§

SOLAR ASTRONOMY WITH ALMA

Sven Wedemeyer
Rosseland Centre for Solar Physics, Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics
University of Oslo, Norway

Presented at
ALMA2019: Science Results and Cross-Facility Synergies
14 October 2019, Cagliari, Italy

This work is supported by the European Research Council

(ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and
innovation programme (grant agreement No. 682462).
 §

SOLAR ASTRONOMY WITH ALMA

Sven Wedemeyer
Rosseland Centre for Solar Physics, Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics
University of Oslo, Norway
ESO Development Study High-cadence imaging Nordic ARC node, ESO

SolarALMA EMISSA In cooperation with

(ERC)
Solar-stellar
International
Mikolaj Connection development
Researcher

Researcher

Szydlarski
group
PI
PostDoc
PostDoc

PostDoc

Shahin
PhD
PhD

PhD

Jafarzadeh
This work is supported by the European Research Council (Research Council
(ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and
innovation programme (grant agreement No. 682462). of Norway)
 Introduction - The Sun

• Not a static stack of

isolated layers

• Compound of domains
• highly dynamic
• intermittent
• dynamically coupled
• Structured on a large
range of spatial scales,
spatially resolvable.
• Plethora of processes.
• The Sun is dynamic on
short timescales.
➡ Observations different
than for many other
astronomical objects.

Solar Dynamics Observatory SDO/NASA

 Introduction - How to observe the Sun?
• Different continua and spectral lines probing
different plasma properties in different domains/layers
➡ Multi-wavelengthco-ordinated space-borne/ground-based campaigns as
standard in modern solar physics

Active Region
(sunspots)

Quiet Sun
(“normal” granulation)

Solar Dynamics Observatory SDO/NASA

 S. Wedemeyer — Solar astronomy with ALMA

Introduction - The Sun

➡ Multi-wavelengthco-ordinated space-borne/ground-based campaigns as
standard in modern solar physics

Solar Dynamics Observatory SDO/NASA Wedemeyer, ESO Messenger (2016)

 The diagnostic problem

• Few suitable diagnostics for the

chromosphere in the UV/visible/IR:

Luc Rouppe van der Voort, Michiel van Noort, SST/ITA 2005
• Complicated formation mechanisms and
non-equilibrium effects
(e.g., ionisation, non-LTE)

➡ Uncertainties for the derived

chromospheric plasma properties
(like temperatures)!

➡ Interpretation difficult.

➡ Talk by Dale Gary / Kevin Reardon. 10 arcsec

Hα
 S. Wedemeyer — Solar astronomy with ALMA

ALMA’s potential for the Sun Tgas (z = 1000 km)

1. Continuum intensity
➡ Linear measure of local gas temperature

2. Polarisation
➡ Local magnetic field (not offered yet)

3. Probed atmospheric height increases with wavelength

➡ Tomography: 3D thermal + magnetic+ kinetic structure
of the solar chromosphere possible for the first time.

4. Spectral lines (not much known yet)

5. High spatial + temporal + spectral resolution = big leap!

Tbrightness (λ = 1 mm)
Artificial
observation
Wedemeyer-B.
Credits: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)
et al (2007)
 S. Wedemeyer — Solar astronomy with ALMA

High spatial resolution

10 arcsec

BIMA 3.5mm
Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Array
(BIMA, 2004), λ = 3.5 mm: Loukitcheva et al. (2014)
resolution 10 arcsec
(Loukitcheva et al. 2014)
 S. Wedemeyer — Solar astronomy with ALMA

High spatial resolution 20

16
.1.
10 arcsec TA
10 arcsec
A 10 arcsec
00
42
3.
D A S
S T L M
T E A T
S
M
A
TA TE
A L A A A
T
D
A LM AT
S D
TE S T
TA T E TA
D A A A
BIMA 3.5mm ALMA M3mm T D ALMA 3mm
A L S2014,
Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland Array ALMA, successful E
test ALMA Cycle 4
(BIMA, 2004), λ = 3.5 mm: interferometry, λ =T 3.0 mm: Band 3
resolution 10 arcsec resolution < 1 arcsec ! Resolution ~ 1.4 - 2.3 arcsec
(Loukitcheva et al. 2014)

ALMA Cycle 4
Band 6
Resolution < 1 arcsec !!
10 arcsec ALMA 1.3mm
2016.1.00050.S
 S. Wedemeyer — Solar astronomy with ALMA

