The coronal source of extreme-ultraviolet line profile asymmetries in solar active region outflows

Abstract

High resolution spectra from the Hinode EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) have revealed that coronal spectral line profiles are sometimes asymmetric, with a faint enhancement in the blue wing on the order of 100 km/s. These asymmetries could be important since they may be subtle, yet diagnostically useful signatures of coronal heating or solar wind acceleration processes. It has also been suggested that they are signatures of chromospheric jets supplying mass and energy to the corona. Until now, however, there have been no studies of the physical properties of the plasma producing the asymmetries. Here we identify regions of asymmetric profiles in the outflows of AR 10978 using an asymmetric Gaussian function and extract the intensities of the faint component using multiple Gaussian fits. We then derive the temperature structure and chemical composition of the plasma producing the asymmetries. We find that the asymmetries are dependent on temperature, and are clearer and stronger in coronal lines. The temperature distribution peaks around 1.4-1.8 MK with an emission measure at least an order of magnitude larger than that at 0.6 MK. The first ionization potential bias is found to be 3-5, implying that the high speed component of the outflows may also contribute to the slow speed wind. Observations and models indicate that it takes time for plasma to evolve to a coronal composition, suggesting that the material is trapped on closed loops before escaping, perhaps by interchange reconnection. The results, therefore, identify the plasma producing the asymmetries as having a coronal origin.

ApJ Letters (in press)

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