Journal
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Volume 795, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
IOP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/795/2/172
Keywords
methods: numerical; Sun: activity; Sun: chromosphere; Sun: flares
Categories
Funding
- STFC
- STFC [ST/L002744/1, ST/K004220/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Science and Technology Facilities Council [ST/L002744/1, ST/K004220/1] Funding Source: researchfish
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We use ground-based images of high spatial and temporal resolution to search for evidence of nanoflare activity in the solar chromosphere. Through close examination of more than 1 x 10(9) pixels in the immediate vicinity of an active region, we show that the distributions of observed intensity fluctuations have subtle asymmetries. A negative excess in the intensity fluctuations indicates that more pixels have fainter-than-average intensities compared with those that appear brighter than average. By employing Monte Carlo simulations, we reveal how the negative excess can be explained by a series of impulsive events, coupled with exponential decays, that are fractionally below the current resolving limits of low-noise equipment on high-resolution ground-based observatories. Importantly, our Monte Carlo simulations provide clear evidence that the intensity asymmetries cannot be explained by photon-counting statistics alone. A comparison to the coronal work of Terzo et al. suggests that nanoflare activity in the chromosphere is more readily occurring, with an impulsive event occurring every similar to 360 s in a 10,000 km(2) area of the chromosphere, some 50 times more events than a comparably sized region of the corona. As a result, nanoflare activity in the chromosphere is likely to play an important role in providing heat energy to this layer of the solar atmosphere.
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