Where the Granular Flows Bend

Khomenko, E.; Martínez-Pillet, V.; Solanki, S. K.; del Toro Iniesta, J. C.; Gandorfer, A.; Bonet, J. A.; Domingo, V.; Schmidt, W.; Barthol, P.; Knölker, M.
Bibliographical reference

The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 723, Issue 2, pp. L159-L163 (2010).

Advertised on:
11
2010
Number of authors
10
IAC number of authors
3
Citations
13
Refereed citations
11
Description
Based on IMaX/SUNRISE data, we report on a previously undetected phenomenon in solar granulation. We show that in a very narrow region separating granules and intergranular lanes, the spectral line width of the Fe I 5250.2 Å line becomes extremely small. We offer an explanation of this observation with the help of magneto-convection simulations. These regions with extremely small line widths correspond to the places where the granular flows bend from upflow in granules to downflow in intergranular lanes. We show that the resolution and image stability achieved by IMaX/SUNRISE are important requisites to detect this interesting phenomenon.
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