group latitude or with the phase of the sunspot cycle. However, for the sunspot groups with total areas <100 microHem, thi…
The motion of dark striations across bright filaments in a sunspot penumbra has become an important new diagnostic of convective gas flows in penumbral filaments. The nature of these striations has, however, remained unclear. Here we present an analysis of small scale motions in penumbral filaments in both simulations and observations. The simulations, when viewed from above, show fine structure with dark lanes running outwards from the dark core of the penumbral filaments. The dark lanes either occur preferentially on one side or alternate between both sides of the filament. We identify this …
Phase perturbations due to inclined surface magnetic field of active region strength are calculated numerically in quiet Sun and simple sunspot models in order to estimate and compare the direct and indirect (thermal) effects of the fields on helioseismic waves. It is found that the largest direct effects occur in highly inclined field characteristic of penumbrae, and scale roughly linearly with magnetic field strength. The combined effects of sunspot magnetic and thermal anomalies typically yield negative travel-time perturbations in penumbrae. Travel-time shifts in umbrae depend on details o…
A sunspot penumbra is observationally examined to reveal properties of small-scale flow structures and how they are related to the filamentary magnetic structures and the Evershed flow. We also study how the photospheric dynamics is related to chromospheric activities. The study is based on data analysis of spectro-polarimetric observations of photospheric Fe I lines with the Solar Optical Telescope aboard Hinode in a sunspot penumbra at different heliocentric angles. Vector magnetic fields and velocities are derived using the spectro-polarimetric data and a Stokes inversion technique. An obse…
We present an analysis of twisting motions in penumbral filaments in sunspots located at heliocentric angles from $30^\circ$ to $48^\circ$ using three time series of blue continuum images obtained by the Broadband Filter Imager (BFI) onboard {\it Hinode}. The relations of the twisting motions to the filament brightness and the position within the filament and within the penumbra, respectively, are investigated. Only certain portions of the filaments show twisting motions. In a statistical sense, the part of the twisting portion of a filament located closest to the umbra is brightest and posses…
In this work we selected one particular fibril from a high resolution solar chromosphere observation from the Dutch Open Telescope, and tried to obtain a broad picture of the intricate mechanism that might be incorporated in the multiple layer of the Solar atmosphere in high cadence multi-wavelength observation. We analyzed the changingvfibril patter using multi-wavelength tomography, which consists of both H$α$ line center \& the blue wing, Doppler-signal, Ca II H, and the G-band. We have found that the intermittent ejected material through fibril from Doppler images has clearly shown oscilla…
We have observed formation of penumbrae on a pore in the active region NOAA10838 using Dunn Solar Telescope at NSO,Sunpot,USA. Simultaneous observations using different instruments (DLSP,UBF,Gband and CaK) provide us with vector magnetic field at photosphere, intensity images and Doppler velocity at different heights from photosphere to chromosphere. Results from our analysis of this particular data-set suggests that penumbrae are formed as a result of relaxation of magnetic field due to a flare happening at the same time. Images in \Halpha\ show the flare (C 2.9 as per GOES) and vector magnet…
Ellerman bombs are regions with enhanced Balmer line wing emission and mark magnetic reconnection in the deep solar atmosphere in active regions and quiet Sun. They are often found in regions where opposite magnetic polarities are in close proximity. Recent high resolution observations suggest that Ellerman bombs are more prevalent than thought before. We aim to determine the occurrence of Ellerman bombs in the penumbra of sunspots. We analyze high spatial resolution observations of sunspots in the Balmer H-alpha and H-beta lines as well as auxiliary continuum channels obtained with the Swedis…
The ratio of penumbral to umbral area of sunspots is an important topic for solar and geophysical studies. Hathaway (Solar Physics, 286, 347, 2013) found a curious behaviour in this parameter for small sunspot groups (areas smaller than 100 millionths of solar hemisphere, msh) using records from Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO). Hathaway showed that penumbra-umbra ratio decreased smoothly from more than 7 in 1905 to lower than 3 by 1930 and then increased to almost 8 in 1961. Thus, Hathaway proposed the existence of a secular variation in the penumbra-umbra area ratio. In order to confirm tha…
In the past two decades, the complex nature of sunspots has been disclosed with high-resolution observations. One of the most important findings is the "uncombed" penumbral structure, where a more horizontal magnetic component carrying most of Evershed Flows is embedded in a more vertical magnetic background (Solanki & Montavon 1993). The penumbral bright grains are locations of hot upflows and dark fibrils are locations of horizontal flows that are guided by nearly horizontal magnetic field. On the other hand, it was found that flares may change the topology of sunspots in $δ$ configuration: …
