Measurements of Photospheric and Chromospheric Magnetic Field Structures Associated with Chromospheric Heating over a Solar Plage Region

TL;DR

This study investigates the relationship between magnetic structures and heating signatures in a solar plage region using spectroscopic observations, revealing correlations and suggesting multiple heating mechanisms including Alfvén wave turbulence.

Contribution

It provides new observational evidence linking magnetic field strength to chromospheric heating and explores potential heating mechanisms in solar plage regions.

Findings

Mg II radiative flux increases with magnetic field in the chromosphere.

No significant correlation between radiative flux and magnetic field strength within the plage.

Magnetic flux tube interactions may also contribute to chromospheric heating.

Abstract

In order to investigate the relation between magnetic structures and the signatures of heating in plage regions, we observed a plage region with the He I 1083.0 nm and Si I 1082.7 nm lines on 2018 October 3 using the integral field unit mode of the GREGOR Infrared Spectrograph (GRIS) installed at the GREGOR telescope. During the GRIS observation, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) obtained spectra of the ultraviolet Mg II doublet emitted from the same region. In the periphery of the plage region, within the limited field of view seen by GRIS, we find that the Mg II radiative flux increases with the magnetic field in the chromosphere with a factor of proportionality of 2.38 \times 10^4 erg cm^{-2} s^{-1} G^{-1}. The positive correlation implies that magnetic flux tubes can be heated by Alfv'en wave turbulence or by collisions between ions and neutral atoms relating to Alfv'en waves. Within the plage region itself, the radiative flux was large between patches of strong magnetic field strength in the photosphere, or at the edges of magnetic patches. On the other hand, we do not find any significant spatial correlation between the enhanced radiative flux and the chromospheric magnetic field strength or the electric current. In addition to the Alfv'en wave turbulence or collisions between ions and neutral atoms relating to Alfv'en waves, other heating mechanisms related to magnetic field perturbations produced by interactions of magnetic flux tubes could be at work in the plage chromosphere.