Paper detail

On The Doppler Velocity of Emission Line Profiles Formed in the "Coronal Contraflow" that is the Chromosphere-Corona Mass Cycle

This analysis begins to explore the complex chromosphere-corona mass cycle using a blend of imaging and spectroscopic diagnostics. Single Gaussian fits to hot emission line profiles (formed above 1MK) at the base of coronal loop structures indicate material blue-shifts of 5-10km/s while cool emission line profiles (formed below 1MK) yield red-shifts of a similar magnitude - indicating, to zeroth order, that a temperature-dependent bifurcating flow exists on coronal structures. Image sequences of the same region reveal weakly emitting upward propagating disturbances in both hot and cool emission with apparent speeds of 50-150km/s. Spectroscopic observations indicate that these propagating disturbances produce a weak emission component in the blue wing at commensurate speed, but that they contribute only a few percent to the (ensemble) emission line profile in a single spatio-temporal resolution element. Subsequent analysis of imaging data shows material "draining" slowly (~10km/s) out of the corona, but only in the cooler passbands. We interpret the draining as the return-flow of coronal material at the end of the complex chromosphere-corona mass cycle. Further, we suggest that the efficient radiative cooling of the draining material produces a significant contribution to the red wing of cool emission lines that is ultimately responsible for their systematic red-shift as derived from a single Gaussian fit when compared to those formed in hotter (conductively dominated) domains. The presence of counter-streaming flows complicates the line profiles, their interpretation, and asymmetry diagnoses, but allows a different physical picture of the lower corona to develop.