Related papers: Penumbral thermal structure below the visible surf…
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 sunspot penumbra comprises numerous thin, radially elongated filaments that are central for heat transport within the penumbra, but whose structure is still not clear. To investigate the fine-scale structure of these filaments, we…
High-resolution observations of sunspots have revealed the existence of dark cores inside the bright filaments of the penumbra. Here we present the stationary solution of the heat transfer equation in a stratified penumbra consisting of…
Context: Observations at 0.1" have revealed the existence of dark cores in the bright filaments of sunspot penumbrae. Expectations are high that such dark-cored filaments are the basic building blocks of the penumbra, but their nature…
Context. The bright heads of penumbral filaments, penumbral grains (PGs), are manifestations of hot plasma flows rising to the surface. They are observed to move horizontally toward the sunspot umbra or away from it. Recent analyses of…
We interpret penumbral filaments as due to convection in field-free, radially aligned gaps just below the visible surface of the penumbra, intruding into a nearly potential field above. This solves the classical discrepancy between the…
The penumbra is ideally suited to challenge our understanding of magnetohydrodynamics. The energy transport takes place as magnetoconvection in inclined magnetic fields under the effect of strong radiative cooling at the surface. The…
Relying on the assumption that the interchange convection of magnetic flux tubes is the physical cause for the existence of sunspot penumbrae, we propose a model in which the dynamical evolution of a thin magnetic flux tube reproduces the…
Assuming that the interchange convection of magnetic flux elements is the physical cause for the existence of filamentary penumbrae in sunspots, we investigate the behavior of an individual fibril embedded in the deep penumbra. The fibril…
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.…
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…
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,…
Aims: The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that millimeter wave data can be used to distinguish between various atmospheric models of sunspots, whose temperature structure in the upper photosphere and chromosphere has been the source of…
Context. A significant part of the penumbral magnetic field returns below the surface in the very deep photosphere. For lines in the visible, a large portion of this return field can only be detected indirectly by studying its imprints on…
Context : Penumbrae are an important characteristic of sunspots, whose formation is intricately related to the nature of sub-photospheric magnetic fields. Aims : We study the formation of a penumbra in a decaying sunspot and compare its…
Context: Sunspot penumbrae harbor highly structured magnetic fields and flows. The moving flux tube model offers an explanation for several observed phenomena, e.g. the Evershed effect and bright penumbral grains. Aims: A wealth of…
The uncombed penumbral model explains the structure of the sunspot penumbra in terms of thick magnetic fibrils embedded in a magnetic surrounding atmosphere. This model has been successfully applied to explain the polarization signals…
Inversions of spectropolarimetric observations of penumbral filaments deliver the stratification of different physical quantities in an optical depth scale. However, without establishing a geometrical height scale their three-dimensional…
We investigate the thermal topology in a super-penumbral canopy by determining the 3D thermal structure of an active region. We derive the temperature stratifications in the active region by an inversion of the Ca II IR line at 854.2 nm,…
The physics of Sunspots is a fascinating and demanding field of research in solar astronomy. Interaction of magnetic fields and plasma flows takes place in a tangled magnetic geometry and occurs on spatial scales that pose a continuous…