
© 1998. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
High-Temperature Lines in SUMER Spectra Recorded Above a Bright Solar Active Region
U. FELDMAN, 1 W. CURDT, 2 G. A. DOSCHEK, 1 U. SCHÜHLE, 2 K. WILHELM, 2 AND P. LEMAIRE 3
Received 1997 October 16; accepted 1998 March 12
ABSTRACT
We identify spectral lines emitted by solar abundant elements due primarily to transitions within the 2s22pk and 3s23pk (where k = 1, 5) ground configurations of ions that are formed in ionization equilibrium between 2 × 106 and 8 × 106 K. The transitions were identified in spectra of a bright active region recorded 1997 September 6, by the Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation Spectrometer (SUMER) flown on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). Some of these lines provide useful plasma diagnostic tools for measuring the physical conditions in the solar corona.Subject headings: line: identifications


FOOTNOTES
1 E. O. Hulburt Center for Space Research, Mail Code 7608, Naval Research Laboratory, 4555 Overlook Avenue SW, Washington DC, 20375-5352.2 Max-Planck-Institut für Aeronomie, D-37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany.
3 Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Unite Mixte Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique, Université Paris XI, Bat 121, F-91405 Orsay, France.
§1. INTRODUCTION
In a recent paper Feldman et al. (1997, hereafter Paper I) published an extensive list of spectral lines in the 500

The main allowed lines (electric dipole transitions) emitted by highly ionized ions that are present in high-temperature (Te > 2 × 106 K) solar coronal plasmas appear at short wavelengths (

In this paper we report the identification of spectral lines emitted by plasmas with temperatures between 2 × 106 K that are useful for determining emission measure distributions, electron densities, and mass motions above bright active regions. Except for the 1133.76 Å Ca XIII line, which is present in the Curdt et al. (1997) list, none of the lines is normally seen in disk spectra. Some of the newly identified lines at wavelengths short of 680 Å and those in the 937


§2. SUMER SPECTROMETER AND OBSERVATIONS
The SUMER spectrometer is a high spectral and spatial resolution slit spectrometer. The wavelength range for the detector used to obtain the present observations (detector B) is 660



The spectra used to identify the spectral lines are a set of 300 s exposures recorded 1997 September 6 between about 01:04 and 06:42 UT. The spectra are part of the "reference spectrum" program, i.e., full wavelength coverage spectra are periodically recorded for many different types of solar regions and at different locations. On this day the solar radius was 962






§3. SPECTRAL ANALYSIS
A spectral line list with all the new identifications including wavelengths and transitions is given in Table 1. The wavelengths are believed to be accurate to ±0.02 Å. The wavelengths were derived from the spectra after the spectra were flat-field corrected and the geometric distortions were removed ("destretched"). The intensities were obtained from a single active region reference spectrum. Because this spectrum took several hours to record, and active regions exhibit considerable transient behavior, intensity ratios of lines at widely separated wavelengths may not be accurate.Six of the forbidden lines are shown in Figures 2 and 3. In Figure 2, an active region spectrum is compared with a quiet-Sun spectrum. Note the presence of Ca XIII, Ca XIV, and Ca XV lines in the active region spectrum and their absence in the quiet-Sun spectrum. In Figure 3, an Fe XIX flare line is shown. Note that the flare line shows substantial Doppler broadening and that it is confined to the small spatial regions of the flare.


§3.1. The Ar XIII Spectrum
The maximum fractional abundance of Ar+12 is at 2.5 × 106 K (Arnaud & Rothenflug 1985). The 2s22p2 ground configuration includes the following levels: 3P0,1,2, 1D2, and 1S0. Two of the forbidden transitions within the ground configuration, i.e., 3P1


§3.2. The Ar XII Spectrum
The maximum fractional abundance of Ar+11 is at 2.1 × 106 K (Arnaud & Rothenflug 1985). The 2s22p3 ground configuration includes the following levels: 4S3/2, 2D3/2,5/2, and 2P1/2,3/2 (see Fig. 4). Edlén (1984) predicted the energies of the levels within the ground configuration of Ar+11. Four of the forbidden transitions within this configuration, i.e., 4S3/2




§3.3. The Ca XV Spectrum
The maximum fractional abundance of Ca+14 is at 3.5 × 106 K (Arnaud & Rothenflug 1985). The 2s22p2 ground configuration includes the following levels: 3P0,1,2, 1D2, and 1S0. Edlén (1985) predicted the energies of the levels within this configuration. Only two of the forbidden transitions within the ground configuration, i.e., 3P2



§3.4. The Ca XIV Spectrum
The maximum fractional abundance of Ca+13 is at 3.0 × 106 K (Arnaud & Rothenflug 1985). The 2s22p3 ground configuration includes the following levels: 4S3/2, 2D3/2,5/2, and 2P1/2,3/2 (see Fig. 4). Edlén (1984) predicted the energies of the levels within the configuration. Six of the forbidden transitions within the ground configuration, i.e., 4S3/2






§3.5. The Ca XIII Spectrum
The maximum fractional abundance of Ca+12 is at 2.5 × 106 K (Arnaud & Rothenflug 1985). The 2s22p4 ground configuration includes the following levels: 3P2,1,0, 1D2, and 1S0. Edlén (1983) predicted the energies of the levels within the configuration. Only two of the forbidden transitions within the ground configuration, i.e., 3P2

§3.6. Fe XVII, FeXVIII, and FeXIX Forbidden Transitions
Four highly ionized iron transitions emitted by Fe XVII, Fe XVIII, and Fe XIX are also present in active region spectra. The maximum fractional abundance of Fe+16 is at 4.0 × 106 K, Fe+17 is at 6.3 × 106 K, and Fe+18 is at 7.9 × 106 K (Arnaud & Raymond 1992). The 1153.16 Å Fe XVII (2s22p53s 3P1



