Quantifying Magnetic Energy Flux in the Quiet Sun Photosphere using Sunrise/IMaX Observations
Abstract
Understanding magnetically-driven processes in the quiet Sun is crucial for understanding chromospheric and coronal heating. The main goal of our study is to quantify the energy output of the quiet Sun photosphere. The amount of magnetic energy can be expressed in terms of the Poynting flux, which is a cross-product of magnetic and electric fields. Poynting flux has been computed for active regions and plage, but the weakness of polarimetric signal in the quiet Sun presents a bigger challenge. Quiet Sun magnetic fields have only recently become observable with the launch of missions such as Hinode and Sunrise. The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST) is expected to further improve the quality of these observations -- both spatial and temporal resolutions, as well as polarimetric signal, are expected to improve significantly, allowing us to perform reliable inversions of magnetic, electric, and velocity fields, all of which are required to compute the Poynting flux. We test different inversion methods on Sunrise/IMaX data in order to streamline this process once DKIST becomes operational and to understand the limitations of these inversion techniques. In this work, we present our results obtained from velocity and electric field inversions of photospheric images, magnetograms and Doppler velocities from Sunrise/IMaX, the challenges associated with these inversions, and implications for future DKIST observations. We also discuss approaches to extend this analysis from photosphere to overlying layers of the atmosphere, which would allow us to study how these layers respond to magnetic energy injections from below.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021AGUFMSH42B..04T