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1. Quasiperiodic Microjets Driven by Granular Advection as Observed With High-resolution Imaging at He i 10830 Å

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac590c  

   Hong, Zhenxiang ; Wang, Ya ; Ji, Haisheng ( April 2022 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract With high-resolution narrowband He i 10830 Å filtergrams from Goode Solar Telescope, we give an extensive analysis for four granule-sized microeruptions which appear as the gentle ejection of material in He i 10830 Å band. The analysis was aided with the EUV data from Atmospheric Imaging Assembly and line-of-sight magnetograms from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The microeruptions are situated on magnetic polarity inversion lines (PILs), and their roots are accurately traced down to intergranular lanes. Their durations are different: two microeruptions are repetitive microjets, lasting ∼50 and 27 minutes respectively, while the other two events are singular, lasting ∼5 minutes. For the two microjets, they are continuous and recurrent in the He i 10830 Å band, and the recurrence is quasiperiodic with a period of ∼5 minutes. We found that only transient cospatial EUV brightenings are observed for the longer duration microjets and EUV brightenings are absent for the two singular microeruptions. What is essential to the longer duration microjets is that granules with the concentration of a positive magnetic field persistently transport the magnetic field to the PILs, canceling the opposite magnetic flux and making the base of the two microjetsmore »and the underlying granules migrate with the speed of ∼0.25 and 1.0 km s −1 . The observations support the scenario of magnetic reconnection for the quasiperiodic microjets and further show that the reconnection continuously generates multitemperature components, especially the cool component with chromospheric temperature. In addition, the ongoing reconnection is modulated by p-mode oscillations inside the Sun.« less
2. The Triangulum Extended (TREX) Survey: The Stellar Disk Dynamics of M33 as a Function of Stellar Age

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/ac5324  

   Quirk, Amanda C. N. ; Guhathakurta, Puragra ; Gilbert, Karoline M. ; Chemin, Laurent ; Dalcanton, Julianne J. ; Williams, Benjamin F. ; Seth, Anil ; Patel, Ekta ; Fung, Justin T. ; Tangirala, Pujita ; et al ( March 2022 , The Astronomical Journal)

   Triangulum (M33) is a low-mass, relatively undisturbed spiral galaxy that offers a new regime in which to test models of dynamical heating. In spite of its proximity, M33's dynamical heating history has not yet been well-constrained. In this work, we present the TREX Survey, the largest stellar spectroscopic survey across the disk of M33. We present the stellar disk kinematics as a function of age to study the past and ongoing dynamical heating of M33. We measure line-of-sight velocities for ∼4500 disk stars. Using a subset, we divide the stars into broad age bins using Hubble Space Telescope and Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope photometric catalogs: massive main-sequence stars and helium-burning stars (∼80 Myr), intermediate-mass asymptotic branch stars (∼1 Gyr), and low-mass red giant branch stars (∼4 Gyr). We compare the stellar disk dynamics to that of the gas using existing Hi, CO, and Hαkinematics. We find that the disk of M33 has relatively low-velocity dispersion (∼16 km s⁻¹), and unlike in the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, there is no strong trend in velocity dispersion as a function of stellar age. The youngest disk stars are as dynamically hot as the oldest disk stars and are dynamically hotter than predicted bymore »most M33-like low-mass simulated analogs in Illustris. The velocity dispersion of the young stars is highly structured, with the large velocity dispersion fairly localized. The cause of this high-velocity dispersion is not evident from the observations and simulated analogs presented here.

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3. Solar Flare Ribbon Fronts. I. Constraining Flare Energy Deposition with IRIS Spectroscopy

