Multi-wavelength Study of Transition Region Penumbral Subarcsecond Bright Dots Using IRIS and NST

TL;DR

This study investigates subarcsecond bright dots in the transition region of sunspots using IRIS and NST, revealing their association with plasma downflows and suggesting formation by falling plasma or high-altitude magnetic reconnection.

Contribution

It provides the first coordinated multi-wavelength analysis of TR penumbral bright dots, linking their properties to plasma dynamics and magnetic activity.

Findings

2692 BDs identified in 37-minute IRIS data

BDs associated with chromospheric downflows and darker fibrils

No consistent chromospheric brightening response observed

Abstract

Using high-resolution transition region (TR) observations taken by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission, Tian et al. (2014b) revealed numerous short-lived subarcsecond bright dots (BDs) above sunspots (mostly located in the penumbrae), which indicate yet unexplained small-scale energy releases. Moreover, whether these subarcsecond TR brightenings have any signature in the lower atmosphere and how they are formed are still not fully resolved. This paper presents a multi-wavelength study of the TR penumbral BDs using a coordinated observation of a near disk-center sunspot with IRIS and the 1.6 m New Solar Telescope (NST) at the Big Bear Solar Observatory. NST provides high-resolution chromospheric and photospheric observations with narrow-band H-alpha imaging spectroscopy and broad-band TiO images, respectively, complementary to IRIS TR observations. A total of 2692 TR penumbral BDs are identified from a 37-minute time series of IRIS 1400 A slitjaw images. Their locations tend to be associated more with downflowing and darker fibrils in the chromosphere, and weakly associated with bright penumbral features in the photosphere. However, temporal evolution analyses of the BDs show that there is no consistent and convincing brightening response in the chromosphere. These results are compatible with a formation mechanism of the TR penumbral BDs by falling plasma from coronal heights along more vertical and dense magnetic loops. The BDs may also be produced by small-scale impulsive magnetic reconnection taking place sufficiently high in the atmosphere that has no energy release in the chromosphere.