Solar Science Cases for ALMA

(Wedemeyer et al. 2016, Space Science Reviews, Vol. 200, 1-4)
In general:
• Thermal structure and small-scale dynamics of the chromosphere
for different type of regions
➡Gas temperatures (complemented with other diagnostics)
Major science cases:

Coronal/ Flares and coronal Prominences

chromospheric mass ejections Thermal structure,
heating problem Physical mechanism, formation, eruption,
Why are the outer Energetics small-structure and
layers of the Sun so (Active Regions, dynamics
hot? ( T > 106 K!) solar cycle,
space weather)
SDO/NASA

SDO/NASA

SDO/NASA
 SOLAR OBSERVING SO FAR
CAPABILITIES CHALLENGES

• Band 3 and Band 6 • Co-ordination with other

• Band 7 since 10/2019 ground-based and space-borne
telescopes: must be
• Single pointing - 1s cadence
(2s in Cycle 4)
strictly co-simultaneous!
INTEFEROMETRIC

• Scan duration max. 10min

(3-4 scans)
• Sun = extended source
➡ Primary beam filled with
• FOV (primary beam):
60” (Band 3) to 25” (Band 6)
complex emission

• Resolution: 1.4”-2.5” (Band

3) down to 0.6” (Band 6)
➡ Calibration challenging!
• Solar is a non-standard mode
• Shimojo
Mosaics up to 149 points
et al. (2017) ➡ No pipeline processing but
much to be done by PIs
• Simultaneous Total Power (TP) - Many PIs new to mm astronomy!
TP

fast scans of whole solar disk

White et al. (2017) • (no full polarisation yet, but XX and YY)
 SOLAR OBSERVING SO FAR
• SV data
• Cycle 4 - 6: SBs on the archive
total Band 3 Band 6
TP maps 59 29 30
INT (12m+7m)
Mosaic 33 13 20
Time series 41 25 16
all 38 36
BUT:

• Quality varies a lot (PWV).

• Few data sets with overall good quality (and target as requested)
• Co-ordination with other telescopes successful in only few cases so far.
• Only few publications so far: Bastian et al. (2017), Shimojo et al. (2017),
Nindos et al. (2018), Brajsa et al. (2018), Yokoyama et al. (2018),
Molnar et al. (2019), Loukitcheva et al. (2019), Reardon et al. (2019),
Jafarzadeh et al. (2019), Selhorst et al. (2019), …
SCIENCE VERIFICATION DATA

ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) (Press release 1/2017)

32 arcmin ~ 1900 arcsec
• SV Band 3
• Mosaic 149pt

• TP full disk scan

scan pattern by Hudson & Hills
SCIENCE VERIFICATION DATA

ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO) (Press release 1/2017)

32 arcmin ~ 1900 arcsec
• SV Band 3
•
1.2 1.2

Mosaic 149pt 0.8 0.8

0.4 0.4

• TP full disk scan -1.2 -0.8 -0.4

0

-0.4
0 0.4 0.8 1.2 -1.2 -0.8 -0.4
0

-0.4
0 0.4 0.8

scan pattern by Hudson & Hills -0.8 -0.8

CYCLE 6 SDO/NASA

2018.1.01879.S
CYCLE 6 SDO/NASA

2018.1.01879.S
 CYCLE 6 SDO/NASA

ALMA Band 3 Mosaic 149pt

SDO/NAS
2018.1.01879.S
 CYCLE 6 SDO/NASA

SDO AIA 171 (layer above Band 3)

ALMA Band 3 Mosaic 149pt

2018.1.01879.S
 CYCLE 6 SDO/NASA

SDO AIA 171 (layer above Band 3)

ALMA Band 3 Mosaic 149pt

➡ Quantitative characterisation of thermal structure

➡ Talk by Stephen White. 2018.1.01879.S
 ALMA CYCLE 4 - BAND 6 - APRIL 2017

CALIBRATED DATA

2016.1.00050.S PI. De Pontieu

IMAGING (image
reconstruction)
to be done by PI

Result of official
script provided
with data:

One time-
integrated
reference image
(no time series)

Average over all Typically:12-m

Using thetogether
+ 7-m whole(mosaic
measurement
mode) set
frequencies for imaging for best uv coverage but target
changes on timescales of seconds!
 ALMA CYCLE 4 - BAND 6 - APRIL 2017

