Three-Dimensional Structure of the Active Region Photosphere as Revealed by High Angular Resolution |
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| Authors: | Lites BW Scharmer GB Berger TE Title AM |
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| Institution: | (1) High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO, 80307-3000, U.S.A.;(2) Institute for Solar Physics of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, AlbaNova University Center, SE10691 Stockholm, Sweden;(3) Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory, B/252, 3251 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA, 94204, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | Blue continuum images of active regions at ∼ 60° from the center of the solar disk obtained with the new Swedish 1-m Solar
Telescope reveal heretofore unreported structure of the magnetized solar atmosphere. Perhaps the most striking aspect of these
images is that, at an angular resolution of 0.12″, they show clearly the three-dimensional structure of the photosphere. In
particular, the Wilson depression of the dark floors of pores is readily apparent. Conversely, the segmented structure of
light bridges running through sunspots and pores reveal that light bridges are raised above the dark surroundings. The geometry
of light bridges permits estimates of the height of their central (slightly darker) ridge: typically in the range 200–450 km.
These images also clearly show that facular brightenings outside of sunspots and pores occur on the disk-center side of those
granules just limbward of intergranular lanes that presumably harbor the associated plage magnetic flux. In many cases the
brightening extends 0.5″ or more over those granules. Furthermore, a very thin, darker lane is often found just centerward
of the facular brightening. We speculate that this feature is the signature of cool down flows that surround flux tubes in
dynamical models. These newly recognized observational aspects of photospheric magnetic fields should provide valuable constraints
for MHD models of the magnetized photosphere, and examination of those models as viewed from oblique angles is encouraged. |
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