High-resolution Observations of the Shock Wave Behavior for Sunspot Oscillations with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph to analyze sunspot oscillations, revealing nonlinear shock wave behavior and detailed spectral line profile dynamics in the chromosphere and transition region.

Contribution

First detailed analysis of sunspot oscillations using IRIS data, demonstrating shock wave signatures and spectral line profile evolution in the chromosphere and transition region.

Findings

Identification of nonlinear oscillations in multiple emission lines.

Detection of shock wave signatures through spectral line analysis.

Correlation between maximum velocity and deceleration consistent with shock wave models.

Abstract

We present the first results of sunspot oscillations from observations by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph. The strongly nonlinear oscillation is identified in both the slit-jaw images and the spectra of several emission lines formed in the transition region and chromosphere. We first apply a single Gaussian fit to the profiles of the Mgii 2796.35 {\AA}, Cii 1335.71 {\AA}, and Si iv 1393.76 {\AA} lines in the sunspot. The intensity change is about 30%. The Doppler shift oscillation reveals a sawtooth pattern with an amplitude of about 10 km/s in Si iv. In the umbra the Si iv oscillation lags those of Cii and Mgii by about 3 and 12 s, respectively. The line width suddenly increases as the Doppler shift changes from redshift to blueshift. However, we demonstrate that this increase is caused by the superposition of two emission components. We then perform detailed analysis of the line profiles at a few selected locations on the slit. The temporal evolution of the line core is dominated by the following behavior: a rapid excursion to the blue side, accompanied by an intensity increase, followed by a linear decrease of the velocity to the red side. The maximum intensity slightly lags the maximum blueshift in Si iv, whereas the intensity enhancement slightly precedes the maximum blueshift in Mgii. We find a positive correlation between the maximum velocity and deceleration, a result that is consistent with numerical simulations of upward propagating magnetoacoustic shock waves.