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M. S. Madjarska

Publications and source records attributed to M. S. Madjarska.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Deciphering the solar coronal heating: Energizing small-scale loops through surface convection

The solar atmosphere is filled with clusters of hot small-scale loops commonly known as Coronal Bright Points (CBPs). These ubiquitous structures stand out in the Sun by their strong X-ray and/or extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) emission for hours to days, which makes them a crucial piece when solving the solar coronal heating puzzle. In addition, they can be the source of coronal jets and small-scale filament eruptions. Here we present a novel 3D numerical model using the Bifrost code that explains the sustained CBP heating for several hours. We find that stochastic photospheric convective motions alone significantly stress the CBP magnetic field topology, leading to important Joule and viscous heating concentrated around the CBP's inner spine at a few megameters above the solar surface. We also detect continuous upflows with faint EUV signal resembling observational dark coronal jets and small-scale eruptions when H$_α$ fibrils interact with the reconnection site. We validate our model by comparing simultaneous CBP observations from SDO and SST with observable diagnostics calculated from the numerical results for EUV wavelengths as well as for the H$_α$ line using the Multi3D synthesis code. Additionally, we provide synthetic observables to be compared with Hinode, Solar Orbiter, and IRIS. Our results constitute a step forward in the understanding of the many different facets of the solar coronal heating problem.

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Magnetic topological analysis of coronal bright points

{We report on the first of a series of studies on coronal bright points investigating the physical mechanism that generates these phenomena.} {The aim of this paper is to understand the magnetic-field structure that hosts the bright points.} {We use longitudinal magnetograms taken by the Solar Optical Telescope with the Narrowband Filter Imager. For a single case, magnetograms from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager were added to the analysis. The longitudinal magnetic field component is used to derive the potential magnetic fields of the large regions around the bright points. A magneto-static field extrapolation method is tested to verify the accuracy of the potential field modelling. The three dimensional magnetic fields are investigated for the presence of magnetic null points and their influence on the local magnetic domain.} {In 9 out of 10 cases the bright point resides in areas where the coronal magnetic field contains an opposite polarity intrusion defining a magnetic null point above it. It is found that X-ray bright points reside, in these 9 cases, in a limited part of the projected fan dome area, either fully inside the dome or expanding over a limited area below which typically a dominant flux concentration resides. The 10th bright point is located in a bipolar loop system without an overlying null point.} {All bright points in coronal holes and two out of tree bright points in quiet Sun regions are seen to reside in regions containing a magnetic null point. An yet unidentified process(es) generates the BPs in specific regions of the fan-dome structure. }

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Explosive events in active region observed by IRIS and SST/CRISP

Transition-region explosive events (EEs) are characterized by non-Gaussian line profiles with enhanced wings at Doppler velocities of 50-150 km/s. They are believed to be the signature of solar phenomena that are one of the main contributors to coronal heating. The aim of this study is to investigate the link of EEs to dynamic phenomena in the transition region and chromosphere in an active region. We analyze observations simultaneously taken by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) in the Si IV 1394Å line and the slit-jaw (SJ) 1400Å images, and the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) in the H$α$ line. In total 24 events were found. They are associated with small-scale loop brightenings in SJ 1400Å images. Only four events show a counterpart in the H$α$-35 km/s and H$α$+35 km/s images. Two of them represent brightenings in the conjunction region of several loops that are also related to a bright region (granular lane) in the H$α$-35km/s and H$α$+35 km/s images. Sixteen are general loop brightenings that do not show any discernible response in the H$α$ images. Six EEs appear as propagating loop brightenings, from which two are associated with dark jet-like features clearly seen in the H$α$-35 km/s images. We found that chromospheric events with jet-like appearance seen in the wings of the H$α$ line can trigger EEs in the transition region and in this case the IRIS Si IV 1394Å line profiles are seeded with absorption components resulting from Fe II and Ni II. Our study indicates that EEs occurring in active regions have mostly upper-chromosphere/transition-region origin. We suggest that magnetic reconnection resulting from the braidings of small-scale transition region loops is one of the possible mechanisms of energy release that are responsible for the EEs reported in this paper.

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Sources of The Slow Solar wind During the Solar Cycle 23/24 Minimum

We investigate the characteristics and the sources of the slow (< 450 km/s) solar wind during the four years (2006-2009) of low solar activity between Solar Cycles 23 and 24. We use a comprehensive set of in-situ observations in the near-Earth solar wind (Wind and ACE) and remove the periods when large-scale interplanetary coronal mass ejections were present. The investigated period features significant variations in the global coronal structure, including the frequent presence of low-latitude active regions in 2006-2007, long-lived low- and mid-latitude coronal holes in 2006 - mid-2008 and mostly the quiet Sun in 2009. We examine both Carrington Rotation averages of selected solar plasma, charge state and compositional parameters and distributions of these parameters related to Quiet Sun, Active Region Sun and the Coronal Hole Sun. While some of the investigated parameters (e.g., speed, the C^{+6}/C^{+4} and He/H ratio) show clear variations over our study period and with solar wind source type, some (Fe/O) exhibit very little changes. Our results highlight the difficulty in distinguishing between the slow solar wind sources based on the inspection of the solar wind conditions.

