Self-absorption in the solar transition region

TL;DR

This paper reports the first observation of self-absorption in transition region lines of the Sun, revealing new insights into the thermal structure of reconnection events in the solar atmosphere.

Contribution

It demonstrates the detection of self-absorption features in Si IV lines using IRIS data, suggesting a unified view of various solar phenomena as reconnection events at different heights.

Findings

First observation of self-absorption in transition region lines

Implications for understanding solar reconnection events

Previous instruments could not detect these features

Abstract

Transient brightenings in the transition region of the Sun have been studied for decades and are usually related to magnetic reconnection. Recently, absorption features due to chromospheric lines have been identified in transition region emission lines raising the question of the thermal stratification during such reconnection events. We analyse data from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) in an emerging active region. Here the spectral profiles show clear self-absorption features in the transition region lines of Si\,{\sc{iv}}. While some indications existed that opacity effects might play some role in strong transition region lines, self-absorption has not been observed before. We show why previous instruments could not observe such self-absorption features, and discuss some implications of this observation for the corresponding structure of reconnection events in the atmosphere. Based on this we speculate that a range of phenomena, such as explosive events, blinkers or Ellerman bombs, are just different aspects of the same reconnection event occurring at different heights in the atmosphere.