Various Activities above Sunspot Light Bridges in IRIS Observations: Classification and Comparison

Abstract

Light bridges (LBs) are among the most striking substructures in sunspots, where various activities have been revealed by recent high-resolution observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). Based on the variety of their physical properties, we classified these activities into four distinct categories: transient brightening (TB), intermittent jet (IJ), type-I light wall (LW-I), and type-II light wall (LW-II). In IRIS 1400/1330 Å observations, TBs are characterized by abrupt emission enhancements, and IJs appear as collimated plasma ejections with a width of 1–2 Mm at some LB sites. Most observed TBs are associated with IJs and show superpositions of some chromosphere absorption lines on enhanced and broadened wings of C ii and Si iv lines, which could be driven by intermittent magnetic reconnection in the lower atmosphere. LW-I and LW-II are wall-shaped structures with bright fronts above the whole LB. An LW-I has a continuous oscillating front with a typical height of several Mm and an almost stationary period of 4–5 minutes. On the contrary, an LW-II has an indented front with a height of over 10 Mm, which has no stable period and is accompanied by recurrent TBs in the entire LB. These results support that LW-IIs are driven by frequent reconnection occurring along the entire LB due to large-scale magnetic flux emergence or intrusion, rather than the leakage of waves producing LW-Is. Our observations reveal a highly dynamical scenario of activities above LBs driven by different basic physical processes, including magnetoconvection, magnetic reconnection, and wave leakage.