Energetics of Hi-C EUV Brightenings

TL;DR

This study investigates the thermal structure and energy dynamics of small EUV brightenings in solar active regions, revealing conduction as the primary energy loss mechanism and providing detailed physical parameters of these transient events.

Contribution

First detailed analysis of the smallest EUV brightenings, using DEM diagnostics to determine their thermal and energetic properties, and identifying conduction as the main energy loss process.

Findings

Brightenings have temperatures log T(K)=6.2-6.6.

Radiative energies are approximately 10^{24-25} ergs.

Conduction is the dominant energy loss mechanism.

Abstract

We study the thermal structure and energetics of the point-like EUV brightenings within a system of fan loops observed in the active region \textsl{AR~11520}. These brightenings were simultaneously observed on 2012 July 11 by the HIgh-resolution Coronal (Hi-C) imager and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). We identified 27 brightenings by automatically determining intensity enhancements in both Hi-C and AIA ~193~{\AA} light curves. The energetics of these brightenings were studied by using the Differential Emission Measure (DEM) diagnostics. The DEM weighted temperatures of these transients are in the range $\log{T} (K) = 6.2 - 6.6$ with radiative energies ${\approx}10^{24-25}$~ergs and densities ${\approx}$ a few times $10^{9}$~cm$^{-3}$. To the best of our knowledge, these are the smallest brightenings in EUV ever detected. We used these results to determine the mechanism of energy loss in these brightenings. Our analysis reveals that the dominant mechanism of energy loss for all the identified brightenings is conduction rather than radiation.