March 10, 2017, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

March 10, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

What is the Source of Quiet Sun Transition Region Emission?

Don Schmit (Lockheed Martin/ GSFC)

The physics of the solar corona is dominated by the magnetic field, but we do not have synoptic high-fidelity measurements of that field. Consider the question: what percentage of photospheric magnetic flux connects to the corona? While this question is exceedingly important for constraining the flux of mass and energy into the outer atmosphere, we are forced to address it obliquely.

Dating back to the first observations of the on-disk corona, there has been a qualitative link between the photosphere's magnetic network and enhanced transition-temperature plasma emission. These observations led to the development of a general model that describes emission structures through the partitioning of the atmospheric volume with different magnetic loop geometries that exhibit different energetic equilibria. We revisit the canonical model of the quiet sun with high-resolution observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) in hand with the intent to develop a more holistic understanding of the coupling of magnetic and thermal structures in the transition region. In our analysis we look to magnetic models and stellar data to provide prospective on the peculiarities in the distribution of transition-temperature plasma emission observed in the quiet sun.