The Velocity Distribution of Solar Photospheric Magnetic Bright Points

TL;DR

This study combines high-resolution observations and simulations to analyze the velocity distribution of solar magnetic bright points, revealing average velocities around 1 km/s and higher speeds for merging points, with implications for understanding solar magnetic flux.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel technique for estimating background magnetic flux and provides detailed velocity statistics of magnetic bright points using combined observational and simulation data.

Findings

Average bright point velocity ~1 km/s

Merging bright points have higher velocities

Estimated magnetic flux consistent with 400 G

Abstract

We use high spatial resolution observations and numerical simulations to study the velocity distribution of solar photospheric magnetic bright points. The observations were obtained with the Rapid Oscillations in the Solar Atmosphere instrument at the Dunn Solar Telescope, while the numerical simulations were undertaken with the MURaM code for average magnetic fields of 200 G and 400 G. We implemented an automated bright point detection and tracking algorithm on the dataset, and studied the subsequent velocity characteristics of over 6000 structures, finding an average velocity of approximately 1 km/s, with maximum values of 7 km/s. Furthermore, merging magnetic bright points were found to have considerably higher velocities, and significantly longer lifetimes, than isolated structures. By implementing a new and novel technique, we were able to estimate the background magnetic flux of our observational data, which is consistent with a field strength of 400 G.