Probing the properties of active regions in the solar interface region using full-disk spectroheliograms

TL;DR

This study uses IRIS full-disk spectroheliograms to analyze plasma properties in solar active regions, revealing differences in plasma opacity and density that relate to FIP bias, aiding understanding of solar plasma fractionation processes.

Contribution

It provides new insights into plasma signatures in active regions and their relation to FIP bias using spectroheliogram data, highlighting the importance of plasma density and opacity variations.

Findings

No clear variability in C II and Si IV lines across active regions.

Distinct differences in Mg II k/h ratio linked to FIP bias.

Regions with high FIP bias show double-peaked plasma opacity distributions.

Abstract

The composition of plasma in the solar corona is characterised by the First Ionisation Potential (FIP) bias, and is thought to be the result of a ponderomotive force acting in the chromosphere to separate ionised from neutral plasma. Identifying potential signatures of this process in the solar chromosphere is the subject of active research. Full disk spectroheliograms of the chromosphere and transition region from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrometer (IRIS) spacecraft provide an opportunity to compare plasma signatures between active regions at different evolutionary stages and assess their relationship with the fractionation processes. Here we compare the C II, Si IV, and Mg II lines observed by IRIS, finding no clear variability between active regions at different evolutionary stages in the C II and Si IV lines. However, distinct differences can be identified between the active regions using the Mg II k/h ratio (which provides a proxy for plasma opacity). In particular, the regions with the highest median FIP bias exhibit double peaked distributions of plasma opacity, suggesting variable plasma density which could affect wave propagation in these locations. These results indicate that the relationship between the plasma properties and how the plasma is fractionated should be investigated in more detail by combining observations and modelling to better understand how it changes on both temporal and spatial scales