ON THE MAGNETISM AND DYNAMICS OF PROMINENCE LEGS HOSTING TORNADOES
- Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Vía Láctea s/n, E-38205 La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain)
- National Solar Observatory, Sacramento Peak P.O. Box 62, Sunspot, NM 88349 (United States)
- Institute for Solar Physics, Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, Albanova University Center, SE-10691 Stockholm (Sweden)
Solar tornadoes are dark vertical filamentary structures observed in the extreme ultraviolet associated with prominence legs and filament barbs. Their true nature and relationship to prominences requires an understanding of their magnetic structure and dynamic properties. Recently, a controversy has arisen: is the magnetic field organized forming vertical, helical structures or is it dominantly horizontal? And concerning their dynamics, are tornadoes really rotating or is it just a visual illusion? Here we analyze four consecutive spectro-polarimetric scans of a prominence hosting tornadoes on its legs, which helps us shed some light on their magnetic and dynamical properties. We show that the magnetic field is very smooth in all the prominence, which is probably an intrinsic property of the coronal field. The prominence legs have vertical helical fields that show slow temporal variation that is probably related to the motion of the fibrils. Concerning the dynamics, we argue that (1) if rotation exists, it is intermittent, lasting no more than one hour, and (2) the observed velocity pattern is also consistent with an oscillatory velocity pattern (waves).
- OSTI ID:
- 22666092
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 825, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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