Solar magnetic fields are generated in the solar interior and pop up at the solar surface to form active regions. As the magnetic field appears on the surface, it forms various structures like small magnetic elements, pores, and sunspots. The nature of these formation processes is largely unknown. In this contribution we elaborate on the formation of sunspots and particularly on the formation of penumbrae. We report on observations that we obtained at the German VTT on July 4, 2009 on the formation of the spot in AR 11024. This data set is accomplished with data from SOHO/MDI which offers an e…
We investigate the vertical gradient of the magnetic field of sunspots in the photospheric layer. Independent observations were obtained with the SOT/SP onboard the Hinode spacecraft and with the TIP-2 mounted at the VTT. We apply state-of-the-art inversion techniques to both data sets to retrieve the magnetic field and the corresponding vertical gradient. In the sunspot penumbrae we detected patches of negative vertical gradients of the magnetic field strength, i.e.,the magnetic field strength decreases with optical depth in the photosphere. The negative gradient patches are located in the in…
We investigated the vertical penumbral plasma flow on small spatial scales using data recorded by the spectropolarimeter of the solar optical telescope onboard Hinode. To this end we computed maps of apparent Doppler velocities by comparing the spectral position of the Fe I 630.15 nm & Fe I 630.25 nm lines with the averaged line profiles of the quiet Sun. To visualize the flow pattern in the low photosphere, we used a bisector of the wing of the absorption lines. Due to the small heliocentric angle (3 < Theta < 9) of our data sets, the horizontal component of the Evershed flow (EF) does not co…
Context. A significant part of the penumbral magnetic field returns below the surface in the very deep photosphere. For lines in the visible, a large portion of this return field can only be detected indirectly by studying its imprints on strongly asymmetric and three-lobed Stokes V profiles. Infrared lines probe a narrow layer in the very deep photosphere, providing the possibility of directly measuring the orientation of magnetic fields close to the solar surface. Aims. We study the topology of the penumbral magnetic field in the lower photosphere, focusing on regions where it returns below …
Observations with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) have revealed numerous sub-arcsecond bright dots in the transition region above sunspots. These bright dots are seen in the 1400Å and 1330Å slit-jaw images. They are clearly present in all sunspots we investigated, mostly in the penumbrae, but also occasionally in some umbrae and light bridges. The bright dots in the penumbrae typically appear slightly elongated, with the two dimensions being 300--600 km and 250--450 km, respectively. The long sides of these dots are often nearly parallel to the bright filamentary structures in…
We investigate the properties of orphan penumbrae, which are photospheric filamentary structures observed in active regions near polarity inversion lines that resemble the penumbra of regular sunspots but are not connected to any umbra. We use Hinode data from the Solar Optical Telescope to determine the properties of orphan penumbrae. Spectropolarimetric data are employed to obtain the vector magnetic field and line-of-sight velocities in the photosphere. Magnetograms are used to study the overall evolution of these structures, and G-band and Ca II H filtergrams are to investigate their brigh…
We present observations of a precursory signature that would be helpful for understanding the formation process of sunspot penumbrae. The Hinode Solar Optical Telescope successfully captured the entire evolution of a sunspot from the pore to a large well-developed sunspot with penumbra in an emerging flux region appeared in NOAA Active Region 11039. We found an annular zone (width 3"-5") surrounding the umbra (pore) in Ca II H images before the penumbra is formed around the umbra. The penumbra was developed as if to fill the annular zone. The annular zone shows weak magnetogram signals, meanin…
Penumbrae are known to be area of mainly horizontal magnetic field surrounding umbrae of relatively large and mature sunspots. In this paper, we observationally studied the formation of penumbrae in NOAA10978, where several penumbral formations were observed in G-band images of SOT/Hinode. Thanks to the continuous observation by Hinode, we could morphologically follow the evolution of sunspots and found that there are several paths to the penumbral formation: (1) Active accumulation of magnetic flux, (2) Rapid emergence of magnetic field, and (3) Appearance of twisted or rotating magnetic tube…
Sunspots are concentrations of magnetic field on the visible solar surface that strongly affect the convective energy transport in their interior and surroundings. The filamentary outer regions (penumbrae) of sunspots show systematic radial outward flows along channels of nearly horizontal magnetic field. These flows were discovered 100 years ago and are present in all fully developed sunspots. Using a comprehensive numerical simulation of a sunspot pair, we show that penumbral structures with such outflows form when the average magnetic field inclination to the vertical exceeds about 45 degre…
