The 2014 March 29 X-flare: sub-arcsecond resolution observations of Fe XXI 1354.1

TL;DR

This study uses IRIS to observe the Fe XXI 1354.1 line during the 2014 March 29 X-flare, revealing detailed plasma dynamics in flare ribbons and post-flare loops at subarcsecond resolution.

Contribution

First high-resolution imaging spectroscopy of hot plasma in a solar flare using IRIS, providing new insights into plasma flows and loop structures.

Findings

Fe XXI emission appears at all ribbon sites with delays and offsets.

Blue-shifts indicate hot plasma upflows of 100-200 km/s at ribbons.

Loop-tops are resolved and show no enhanced turbulence.

Abstract

The Interface Region Imaging Spectrometer (IRIS) is the first solar instrument to observe $\sim 10$ MK plasma at subarcsecond spatial resolution through imaging spectroscopy of the Fe XXI $\lambda$1354.1 forbidden line. IRIS observations of the X1 class flare that occurred on 2014 March 29 at 17:48 UT reveal Fe XXI emission from both the flare ribbons and the post-flare loop arcade. Fe XXI appears at all of the chromospheric ribbon sites, although typically with a delay of one raster (75 seconds) and sometimes offset by up to 1$^{\prime\prime}$. 100--200 km s$^{-1}$ blue-shifts are found at the brightest ribbons, suggesting hot plasma upflow into the corona. The Fe XXI ribbon emission is compact with a spatial extent of $< 2^{\prime\prime}$, and can extend beyond the chromospheric ribbon locations. Examples are found of both decreasing and increasing blue-shift in the direction away from the ribbon locations, and blue-shifts were present for at least 6 minutes after the flare peak. The post-flare loop arcade, seen in Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 131 \AA\ filtergram images that are dominated by Fe XXI, exhibited bright loop-tops with an asymmetric intensity distribution. The sizes of the loop-tops are resolved by IRIS at $\ge 1^{\prime\prime}$, and line widths in the loop-tops are not broader than in the loop-legs suggesting the loop-tops are not sites of enhanced turbulence. Line-of-sight speeds in the loop arcade are typically $<10$ km s$^{-1}$, and mean non-thermal motions fall from 43 km s$^{-1}$ at the flare peak to 26 km s$^{-1}$ six minutes later. If the average velocity in the loop arcade is assumed to be at rest, then it implies a new reference wavelength for the Fe XXI line of $1354.106\pm 0.023$ \AA.