Propagating brightenings in small loop-like structures in the quiet Sun corona: Observations from Solar Orbiter/EUI

TL;DR

This study reports on small EUV brightenings called campfires in the quiet Sun corona, revealing their propagating behavior along tiny loop-like structures and providing insights into their internal dynamics and heating processes.

Contribution

First detailed analysis of propagating signatures in small-scale EUV brightenings in the quiet Sun using high-resolution Solar Orbiter data.

Findings

Propagating speeds between 25 km/s and 60 km/s.

Brightenings exhibit bifurcation, merging, reflection, and plasma ejections.

Insights into the dynamic response of small magnetic loops to heating events.

Abstract

Brightenings observed in the solar extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) images are generally interpreted as signatures of micro- or nanoflares occurring at the transition region or coronal temperatures. Recent observations with the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) on board Solar Orbiter have revealed the smallest of such brightenings (termed campfires) in the quiet-Sun corona. Analyzing EUI 174 {\AA} data at a resolution of about 400 km on the Sun with a cadence of 5 s from 30-May-2020, we report here a number of cases where these campfires exhibit propagating signatures along their apparent small (3-5 Mm) loop-like structures. Measured propagation speeds are generally between 25 km s$^{-1}$ and 60 km s$^{-1}$. These apparent motions would be slower than the local sound speed if the loop plasma is assumed to be at a million Kelvin. Furthermore, these brightenings exhibit non-trivial propagation characteristics such as bifurcation, merging, reflection and repeated plasma ejections. We suggest that these features are manifestations of the internal dynamics of these small-scale magnetic structures and could provide important insights into the dynamic response ($\sim$40 s) of the loop plasma to the heating events as well as into the locations of the heating events themselves.