PROCESSED DATA

2016.1.00050.S PI. De Pontieu

SoAP

Split into time

sequence with
2s cadence

• Self-calibration
• Image stabilised
• Science-ready

(Can be split into

spectral windows/
sub-bands)
SoAP
12-m - Solar
+ 7-m togetherALMA
(mosaicPipeline
mode)
Solar ALMA
Szydlarski et al. • Development started in 2016 in Oslo
(in prep.) • Since 2019 more routinely used
 ALMA CYCLE 4 - BAND 6 - APRIL 2017
CO-ALIGNMENT WITH OTHER SIMULTANEOUS OBSERVATIONS

2016.1.00050.S PI. De Pontieu

Cycle 4 32 arcmin ~ 1900 arcsec
Dec 22, 2016
2016.1.00423.S

Band 3
Total Power scan
of whole disk

1.2 1.2

0.8 0.8

0.4 0.4

0 0
-1.2 -0.8 -0.4 0 0.4 0.8 1.2 -1.2 -0.8 -0.4 0 0.4 0.8

-0.4 -0.4

-0.8 -0.8
Cycle 4 32 arcmin ~ 1900 arcsec
Dec 22, 2016
2016.1.00423.S

Band 3
Total Power scan
of whole disk

Interferometric FOV
~60 arcsec
Co-observing
• SDO
• IRIS Wrong
• Hinode pointing!
1.2 1.2

0.8 0.8

0.4 0.4

0 0
-1.2 -0.8 -0.4 0 0.4 0.8 1.2 -1.2 -0.8 -0.4 0 0.4 0.8

-0.4 -0.4

-0.8 -0.8
Cycle 4
Dec 22, 2016 ALMA Band 3 observation
2016.1.00423.S

Co-observing
• SDO

Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)-AIA 17.0 nm

Cycle 4 ALMA Band 3 observation
Dec 22, 2016
2016.1.00423.S

ALMA measures
brightness
temperatures
➡ Gas temperatures
in the solar
chromosphere
➡ Difficult to get
otherwise
➡ Important for a
large range of
science cases!
ALMA CYCLE 4 - BAND 3 - DECEMBER 2016
“COMPACT” MAGNETIC LOOPS

2016.1.00423.S PI. Wedemeyer

5940 K 9650 K

SDO/AIA 171 ALMA BAND 3

20 arcsec
 FIRST COMPARISON TO OBSERVATIONS
“COMPACT” MAGNETIC LOOPS

Gudiksen et al. (2011)

NUMERICAL SIMULATION CYCLE 4 - BAND 3 - 12/2016

BIFROST+ART
FIRST COMPARISON TO OBSERVATIONS
“COMPACT” MAGNETIC LOOPS

NUMERICAL SIMULATION CYCLE 4 - BAND 3 - 12/2016

BIFROST+ART
FIRST COMPARISON TO OBSERVATIONS
“COMPACT” MAGNETIC LOOPS

COMPARISON

NUMERICAL SIMULATION CYCLE 4 - BAND 3 - 12/2016

BIFROST+ART + ALMA resolution
FIRST COMPARISON TO OBSERVATIONS
“COMPACT” MAGNETIC LOOPS

COMPARISON

What do we learn from these ALMA observations?

➡ Thermal properties and evolution of a flux emergence event.
NUMERICAL SIMULATION CYCLE 4 - BAND 3 - 12/2016
➡ Implications for the energy balance of the solar atmosphere!
BIFROST+ART + ALMA resolution (Wedemeyer et al, in prep.)
HOW RELIABLE ARE THE MEASURED
(BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURES)?

IMAGING
๏ Which aspects are
reconstructed well?

COMPARISON ๏ How large are the

uncertainties?
๏ How to optimise the
imaging process?
 IMAGING - TESTS AND DEVELOPMENT
Currently developed as part of ESO ALMA development study

Solar
Test
Model

Synthetic Reconstructed
mm maps COMPARISON mm maps

Solar Solar
ALMA ALMA
Simulator Pipeline
(SoAP)

Database
Synthetic measurement sets
FIRST EXPERIMENTS
Band 3 One snapshot only

• Synthetic mm
map
(periodically
repeated for
increased extent)
 SUMMARY & OUTLOOK
Sven
Wedemeyer

Credit: CC-BY - ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)

• ALMA has great potential for mapping the solar chromosphere
• at high spatial resolution
• at high temporal resolution (possibly < 1s)
• at high spectral resolution
• linear thermometer of the solar plasma
• In the future: Measures the polarisation (the magnetic field can be determined)
➡ Important results and advances in solar physics to be expected!
➡ Implications for our understanding of stellar atmospheres + their activity.
★ Still at the beginning … Exciting times ahead!