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acaf7c  

   Polito, Vanessa ; Kerr, Graham S. ; Xu, Yan ; Sadykov, Viacheslav M. ; Lorincik, Juraj ( February 2023 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   Spectral lines formed at lower atmospheric layers show peculiar profiles at the “leading edge” of ribbons during solar flares. In particular, increased absorption of the BBSO/GST Heiλ10830 line, as well as broad and centrally reversed profiles in the spectra of the Mgiiand Ciilines observed by the IRIS satellite, has been reported. In this work, we aim to understand the physical origin of such peculiar IRIS profiles, which seem to be common of many, if not all, flares. To achieve this, we quantify the spectral properties of the IRIS Mgiiprofiles at the ribbon leading edge during four large flares and perform a detailed comparison with a grid of radiative hydrodynamic models using theRADYN+FPcode. We also studied their transition region (TR) counterparts, finding that these ribbon front locations are regions where TR emission and chromospheric evaporation are considerably weaker compared to other parts of the ribbons. Based on our comparison between the IRIS observations and modeling, our interpretation is that there are different heating regimes at play in the leading edge and the main bright part of the ribbons. More specifically, we suggest that bombardment of the chromosphere by more gradual and modest nonthermal electron energy fluxes can qualitatively explain themore »IRIS observations at the ribbon leading front, while stronger and more impulsive energy fluxes are required to drive chromospheric evaporation and more intense TR emission in the bright ribbon. Our results provide a possible physical origin for the peculiar behavior of the IRIS chromospheric lines in the ribbon leading edge and new constraints for the flare models.

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4. The TREX Survey: Kinematical Complexity Throughout M33's Stellar Disk and Evidence for a Stellar Halo*

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ac3480  

   Gilbert, Karoline M. ; Quirk, Amanda C. N. ; Guhathakurta, Puragra ; Tollerud, Erik ; Wojno, Jennifer ; Dalcanton, Julianne J. ; Durbin, Meredith J. ; Seth, Anil ; Williams, Benjamin F. ; Fung, Justin T. ; et al ( January 2022 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   We present initial results from a large spectroscopic survey of stars throughout M33's stellar disk. We analyze a sample of 1667 red giant branch (RGB) stars extending to projected distances of ∼11 kpc from M33's center (∼18 kpc, or ∼10 scale lengths, in the plane of the disk). The line-of-sight velocities of RGB stars show the presence of two kinematical components. One component is consistent with rotation in the plane of M33's Hidisk and has a velocity dispersion (∼19 km s⁻¹), consistent with that observed in a comparison sample of younger stars, while the second component has a significantly higher velocity dispersion. A two-component fit to the RGB velocity distribution finds that the high-dispersion component has a velocity dispersion of${59.3}_{-2.5}^{+2.6}$km s⁻¹and rotates very slowly in the plane of the disk (consistent with no rotation at the <1.5σlevel), which favors interpreting it as a stellar halo rather than a thick disk population. A spatial analysis indicates that the fraction of RGB stars in the high-velocity-dispersion component decreases with increasing radius over the range covered by the spectroscopic sample. Our spectroscopic sample establishes that a significant high-velocity-dispersion component is present in M33's RGB population from near M33's centermore »to at least the radius where M33's Hidisk begins to warp at 30′ (∼7.5 kpc) in the plane of the disk. This is the first detection and spatial characterization of a kinematically hot stellar component throughout M33's inner regions.

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5. High-resolution He I 10830 Å Narrowband Imaging for a Small-scale Chromospheric Jet

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/abf2b9  

   Wang, Ya ; Zhang, Qingmin ; Ji, Haisheng ( May 2021 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   Abstract Solar jets are ubiquitous phenomena in the solar atmosphere. They are important in mass and energy transport to the upper atmosphere and interplanetary space. Here, we report a detailed analysis of a small-scale chromospheric jet with high-resolution He i 10830 Å and TiO 7057 Å images observed by the 1.6 m aperture Goode Solar Telescope at the Big Bear Solar Observatory. The observation reveals the finest dark threads inside the jet are rooted in the intergranular lanes. Their width is equal to the telescope’s diffraction limit at 10830 Å (∼100 km). The jet is recurrent and its association with the emergence and convergence of magnetic flux is observed. Together with other important features like photospheric flow toward the magnetic polarity inversion line, a bald-patch magnetic configuration, and earlier excitation of helium atoms, we propose that the jet might be initiated by magnetic reconnection in a U-shaped loop configuration. The plasmoid configuration results from the possible buoyancy of the magnetic reconnection, which reoccurs in a second step with an overlying magnetic field line. Notably, the second-step magnetic reconnection produces not only bidirectional cool or hot flows but also a new U-shaped loop configuration. The feature may be used to explainmore »the recurrent behavior of the jet, since the new U-shaped loop can be driven to reconnect again.« less