Upflows in the central dark lane of sunspot light bridges

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution solar observations to analyze velocity patterns in sunspot light bridges, revealing upflows in dark lanes that support recent magneto-convection models.

Contribution

It provides detailed observational evidence of upflows in dark lanes of sunspot light bridges, confirming predictions from recent MHD simulations.

Findings

Upflows are associated with dark lanes in light bridges.

Upflow velocities reach around 500 m/s, with peaks above 1 km/s.

Dark lanes are not equivalent to intergranular lanes of normal granulation.

Abstract

We use high spatial and spectral resolution observations obtained with the CRisp Imaging SpectroPolarimeter at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope to analyze the velocity profile of granular light bridges in a sunspot. We find upflows associated with the central dark lanes of the light bridges. From bisectors in the Fe I 630.15 nm line we find that the magnitude of the upflows varies with height with the strongest upflows being deeper in the atmosphere. Typical upflow velocities measured from the 70% bisector are around 500 m/s with peaks above 1 km/s. The upflows in the central dark lane are surrounded by downflows of weaker magnitude, sometimes concentrated in patches with enhanced velocities reaching up to 1.1 km/s. A small spatial offset between the upflows and the continuum dark lane is interpreted as a line-of-sight effect due to the elevated nature of the dark lane and the light bridge above the umbral surroundings. Our observations show that the central dark lane in granular light bridges is not equivalent to the intergranular lanes of normal photospheric granulation that host convective downflows. These results support recent MHD simulations of magneto-convection in sunspot atmospheres.