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Plasma beta is an important and fundamental physical quantity in order to understand plasma dynamics, particularly in the context of magnetically active stars, because it tells about the domination of magnetic versus thermodynamic processes…
Various theoretical and observational results have been reported regarding the presence/absence of net electric currents in the sunspots. The limited spatial resolution of the earlier observations perhaps obscured the conclusions. We have…
Recent progress in theoretical modeling of a sunspot is reviewed. The observed properties of umbral dots are well reproduced by realistic simulations of magnetoconvection in a vertical, monolithic magnetic field. To understand the penumbra,…
The sunspot penumbra is usually observed in the photosphere and it is of particular interest for its magneto-convection which seems to transport the heat from the top of the convection zone into the solar atmosphere. It is well known that…
Sunspots, which harbor both magnetic polarities within one penumbra, are called delta-spots. They are often associated with flares. Nevertheless, there are only very few detailed observations of the spatially resolved magnetic field…
The aim of this work is the determination of the twist, writhe, and self magnetic helicity of penumbral filaments located in an inner Sunspot penumbra. To this extent, we inverted data taken with the spectropolarimeter (SP) aboard Hinode…
We studied the physical parameters of the penumbra in a large and fully-developed sunspot, one of the largest over the last two solar cycles, by using full-Stokes measurements taken at the photospheric Fe I 617.3 nm and chromospheric Ca II…
The analyses of sunspot observations revealed a fundamental magnetic property of the umbral boundary, the invariance of the vertical component of the magnetic field. We aim to analyse the magnetic properties of the umbra-penumbra boundary…
The conjecture that energy transport in sunspot penumbrae occurs through convection by an interchange of magnetic flux tubes is used in order to construct a magnetostatic model for a deep penumbra which is part of a global sunspot model.…
We demonstrate that the radial magnetic-field component at the outer boundary of the sunspot penumbra is about 550 Mx cm$^{-2}$ independent of the sunspot area and the maximum magnetic field in the umbra. The mean magnetic-field intensity…
We investigated the vertical penumbral plasma flow on small spatial scales using data recorded by the spectropolarimeter of the solar optical telescope onboard Hinode. To this end we computed maps of apparent Doppler velocities by comparing…
We investigate the thermal and kinematic configuration of a sunspot penumbra using very high spectral and spatial resolution intensity profiles of the non-magnetic Fe I 557.6 nm line. The dataset was acquired with the 2D solar spectrometer…
The 3D structure of sunspots has been extensively studied for the last two decades. A recent advancement of the Stokes inversion technique prompts us to revisit the problem. We investigate the global depth-dependent thermal, velocity and…
It was empirically determined that the umbra-penumbra boundaries of stable sunspots are characterized by a constant value of the vertical magnetic field. We analyzed the evolution of the photospheric magnetic field properties of a decaying…
Sunspots harboring umbrae of both magnetic polarities within a common penumbra (delta-spots) are often but not always related to flares. We present first near-infrared (NIR) observations (Fe I 1078.3 nm and Si I 1078.6 nm spectra) obtained…
The photospheric Evershed flow is normally oriented radially outward, yet sometimes opposite velocities are observed not only in the chromosphere but also in the photospheric layers of the penumbra. We study the velocity field in a special…
Comparison of photographic observations and vector-magnetograph measurements demonstrate, that the outer boundary of the sunspot penumbra --even in complex sunspot groups-- closely follows the 0.075T isogauss line of the total value of the…
We present numerical 2D magnetostatic models for sunspot penumbrae consisting of radially aligned field-free gaps in a potential magnetic field, as proposed by Spruit and Scharmer (2006). The shape of the gaps and the field configurations…
We investigate the vertical gradient of the magnetic field of sunspots in the photospheric layer. Independent observations were obtained with the SOT/SP onboard the Hinode spacecraft and with the TIP-2 mounted at the VTT. We apply…
This paper presents an analysis of three-dimensional vector currents and temperatures observed in a sunspot from the photosphere to the chromosphere, spanning a range of heights of approximately 1500 km. With this unique dataset, based on…