A new model is proposed for the solar chromosphere, which is assumed to be an instable inhomogeneous formation, consisting of numerous elements (filaments), each with different temperature and density. Fluctuations of the magnetic field may give rise to chromospheric turbulence and may also cause the chromospheric inhomogeneities.
The chromosphere is suggested to consist of four discrete groups of filaments: (1) "metallic" filaments where the conditions for the emission of lines of neutral metals are optimal, (2) hydrogenic elements, with optimum conditions for the emission of the Balmer series of hydrogen, (3) helium filaments, with optimum conditions for the appearence of the neutral helium lines, (4) the subcoronal filaments, representing a transition from chromospheric to coronal formations.
The metallic filaments may be further subdivided, first into filaments where the emission arises from scattering of photospheric radiation -these emit lines of neutral metals and of some metallic ions (Ca11, Srn, and others), and further into filaments where the emission is farther from LTE conditions; the latter filaments are characterized by a somewhat higher electron temperature and by an electron density at least exceeding that of the other elements by an order of 10. Computations of the optimum conditions for the emission of the neutral helium lines were made with the aid of new tables of Sobolev. The helium filaments in the low chromosphere have lower temperatures and are denser than those in the upper chromosphere; for a part they may also be considered as hydrogen filaments. The derivation of the physical parameters of the subcoronal filaments was based on data on the Hen4686 chromospheric line emission and also on rocket observations of the ultraviolet solar spectrum. In order to evaluate the relative distribution of the various filaments between heights of 0 and 5000 km, data on the radio emission of the Sun at 8 mm are also used. Characteristics of the proposed model of the chromosphere are given in Table and