The magnetic structure of filament barbs

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-10-2005

Abstract

There is a controversy about how features protruding laterally from filaments, called barbs, are magnetically structured. On 2004 August 3, we observed a filament that had well-developed barbs. The observations were performed using the 10 inch refractor of the Big Bear Solar Observatory. A fast camera was employed to capture images at five different wavelengths of the Hα line and successively record them on the basis of frame selection. The terminating points of the barbs were clearly discernable in the Hα images without any ambiguity. The comparison of the Hα images with the magnetograms taken by SOHO MDI revealed that the termination occurred above the minor polarity inversion line dividing the magnetic elements of the major polarity and those of the minor polarity. There is also evidence that the flux cancellation proceeded on the polarity inversion line. Our results together with similar other recent observations support the idea that filament barbs are cool matter suspended in local dips of magnetic field lines, formed by magnetic reconnection in the chromosphere. © 2005. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

Identifier

22544432240 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Astrophysical Journal

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.1086/429797

e-ISSN

15384357

ISSN

0004637X

First Page

574

Last Page

578

Issue

1 I

Volume

626

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