What Is the Source of Quiet Sun Transition Region Emission?

TL;DR

This study investigates the origins of quiet Sun transition region emission using high-resolution IRIS and HMI data, revealing complex magnetic and thermal structures that challenge existing models.

Contribution

The paper combines observational data with MHD and potential field models to analyze the sources of transition-temperature emission in the quiet Sun, providing new insights into magnetic connectivity and emission mechanisms.

Findings

Distant internetwork emission is not due to network contribution.

Dimmest emission regions are not linked to local vertical magnetic fields.

Cool mid-altitude and high-altitude loops contribute to emission, with spicules also playing a role.

Abstract

Dating back to the first observations of the on-disk corona, there has been a qualitative link between the photosphere's magnetic network and enhanced transition-temperature plasma emission. These observations led to the development of a general model that describes emission structures through the partitioning of the atmospheric volume with different magnetic loop geometries that exhibit different energetic equilibria. Does the internetwork produce transition-temperature emission? What fraction of network flux connects to the corona? How does quiet sun emission compare with low-activity Sun-like stars? In this work, we revisit the canonical model of the quiet sun, with high-resolution observations from IRIS and HMI in hand, to address those questions. We use over 900 deep exposures of Si IV 1393A from IRIS along with nearly simultaneous HMI magnetograms to quantify the correlation between transition-temperature emission structures and magnetic field concentrations through a number of novel statistics. Our observational results are coupled with analysis of the Bifrost MHD model and a large-scale potential field model. Our results paint a complex portrait of the quiet sun. We measure an emission signature in the distant internetwork that cannot be attributed to network contribution. We find that the dimmest regions of emission are not linked to the local vertical magnetic field. Using the MHD simulation, we categorize the emission contribution from cool mid-altitude loops and high-altitude coronal loops and discuss the potential emission contribution of spicules. Our results provide new constraints on the coupled solar atmosphere so that we can build on our understanding of how dynamic thermal and magnetic structures generate the observed phenomena in the transition region.