Spectroscopic Signatures Related to a Sunquake

TL;DR

This study investigates the spectroscopic signatures of a sunquake, revealing that intense, rapid heating and downward motions in the solar atmosphere are associated with sunquake generation, challenging existing models of flare energy transport.

Contribution

It provides new spectroscopic evidence linking chromospheric and coronal dynamics to sunquake initiation, highlighting the role of non-thermal electrons and downward propagating Alfvén waves.

Findings

Sunquake regions show more intense, broader spectral emission with larger velocity shifts.

Correlation between hot coronal HXR and chromospheric red-shifts suggests downward motion driven by rapid heating.

Evidence of large temperature increases and downward propagating Alfvén waves in sunquake locations.

Abstract

The presence of flare related acoustic emission (sunquakes) in some flares represents a severe challenge to our current understanding of flare energy transport processes. We present a comparison of new spectral observations from Hinode's EUV imaging Spectrometer (EIS) and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) of the atmosphere above a sunquake, and compare them to the spectra observed in a part of the flaring region with no acoustic signature. Evidence for the sunquake is determined using both time-distance and acoustic holography methods, and we find that, unlike many previous sunquake detections, the signal is rather dispersed, but that the time-distance and 6 and 7 mHz sources converge at the same spatial location. We also see some evidence for different evolution at different frequencies, with an earlier peak at 7 mHz than at 6 mHz. Using spectroscopic measurements we find that in this location at the time of the 7 mHz peak the spectral emission is significantly more intense, shows larger velocity shifts and substantially broader profiles than in the location with no sunquake, and that there is a good correlation between blue-shifted, hot coronal, hard X-ray (HXR) and red-shifted chromospheric emission, consistent with the idea of a strong downward motion driven by rapid heating by non-thermal electrons and the formation of chromospheric shocks. Exploiting the diagnostic potential of the Mg II triplet lines, we also find evidence for a single, large temperature increase deep in the atmosphere, consistent with this scenario. The time of the 6 mHz and time-distance peak signal coincides with a secondary peak in the energy release process, but in this case we find no evidence of HXR emission in the quake location, but very broad spectral lines, strongly shifted to the red, indicating the possible presence of a significant flux of downward propagating Alfven waves.