The flare-prolific active region NOAA 10930 offered both a developing delta-spot and a decaying satellite sunspot of opposite polarity. The objective of this study is to characterize the photometric decay of the satellite sunspot and the evolution of photospheric and chromospheric horizontal proper motions in its surroundings. We apply the local correlation tracking technique to a 16-hour time-series of Hinode G-band and CaIIH images and study the horizontal proper motions in the vicinity of the satellite sunspot on 2006 December 7. Decorrelation times were computed to measure the lifetime of …
Penumbral microjets (PJs) are transient narrow bright features in the chromosphere of sunspot penumbrae, first characterized by Katsukawa et al (2007) using the \CaII\ H-line filter on {\it Hinode}'s Solar Optical Telescope (SOT). It was proposed that the PJs form as a result of reconnection between two magnetic components of penumbra (spines and interspines), and that they could contribute to the transition region (TR) and coronal heating above sunspot penumbrae. We propose a modified picture of formation of PJs based on recent results on internal structure of sunspot penumbral filaments. Usi…
We applied automatic identification of sunspot umbrae and penumbrae to daily observations from the Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) to study their magnetic flux (B) and area (A). The results confirm a previously known logarithmic relationship between the area of sunspots and their maximum flux density. In addition, we find that the relation between average magnetic flux (Bavg) and sunspot area shows a bimodal distribution: for small sunspots and pores (A < 20 millionth of solar hemisphere, MSH), Bavg = 800 G (gauss), and for large sunspots (A > 1…
High resolution spectropolarimetric data obtained by HINODE is used to characterize the small-scale penumbral magnetic field as well as the vertical and horizontal component of the Evershed effect (EE). The results demonstrate that the penumbral velocity field differs significantly from that of the quiet Sun. Morphological studies yield elongated upflow channels in the inner penumbra and round downflows in the outer penumbra. These flows are identified as the sources and the sinks of the EE. Remarkable is the high plasma velocity in these sinks, which is much larger when compared to the quiet …
High-resolution observations of horizontal motions in the penumbra are needed to complement the concept of penumbrae obtained from spectropolarimetry. Time series of intensity images of a large sunspot in AR 10634 acquired with the Swedish Solar Telescope in the G band and red continuum are analysed. The two simultaneous time series last six hours and five minutes. Horizontal motions of penumbral grains (PGs), structures in dark bodies of filaments, the outer penumbral border, and G-band bright points are measured in time slices that cover the whole width of the penumbra and the neighbouring g…
Context. The Evershed effect, a nearly horizontal outflow of material seen in the penumbrae of sunspots in the photospheric layers, is a common characteristic of well-developed penumbrae, but is still not well understood. Even less is known about photospheric horizontal inflows in the penumbra, also known as counter Evershed flows. Aims. Here we present a rare feature observed in the penumbra of the main sunspot of AR NOAA 10930. This spot displays the normal Evershed outflow in most of the penumbra, but harbors a fast photospheric inflow of material over a large sector of the disk-center penu…
We report on the discovery of mostly horizontal field channels just outside sunspot penumbrae (in the so-called `moat' region) that are seen to sustain supersonic flows (line-of-sight component of 6 km s{-1}). The spectral signature of these supersonic flows corresponds to circular polarization profiles with an additional, satellite, third lobe of the same sign as the parent sunspot' Stokes V blue lobe, for both downflows and upflows. This is consistent with an outward directed flow that we interpret as the continuation of the magnetized Evershed flow outside sunspots at supersonic speeds. In …
Some models for the topology of the magnetic field in sunspot penumbrae predict the existence of field-free or dynamically weak-field regions in the deep Photosphere. To confirm or rule out the existence of weak-field regions in the deepest photospheric layers of the penumbra. The magnetic field at $\logτ_5=0$ is investigated by means of inversions of spectropolarimetric data of two different sunspots located very close to disk center with a spatial resolution of approximately 0.4-0.45 arcsec. The data have been recorded using the GRIS instrument attached to the 1.5-meters GREGOR solar telesco…
We study the velocity structure of penumbral filaments in the deep photosphere to obtain direct evidence for the convective nature of sunspot penumbrae. A sunspot was observed at high spatial resolution with the 1-m Swedish Solar Telescope in the deep photospheric C I 5380 Å absorption line. The Multi-Object Multi-Frame Blind Deconvolution (MOMFBD) method is used for image restoration and straylight is filtered out. We report here the discovery of clear redshifts in the C I 5380 Å line at multiple locations in sunspot penumbral filaments. For example, bright head of filaments show larger conce…