§3.7. Ni XIII, Ni XIV, and Ni XV Forbidden Transitions
We observe one Ni XIII line previously reported in solar spectra by Sandlin et al. (1977). Three highly ionized nickel transitions belonging to Ni XIV and Ni XV are present in the active region spectra. The maximum fractional abundances of Ni+13 and Ni+14 are at 2.1 × 106 and 2.3 × 106 K, respectively (Arnaud & Rothenflug 1985). The 1034.48 Å Ni XIV (3s23p3 4S3/2


§4. DENSITY SENSITIVE LINE RATIOS
Forbidden transitions within the ground configuration of the N I isoelectronic sequence are suitable density indicators for solar plasmas. Feldman et al. (1978) showed that intensity ratios between the 2s22p3 4S3/2



The above transitions in Ar XII and in particular in Ca XIV are most suitable for probing the electron density of dense and hot active regions. As shown in Figure 5, the various Ar XII forbidden line ratios are sensitive to densities between 109 and 1012 cm-3. The identical transitions in Ca XIV are sensitive to densities between 1010 and 1013 cm-3. Intensity ratios between the 2s22p2 3P1






ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The SUMER project is financially supported by DARA, CNES, NASA, and the ESA PRODEX program (Swiss contribution). The Naval Research Laboratory contribution to this work was supported by NRL/ONR basic research funds, by the SOHO Project, and by a NASA SR&T grant (W-18218) to one of us (G. A. D.). We would like to thank Catherine Abbott for her help in reducing the SUMER data and we thank Martin Laming for providing the density sensitivity calculations.REFERENCES
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FIGURES

FIG. 1.


FIG. 2.


FIG. 3.


FIG. 4.


FIG. 5.


FIG. 6.

TABLES
Measured![]() |
Predicted![]() |
Ion | Transition | Intensity b |
545.26... | 545.21 | Ca XIV | 2s22p3 4S3/2![]() |
0.43 |
579.85... | 579.83 | Ca XIV | 2s22p3 4S3/2![]() |
0.37 |
592.23 cP... | ![]() |
Fe XIX | 2s22p4 3P2![]() |
![]() |
648.68... | 648.92 | Ca XIII | 2s22p4 3P1![]() |
0.29 |
656.69... | 656.60 | Ar XIII | 2s22p23P1![]() |
0.29 |
670.34... | 670.35 | Ar XII | 2s22p3 4S3/2![]() |
0.24 |
880.43... | 880.35 | Ca XIV | 2s22p3 4S3/2![]() |
1.67 |
943.61... | 943.70 | Ca XIV | 2s22p3 4S3/2![]() |
2.43 |
974.86P... | 974.82 | Fe XVIII | 2s22p 2P3/2![]() |
3.62 |
1018.87P... | 1018.72 | Ar XII | 2s22p3 4S3/2![]() |
1.13 |
1033.04... | 1033.2 | Ni XV | 3s23p2 3P1![]() |
1.19 |
1034.48... | 1034.9 | Ni XIV | 3s23p3 4S3/2![]() |
1.91 |
1054.62P... | 1054.69 | Ar XII | 2s22p3 4S3/2![]() |
0.31 |
1098.44... | 1098.42 | Ca XV | 2s22p2 3P1![]() |
0.26 |
1118.08P... | 1118.08 | Fe XIX | 2s22p4 3P2![]() |
0.17 |
1133.79... | 1133.76 | Ca XIII | 2s22p4 3P2![]() |
4.95 |
1153.16P... | 1153.14 | Fe XVII | 2s22p53s 3P1![]() |
1.24 |
1174.65P... | 1174.72 | Ni XIV | 3s23p3 4S3/2![]() |
1.53 |
1277.22P... | 1277.23 | Ni XIII | 3s23p4 3P1![]() |
0.78 |
1291.61... | 1291.2 | Ca XIV | 2s22p3 2D3/2![]() |
0.26 |
1330.54... | 1330.37 | Ar XIII | 2s22p2 3P1![]() |
0.22 |
1375.96P... | 1375.93 | Ca XV | 2s22p2 3P2![]() |
0.39 |
NOTE.

a Predicted wavelengths for argon, calcium, and iron transitions are from Edlén (1983, 1984, 1985); predicted wavelengths for Ni lines are from Kaufman & Sugar (1986).
b Intensities are given in units of mW st-1 m-2 and are obtained from a single active region reference spectrum.
c This line was observed in a different reference spectrum from the other lines, and therefore no intensity is given.
Image of typeset table | Discussion in text
ENERGY (cm-1) |
||
LEVEL | Ar XIII | Ca XV |
3P0... | 0.0 | 0.0 |
3P1... | 9859 a | 17555 a |
3P2... | 21859 a | 35917 a |
1D2... | 85016 | 108593 |
1S0... | 162138 | (197648) a |
a Energy levels are from Edlén (1985). Numbers in parentheses are calculated values.
Image of typeset table | Discussion in text
Level | Energy (cm-1) |
|
Ar XII | Ca XIV | |
4S3/2... | 0.0 | 0.0 |
2D3/2... | 94821 | 105976 |
2D5/2... | 98146 | 113581 |
2P1/2... | 149178 | 172458 |
2P3/2... | (154050) a | 183399 |
a Energy levels are from Edlén (1984). Numbers in parentheses are calculated values.
Image of typeset table | Discussion in text
Level | Energy (cm-1) |
3P2... | 0.0 |
3P1... | 24465 a |
3P0... | 28880 a |
1D2... | 88200 |
1S0... | 178624 |
a Energy levels are from Edlén (1983).
Image of typeset table | Discussion in text
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