Exploring the multi-scaled nature of solar vortices with DKIST

磁场结构的编织和扭曲，植根于太阳表面，被认为是理解太阳大气加热起源的重要因素，这是所有天体物理学中最长的未解决的难题之一。太阳表面层（称为光球层）持续的逆流流动提供了促进磁扭曲的完美条件，这是由于湍流对流形成的涡旋所带来的。三维涡流管的多层数值磁流体动力学（MHD）已经表明，它们足以提供足够的坡印亭通量来加热日冕。然而，目前还不知道涡旋在观测中出现的频率，它们在大气层之间的相关性以及磁场对涡旋的反应。随着丹尼尔·K·井上4米太阳望远镜（DKIST）观测的出现，我们现在有机会以前所未有的空间和时间分辨率从统计上了解太阳涡旋的集体性质，并最终确认涡旋对太阳大气加热的集体贡献。尽管最近在太阳光球小尺度涡旋运动的统计解释方面取得了进展，它们的磁场和对上层的加热影响仍然没有得到证实。涡旋运动预计将决定其他扭曲现象中的大部分物理现象，这些扭曲现象似乎主导着色球层，包括针状体光球涡旋流场通常是从颗粒间通道的磁亮点运动中推断出来的。随着一种新的全自动光球涡旋识别算法的应用，瑞典1米太阳望远镜首次大量探测到了颗粒间光球强度涡旋。在100公里的分辨率下，任何时候都可能有约1.4 × 106个光球涡旋覆盖约2.8%的太阳表面。然而，在光球层上方的色球层中，涡旋的出现要困难得多，到目前为止，大多数研究仅限于“肉眼”检测到的少数事件。在这个项目中，我们将开发新的方法来自动检测多个大气层中的涡旋与DKIST，以了解涡流管的3D性质从光球引导能量到日冕。该项目旨在利用DKIST新的地面观测数据，以便准确地量化：a）光球中有多少涡旋出现在色球涡旋中（反之亦然）？B）色球层中涡流管内的磁场有多扭曲？c）在色球涡旋中激发了多少MHD波功率用于日冕的基底加热？为了解决这三个问题，我们概述了以下三个项目的目标：检测，跟踪，表征和相关的光球和色球层的同时涡流，使用DKIST观测。演示大气层之间涡度的耦合并理解其对能量传输的重要性。通过VISP、VBI和VTF中的DKIST观测测量光球层和色球层中矢量磁场的变化。首次发现涡旋中存在磁扭曲的证据，这是磁龙卷风数值模型在传递坡印亭通量方面的一个重要特征。通过DKIST和界面区域成像光谱仪（IRIS）共同观测，确定并表征大尺度涡旋中的波特性、与加热特征的相关性以及磁场的非势性。

Braiding and twisting of magnetic field structures, rooted within the surface of the Sun, has been considered important for understanding the origins of solar atmospheric heating, one of the longest unsolved puzzles in all of astrophysics. Persistent counter-streaming flows at the solar surface layer (known as the photosphere) provides the perfect conditions facilitating magnetic twist, brought about by vortex formation due to turbulent convection. Multi-layer numerical MagnetoHydroDynamics (MHD) of 3D vortex tubes have shown that they are more than adequate to supply enough Poynting flux to heat the solar corona. However, it is not yet known how frequently vortices appear from observations, how correlated they are between the atmospheric layers and how magnetic fields respond to vortices. With the advent of the Daniel K Inouye 4-m Solar Telescope (DKIST) observations, we now have the opportunity to understand the collective nature of solar vortices statistically, at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution, and to finally confirm the collective contribution of vortices to solar atmospheric heating.Despite recent advancements in the statistical account of small-scale vortex motions in the solar photosphere, their magnetic fields and heating impacts in the layers above remain unconfirmed. Vortex motion is expected to dictate much of the physics in other twisting phenomena that appear to dominate the chromosphere, including spicules Photospheric vortex flow fields are often inferred from motions of magnetic bright points at intergranular lanes. With the application of a novel fully-automated photospheric vortex identification algorithms, inter-granular photospheric intensity vortices have been detected in large numbers for the first time, with the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope. At the resolution of 100km, it was proposed that at any time there could be ~1.4x106 photospheric vortices covering about 2.8% of the solar surface. However, in the chromosphere above the photosphere the manifestation of vortices is much more difficult to detect and so far most studies are limited to a handful of events detected "by eye". In this project, we will develop new approaches to the automated detection of vortices in multiple atmospheric layers with DKIST, in order to understand the 3D nature of vortex tubes channelling energy from the photosphere to the corona. The project aims to exploit new ground-based observations from DKIST in order to accurately quantify:a) how many vortices in the photosphere appear as chromospheric vortices (and vice versa)?b) how twisted are magnetic fields within vortex tubes in the chromosphere?c) how much MHD wave power is excited in chromospheric swirls for basal heating of the corona?To address the three questions we outline the following three project objectives:Detect, track, characterize and correlate simultaneous vortex flows in both the photosphere and chromosphere, using DKIST observations. Demonstrate the coupling of vorticity between atmospheric layers and understand its importance for energy transfer.Measure changes in the vector magnetic field in the photosphere and chromosphere from DKIST observations in VISP, VBI and VTF. Find evidence of magnetic twist in swirls, for the first time, which is an important feature of numerical models of magnetic tornadoes in delivering Poynting flux.Identify and characterize wave properties, correlations with heating signatures and non-potentiality of magnetic field in a large-scale swirl, co-observed with DKIST and Interface Region Imaging Spectrometer (IRIS).