The distribution of acoustic power over sunspots shows an enhanced absorption near the umbra--penumbra boundary. Earlier studies revealed that the region of enhanced absorption coincides with the region of strongest transverse potential field. The aim of this paper is to (i) utilize the high-resolution vector magnetograms derived using Hinode SOT/SP observations and study the relationship between the vector magnetic field and power absorption and (ii) study the variation of power absorption in sunspot penumbrae due to the presence of spine-like radial structures. It is found that (i) both pote…
Using helioseismic holography strong evidence is presented that the phase (or equivalent travel-time) of helioseismic signatures in Dopplergrams within sunspots depend upon the line-of-sight angle in the plane containing the magnetic field and vertical directions. This is shown for the velocity signal in the penumbrae of two sunspots at 3, 4 and 5 mHz. Phase-sensitive holography demonstrates that they are significantly affected in a strong, moderately inclined magnetic field. This research indicates that the effects of the surface magnetic field are potentially very significant for local helio…
Penumbrae are the manifestation of magnetoconvection in highly inclined (to the vertical direction) magnetic field. The penumbra of a sunspot tends to form, initially, along the arc of the umbra antipodal to the main region of flux emergence. The question of how highly inclined magnetic field can concentrate along the antipodal curves of umbrae, at least initially, remains to be answered. Previous observational studies have suggested the existence of some form of overlying magnetic canopy which acts as the progenitor for penumbrae. We propose that such overlying magnetic canopies are a consequ…
The line profile asymmetry defining the Evershed effect in sunspot penumbrae, disappears abruptly at the outer sunspot boundary over a horizontal distance of less than 500 km immediately at the outermost ends of the dark penumbral continuum structures ('filaments'). This is indicated from the non-magnetic lines Ni I 5435.9 (g=0.5) and Fe I 5434.5 (g=0), which loose their profile asymmetries at the same spatial location although formed at a vertical height distance of 300 km. The widely accepted 'canopy' picture conflicts with this finding which, in contrary, suggests that the gas motion associ…
The analyses of sunspot observations revealed a fundamental magnetic property of the umbral boundary, the invariance of the vertical component of the magnetic field. We aim to analyse the magnetic properties of the umbra-penumbra boundary in simulated sunspots and thus assess their similarity to observed sunspots. Also, we aim to investigate the role of plasma $β$ and the ratio of kinetic to magnetic energy in simulated sunspots on the convective motions. We use a set of non-grey simulation runs of sunspots with the MURaM code. These data are used to synthesise the Stokes profiles that are the…
We present properties of intensity oscillations of a sunspot in the photosphere and chromosphere using G~band and CaIIH filtergrams from Hinode. Intensity power maps as function of magnetic field strength and frequency reveal reduction of power in Gband with increase in photospheric magnetic field strength at all frequencies. In CaIIH, however, stronger fields exhibit more power at high frequencies particularly in the 4.5 mHz-8.0 mHz band. Power distribution in different locations of the active region show that the oscillations in CaIIH exhibit more power in comparison to that of Gband. We als…
Fine Structure and Formation Mechanism of a Sunspot Bipolar Light Bridge in NOAA AR 13663
Peking University（北京大学）；National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家空间科学中心）；Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院云南天文台）；Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam（波茨坦阿基米德莱布尼茨研究所）
研究通过高分辨率观测揭示了NOAA AR 13663日珥双极光桥的精细结构，发现其由半影细丝状结构构成，源于相反极性日珥的汇聚与剪切运动，最终形成BLB。
Sunspots are the longest-known manifestation of solar activity, and their magnetic nature has been known for more than a century. Despite this, the boundary between umbrae and penumbrae, the two fundamental sunspot regions, has hitherto been solely defined by an intensity threshold. Here, we aim at studying the magnetic nature of umbra-penumbra boundaries in sunspots of different sizes, morphologies, evolutionary stages, and phases of the solar cycle. We used a sample of 88 scans of the Hinode/SOT spectropolarimeter to infer the magnetic field properties in at the umbral boundaries. We defined…
We study the conversion of fast magneto-acoustic waves to Alfven waves by means of 2.5D numerical simulations in a sunspot-like magnetic configuration. A fast, essentially acoustic, wave of a given frequency and wave number is generated below the surface and propagates upward though the Alfven/acoustic equipartition layer where it splits into upgoing slow (acoustic) and fast (magnetic) waves. The fast wave quickly reflects off the steep Alfven speed gradient, but around and above this reflection height it partially converts to Alfven waves, depending on the local relative inclinations of the b…
