Quantifying Photospheric Processes Using a New Pixel Dynamics Model

Abstract:

Recent advances in solar observations have led to higher-resolution surface (photosphere) images that reveal bipolar magnetic features operating near the resolution limit during emerging flux events. Further improvements in resolution are expected to reveal even smaller dynamic features. Such photospheric features provide observable indications of what is happening before, during, and after flux emergence, eruptions in the corona, and other phenomena. Visible changes in photospheric active regions also play a major role in predicting eruptions that are responsible for geomagnetic plasma disturbances. We present a new method to extract physical information from photospheric data (e.g., SOLIS Stokes parameters) based on the statistics of pixel-by-pixel variations in spectral (absorption) line quantities such as line profile width, asymmetry, and flatness. Such properties are determined by the last interaction between detected photons and optically thick photospheric plasmas, and may contain extractable information on local plasma properties at sub-pixel scales. Applying the method to photospheric data with high spectral resolution, our pixel-by-pixel analysis is performed for various regions on the solar disk, ranging from quiet-Sun regions to active regions exhibiting eruptions, characterizing photospheric dynamics using spectral profiles. In particular, the method quantitatively characterizes the time profile of changes in spectral properties in photospheric features and provides improved physical constraints on observed quantities.