Observational evidence for two-component distributions describing solar magnetic bright points

• Published in: Astronomy and astrophysics (Berlin) 2022-01, Vol.657, p.A79
• Main Authors: Berrios Saavedra, Gerardine, Utz, Dominik, Vargas Domínguez, Santiago, Campos Rozo, José Iván, González Manrique, Sergio Javier, Gömöry, Peter, Kuckein, Christoph, Balthasar, Horst, Zelina, Peter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Astronomical instruments; Diameters; High resolution; Histograms; Image acquisition; Image resolution; Image segmentation; Magnetic flux; Observational studies; Photosphere; Rayleigh distribution; Solar atmosphere; Solar cycle; Solar instruments; Solar optical telescope; Space telescopes; Spatial resolution; Statistical analysis
• ISSN: 0004-6361; 1432-0746
• DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/202141231

Context. High-resolution observations of the solar photosphere reveal the presence of fine structures, in particular the so-called Magnetic Bright Points (MBPs), which are small-scale features associated with strong magnetic field regions of the order of kilogauss (kG). It is especially relevant to study these magnetic elements, which are extensively detected in all moments during the solar cycle, in order to establish their contribution to the behavior of the solar atmosphere, and ultimately a plausible role within the coronal heating problem. Aims. Characterisation of size and velocity distributions of MBPs in the solar photosphere in two different datasets of quiet Sun images acquired with high-resolution solar instruments i.e. Solar Optical Telescope SOT/Hinode and the High-resolution Fast Imager HiFI/GREGOR, in the G -band (4308 Å). Methods. In order to detect the MBPs, an automatic segmentation and identification algorithm is used. Next, the identified features were tracked to measure their proper motions. Finally, a statistical analysis of hundreds of MBPs is carried out, generating histograms for areas, diameters and horizontal velocities. Results. This work establishes that areas and diameters of MBPs display log-normal distributions that are well-fitted by two different components, whereas the velocity vector components follow Gaussians and the vector magnitude a Rayleigh distribution revealing again for all vector elements a two component composition. Conclusions. The results can be interpreted as due to the presence of two different populations of MBPs in the solar photosphere one likely related to stronger network magnetic flux elements and the other one to weaker intranetwork flux elemens. In particular this work concludes on the effect of the different spatial resolution of GREGOR and Hinode telescopes, affecting detections and average values.