Evolution of temperature in granule and intergranular space

✍ Scribed by J. Koza; L.R. Bellot Rubio; A. Kučera; A. Hanslmeier; J. Rybák; H. Wöhl

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 106 KB
• Volume: 324
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-6337
• DOI: 10.1002/asna.200310122

✦ Synopsis

The temporal evolution of temperature in a dissolving granule and in an adjacent intergranular space is presented. The semi-empirical evolutionary models have been calculated using an inversion method applied to 4-min time series of Stokes I spectral line profiles. The models are presented in the form of the functional dependence of temperature T (log τ5, t) on optical depth τ5 at 500 nm and time t. The observed disappearance of the granule is accompanied with overall cooling of the granular photosphere. Temperature changes greater than 100 K have been found in deeper (log τ5 ≥ 0) and upper layers (log τ5 ≤ -2) whereas the intermediate layers are thermally stable. The intergranular space, which is 2 arcsec off the granule, keeps the temperature structure of the layers from log τ5 = 0.5 to log τ5 = -2 without global evolutionary changes except short-term and spatially confined heating. Finally, the significant temperature changes in the upper layers (log τ5 ≤ -2.5) observed during the time interval of 4 min are found to be typical for the granular and intergranular photosphere.