Propagating and Stationary Bright Knots in the Quiet Solar Corona

Small-sized localized brightenings are an important candidate for resolving the problem of the solar atmospheric heating. They are spread over the whole solar disk and are suggested to be caused by magnetic reconnection or wave dissipation. In the chromosphere, two kinds of bright knots (propagating...

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Main Authors: Shaoxuan Tong, Jun Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2025-01-01
Series:The Astrophysical Journal
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adef44
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author Shaoxuan Tong
Jun Zhang
author_facet Shaoxuan Tong
Jun Zhang
author_sort Shaoxuan Tong
collection DOAJ
description Small-sized localized brightenings are an important candidate for resolving the problem of the solar atmospheric heating. They are spread over the whole solar disk and are suggested to be caused by magnetic reconnection or wave dissipation. In the chromosphere, two kinds of bright knots (propagating bright knots and stationary ones) have been reported. In this paper, we employ the data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory to study the distribution of two kinds of the bright knots in the quiet corona. To avoid the influence of active regions, we choose the data from 2020 July 20, on which no sunspot was detected in the solar disk. Based on the observations of 3 hr duration (from 00:00 UT to 03:00 UT), 815 propagating bright knots and 19,043 stationary ones are detected. The propagating bright knots have an average area of 1.5 Mm ^2 , lifetime of 51 s, and velocity of 33 km s ^−1 . For the stationary ones, the average area and lifetime are 2.0 Mm ^2 and 367 s, respectively. The propagating knots are located in weak magnetic field regions with an average flux density of 9.0 Gauss, which is comparable with the noise level, and their number is affected by the background radiation, e.g., the stronger the radiation, the less the propagating knots. The stationary knots are located at the locations of network fields with an average flux density of 14.4 Gauss. We suggest that the propagating bright knots are excited by wave dissipation, while the stationary knots result from magnetic reconnection.
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spelling doaj-art-31f465698af74005a18dcf2ff3fa3cdd2025-08-20T02:55:25ZengIOP PublishingThe Astrophysical Journal1538-43572025-01-0198919710.3847/1538-4357/adef44Propagating and Stationary Bright Knots in the Quiet Solar CoronaShaoxuan Tong0https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6911-3787Jun Zhang1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1286-6931School of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Anhui University , Hefei 230601, People’s Republic of China ; zjun@ahu.edu.cnSchool of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Anhui University , Hefei 230601, People’s Republic of China ; zjun@ahu.edu.cnSmall-sized localized brightenings are an important candidate for resolving the problem of the solar atmospheric heating. They are spread over the whole solar disk and are suggested to be caused by magnetic reconnection or wave dissipation. In the chromosphere, two kinds of bright knots (propagating bright knots and stationary ones) have been reported. In this paper, we employ the data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory to study the distribution of two kinds of the bright knots in the quiet corona. To avoid the influence of active regions, we choose the data from 2020 July 20, on which no sunspot was detected in the solar disk. Based on the observations of 3 hr duration (from 00:00 UT to 03:00 UT), 815 propagating bright knots and 19,043 stationary ones are detected. The propagating bright knots have an average area of 1.5 Mm ^2 , lifetime of 51 s, and velocity of 33 km s ^−1 . For the stationary ones, the average area and lifetime are 2.0 Mm ^2 and 367 s, respectively. The propagating knots are located in weak magnetic field regions with an average flux density of 9.0 Gauss, which is comparable with the noise level, and their number is affected by the background radiation, e.g., the stronger the radiation, the less the propagating knots. The stationary knots are located at the locations of network fields with an average flux density of 14.4 Gauss. We suggest that the propagating bright knots are excited by wave dissipation, while the stationary knots result from magnetic reconnection.https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adef44Quiet solar coronaSolar extreme ultraviolet emissionMagnetohydrodynamics
spellingShingle Shaoxuan Tong
Jun Zhang
Propagating and Stationary Bright Knots in the Quiet Solar Corona
The Astrophysical Journal
Quiet solar corona
Solar extreme ultraviolet emission
Magnetohydrodynamics
title Propagating and Stationary Bright Knots in the Quiet Solar Corona
title_full Propagating and Stationary Bright Knots in the Quiet Solar Corona
title_fullStr Propagating and Stationary Bright Knots in the Quiet Solar Corona
title_full_unstemmed Propagating and Stationary Bright Knots in the Quiet Solar Corona
title_short Propagating and Stationary Bright Knots in the Quiet Solar Corona
title_sort propagating and stationary bright knots in the quiet solar corona
topic Quiet solar corona
Solar extreme ultraviolet emission
Magnetohydrodynamics
url https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/adef44
work_keys_str_mv AT shaoxuantong propagatingandstationarybrightknotsinthequietsolarcorona
AT junzhang propagatingandstationarybrightknotsinthequietsolarcorona