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Title: Emerging Dimming as Coronal Heating Episodes
Abstract Emerging dimming occurs in isolated solar active regions (ARs) during the early stages of magnetic flux emergence. Observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, it features a rapid decrease in extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) emission in the 171 Å channel images, and a simultaneous increase in the 211 Å images. Here, we analyze the coronal thermodynamic and magnetic properties to probe its physical origin. We calculate the time-dependent differential emission measures for a sample of 18 events between 2010 and 2012. The emission measure (EM) decrease in the temperature range is well correlated with the EM increase in over eight orders of magnitude. This suggests that the coronal plasma is being heated from the quiet-Sun, sub-MK temperature to 1–2 MK, more typical for ARs. Potential field extrapolation indicates significant change in the local magnetic connectivity: the dimming region is now linked to the newly emerged flux via longer loops. We conclude that emerging dimming is likely caused by coronal heating episodes, powered by reconnection between the emerging and the ambient magnetic fields.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1848250
PAR ID:
10315489
Author(s) / Creator(s):
;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
The Astrophysical Journal
Volume:
912
Issue:
1
ISSN:
0004-637X
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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