Analysis of coronal green line profiles: Evidence of excess blueshifts

Abstract

Coronal green line (Fe XIV 5303 Å) profiles were obtained from Fabry-Perot interferometric observations of the solar corona during the total solar eclipse of 2001 June 21 from Lusaka, Zambia. The instrumental width is about 0.2Å and the spectral resolution is about 26,000. About 300 line profiles were obtained within a radial range of 1.0-1.5 R⊙ and a position angle coverage of about 240°. The line profiles were fitted with single Gaussians, and their intensities, Doppler velocities, and line widths were obtained. Also obtained were the centroids of the line profiles, which give a measure of line asymmetry. The histograms of Doppler velocity show excess blueshifts, while the centroids reveal a predominant blue wing in the line profiles. It was found that the centroids and the Doppler velocities are highly correlated. This points to the presence of multiple components in the line profiles, with an excess of blueshifted components. We then obtained the (Blue-Red) wing intensities, which clearly reveal the secondary components, the majority of which are blueshifted. This confirms that the coronal green line profiles often contain multicomponents with excess blueshifts, which also depend on the solar activity. The magnitude of the Doppler velocity of the secondary components is in the range of 20-40kms-1 and shows an increase toward the poles. Possible explanations of the multicomponents are the type II spicules that were recently found to be important to coronal heating or the nascent solar wind flow, but the cause of the blue asymmetry in the coronal lines above the limb remains unclear. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.