We study the temporal evolution of downflows observed at the lateral edges of penumbral filaments in a sunspot located very close to the disk center. Our analysis is based on a sequence of nearly diffraction-limited scans of the Fe I 617.3 nm line taken with the CRisp Imaging Spectro-Polarimeter at the Swedish 1 m Solar Telescope. We compute Dopplergrams from the observed intensity profiles using line bisectors and filter the resulting velocity maps for subsonic oscillations. Lateral downflows appear everywhere in the center-side penumbra as small, weak patches of redshifts next to or along th…
In a previous work, we investigated the evolution of the flow field around sunspots during sunspot decay and compared it with the flow field of supergranular cells. The decay of a sunspot proceeds as it interacts with its surroundings. This is manifested by the changes observed in the flow field surrounding the decaying spot. We now investigate in detail the evolution of the flow field in the direct periphery of the sunspots of the same sample and aim to provide a complete picture of the role of large-scale flows present in sunspot cells. We analyse the horizontal velocity profiles of sunspots…
We investigate the evolution of the horizontal flow field around sunspots during their decay by analysing its extension and horizontal velocity around eight spots using SDO/HMI Doppler maps. By assuming a radially symmetrical flow field, the applied analysis method determines the radial dependence of the azimuthally averaged flow field. For comparison, we studied the flow in supergranules using the same technique. All investigated, fully fledged sunspots are surrounded by a flow field whose horizontal velocity profile decreases continuously from 881 m s$^{-1}$ at 1.1 Mm off the spot boundary, …
Numerical simulations indicate that the filamentation of sunspot penumbrae and the associated systematic outflow (the Evershed effect) are due to convectively driven fluid motions constrained by the inclined magnetic field. We investigate whether these motions, in particular the upflows in the bright filaments and the downflows at their edges can be reliably observed with existing instrumentation. We use a snapshot from a sunspot simulation to calculate 2D maps of synthetic line profiles for the spectral lines Fe\sci 7090.4 Å~ and C\sci 5380.34 Å. The maps are spatially and spectrally degraded…
We present the observations of penumbra like features (PLFs) near a polarity inversion line (PIL) of flaring region. The PIL is located at the moat boundary of active region (NOAA 10960). The PLFs appear similar to sunspot penumbrae in morphology but occupy small area, about 6$\times10^{7}$ km$^{2}$, and are not associated with sunspot or pore. We observed a rapid disappearance of the PLFs after a C1.7 class flare, which occurred close to the PIL. The local correlation tracking (LCT) of these features shows presence of horizontal flows directed away from the end-points of the PLFs, similar to …
The fine-structure of magnetic field of a sunspot penumbra in the upper chromosphere is to be explored and compared to that in the photosphere. High spatial resolution spectropolarimetric observations were recorded with the 1.5-meter GREGOR telescope using the GREGOR Infrared Spectrograph (GRIS). The observed spectral domain includes the upper chromospheric He I triplet at 1083.0 nm and the photospheric Si I 1082.7 nm and Ca I 1083.3 nm spectral lines. The upper chromospheric magnetic field is obtained by inverting the He I triplet assuming a Milne-Eddington type model atmosphere. A height dep…
We use numerical simulations to investigate the interaction of an $f$-mode wave packet with small and large models of a sunspot in a stratified atmosphere. While a loose cluster model has been largely studied before, we focus in this study on the scattering from an ensemble of tightly compact tubes. We showed that the small compact cluster produces a slight distorted scattered wave field in the transverse direction, which can be attributed to the simultaneous oscillations of the pairs of tubes within the cluster aligned in a perpendicular direction to the incoming wave. However, no signature o…
During solar flares, magnetic energy can be converted into electromagnetic radiation from radio waves to $γ$ rays. Enhancements in the continuum at visible wavelengths give rise to white-light flares, as well as continuum enhancements in the FUV and NUV passbands. In addition, the strong energy release in these events can lead to the rearrangement of the magnetic field at the photospheric level, causing morphological changes in large and stable magnetic structures like sunspots. In this context, we describe observations acquired by satellite instruments (IRIS, SDO/HMI, Hinode/SOT) and ground-b…
A recent study using {\it Hinode} (SOT/FG) data of a sunspot revealed some unusually large penumbral jets that often repeatedly occurred at the same locations in the penumbra, namely at the tail of a penumbral filament or where the tails of multiple penumbral filaments converged. These locations had obvious photospheric mixed-polarity magnetic flux in \NaI\ 5896 Stokes-V images obtained with SOT/FG. Several other recent investigations have found that extreme ultraviolet (EUV)/X-ray coronal jets in quiet Sun regions (QRs), coronal holes (CHs) and near active regions (ARs) have obvious mixed-pol…
