Coronal kink oscillations and photospheric driving: combining SolO/EUI and SST/CRISP high-resolution observations

TL;DR

This study combines high-resolution Solar Orbiter and SST observations to investigate how photospheric motions influence decay-less kink oscillations in coronal loops across different active region types.

Contribution

It provides observational constraints on photospheric driving of coronal kink oscillations and highlights the involvement of photospheric dynamics in their excitation.

Findings

Photospheric motions increase in strength from pores to sunspots.

Coronal kink oscillation amplitudes vary with photospheric region.

Photospheric driving is continuously influencing coronal loops.

Abstract

The driving and excitation mechanisms of decay-less kink oscillations in coronal loops remain under debate. We aim to quantify and provide simple observational constraints on the photospheric driving of oscillating coronal loops in a few typical active region configurations: sunspot, plage, pores and enhanced-network regions. We then aim to investigate the possible interplay between photospheric driving and properties of kink oscillations in connected coronal loops. We analyse two unique datasets of the corona and photosphere taken at a high resolution during the first coordinated observation campaign between Solar Orbiter and the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST). A local correlation tracking method is applied on the SST/CRISP data to quantify the photospheric motions at the base of coronal loops. The same loops are then analysed in the corona by exploiting data from the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager on Solar Orbiter, and by using a wavelet analysis to characterize the kink oscillations. Each photospheric region shows dynamics with an overall increase in strength going from pore, plage, enhanced-network to sunspot regions. Differences are also seen in the kink-mode amplitudes of the corresponding coronal loops. This suggests the photosphere is involved in the driving of coronal kink oscillations. However, the few samples available does not allow to further establish the excitation mechanism yet. Despite oscillating coronal loops being anchored in seemingly "static" strong magnetic field regions as seen from coronal EUV observations, photospheric observations provide evidence for a continuous and significant driving at their base. The precise connection between photospheric driving and coronal kink oscillations remains to be further investigated. This study finally provides critical constraints on photospheric driving that can be tested in existing numerical models of coronal loops.