Chromospheric thermodynamic conditions from inversions of complex Mg II h&k profiles observed in flares

TL;DR

This study uses non-LTE inversions of Mg II and C II spectral lines observed by IRIS to uncover the chromospheric conditions during solar flares, revealing temperature, density, turbulence, and velocity gradients responsible for peculiar line profiles.

Contribution

It introduces a combined inversion method of Mg II and C II lines to accurately determine chromospheric thermodynamics during flares, elucidating the origin of pointy spectral profiles.

Findings

Pointy profiles linked to increased temperature and electron density.

Micro-turbulence velocities between 5-15 km/s.

Large velocity gradients along the line of sight in the high chromosphere.

Abstract

The flare activity of the Sun has been studied for decades, using both space- and ground-based telescopes. In particular, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) provides unique diagnostics to investigate the thermodynamics of flares in the solar atmosphere. The Mg II h&k and Mg II UV triple lines provide key information about the thermodynamics of low to upper chromosphere, while the C II 1334 & 1335 AA lines cover the upper-chromosphere and low transition region. The Mg II h&k and Mg II UV triplet lines show a peculiar, pointy shape before and during the flare activity. The physical interpretation that can explain these profiles has remained elusive. In this paper, we show the results of a non-LTE inversion of such peculiar profiles. To better constrain the atmospheric conditions, the Mg II h&k and Mg II UV triple lines are simultaneously inverted with the C II 1334 & 1335 AA lines. This combined inversion leads to more accurate derived thermodynamic parameters, especially the temperature and the turbulent motions (micro-turbulence velocity). We use the inversion code STiC to look for the best fit between the observed profile and a synthetic profile obtained by solving the radiative transfer problem considering non-local thermodynamic equilibrium and partial frequency redistribution of the radiation due to scattered photons. We are able to conclude that these unique, pointy profiles are associated with a simultaneous increase of the temperature and the electron density in the chromosphere, while the micro-turbulence velocity has values between 5-15 km/s, which seem to be more realistic values than the ones suggested in previous work. More importantly, the line-of-sight velocity shows a large gradient along the optical depth in the high chromosphere. This seems to be the parameter that gives the pointy aspect to these profiles.