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Homologous prominence non-radial eruptions: A case study

The present study provides important details on homologous eruptions of a solar prominence that occurred in active region NOAA 10904 on 2006 August 22. We report on the preeruptive phase of the homologous feature as well as the kinematics and the morphology of a forth from a series of prominence eruptions that is critical in defining the nature of the previous consecutive eruptions. The evolution of the overlying coronal field during homologous eruptions is discussed and a new observational criterion for homologous eruptions is provided. We find a distinctive sequence of three activation periods each of them containing preeruptive precursors such as a brightening and enlarging of the prominence body followed by small surge- like ejections from its southern end observed in the radio 17 GHz. We analyse a fourth eruption that clearly indicates a full reformation of the prominence after the third eruption. The fourth eruption although occurring 11 hrs later has an identical morphology, the same angle of propagation with respect to the radial direction, as well as similar kinematic evolution as the previous three eruptions. We find an important feature of the homologous eruptive prominence sequence that is the maximum height increase of each consecutive eruption. The present analysis establishes that all four eruptions observed in Hα are of confined type with the third eruption undergoing a thermal disappearance during its eruptive phase. We suggest that the observation of the same direction of the magnetic flux rope (MFR) ejections can be consider as an additional observational criterion for MFR homology. This observational indication for homologous eruptions is important, especially in the case of events of typical or poorly distinguishable morphology of eruptive solar phenomena.

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Active region upflows: 2. Data driven MHD modeling

Context. Observations of many active regions show a slow systematic outflow/upflow from their edges lasting from hours to days. At present no physical explanation has been proven, while several suggestions have been put forward. Aims. This paper investigates one possible method for maintaining these upflows assuming that convective motions drive the magnetic field to initiate them through magnetic reconnection. Methods. We use Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) data to provide an initial potential three dimensional magnetic field of the active region NOAA 11123 on 2010 November 13 where the characteristic upflow velocities are observed. A simple one-dimensional hydrostatic atmospheric model covering the region from the photosphere to the corona is derived. Local Correlation Tracking of the magnetic features in the HMI data is used to derive a proxy for the time dependent velocity field. The time dependent evolution of the system is solved using a resistive three-dimensional MagnetoHydro-Dynamic code. Results. The magnetic field contains several null points located well above the photosphere, with their fan planes dividing the magnetic field into independent open and closed flux domains. The stressing of the interfaces between the different flux domains is expected to provide locations where magnetic reconnection can take place and drive systematic flows. In this case, the region between the closed and open flux is identified as the region where observations find the systematic upflows. Conclusions. In the present experiment, the driving only initiates magneto-acoustic waves, without driving any systematic upflows at any of the flux interfaces.

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Active region upflows: 1. Multi-instrument observations

Upflows at the edges of active regions (ARs) are studied by spatially and temporally combining multi-instrument observations obtained with EIS/Hinode, AIA and HMI/SDO and IBIS/NSO, to derive their plasma parameters. This information is used for benchmarking data-driven modelling of the upflows (Galsgaard et al., 2015). The studied AR upflow displays blueshifted emission of 5-20 km/s in Fe XII and Fe XIII and its average electron density is 1.8x10^9 cm^3 at 1 MK. The time variation of the density shows no significant change (in a 3sigma error). The plasma density along a single loop drops by 50% over a distance of 20000 km. We find a second velocity component in the blue wing of the Fe XII and Fe XIII lines at 105 km/s. This component is persistent during the whole observing period of 3.5 hours with variations of only 15 km/s. We also study the evolution of the photospheric magnetic field and find that magnetic flux diffusion is responsible for the formation of the upflow region. High cadence Halpha observations of the chromosphere at the footpoints of the upflow region show no significant jet-like (spicule/rapid blue excursion) activity to account for several hours/days of plasma upflow. Using an image enhancement technique, we show that the coronal structures seen in the AIA 193A channel is comparable to the EIS Fe XII images, while images in the AIA 171A channel reveals additional loops that are a result of contribution from cooler emission to this channel. Our results suggest that at chromospheric heights there are no signatures that support the possible contribution of spicules to AR upflows. We suggest that magnetic flux diffusion is responsible for the formation of the coronal upflows. The existence of two velocity components possibly indicate the presence of two different flows which are produced by two different physical mechanisms, e.g. magnetic reconnection and pressure-driven.

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Coronal response to an EUV wave from DEM analysis

EUV (Extreme-Ultraviolet) waves are globally propagating disturbances that have been observed since the era of the SoHO/EIT instrument. Although the kinematics of the wave front and secondary wave components have been widely studied, there is not much known about the generation and plasma properties of the wave. In this paper we discuss the effect of an EUV wave on the local plasma as it passes through the corona. We studied the EUV wave, generated during the 2011 February 15 X-class flare/CME event, using Differential Emission Measure diagnostics. We analyzed regions on the path of the EUV wave and investigated the local density and temperature changes. From our study we have quantitatively confirmed previous results that during wave passage the plasma visible in the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) 171A channel is getting heated to higher temperatures corresponding to AIA 193A and 211A channels. We have calculated an increase of 6 - 9% in density and 5 - 6% in temperature during the passage of the EUV wave. We have compared the variation in temperature with the adiabatic relationship and have quantitatively demonstrated the phenomenon of heating due to adiabatic compression at the wave front. However, the cooling phase does not follow adiabatic relaxation but shows slow decay indicating slow energy release being triggered by the wave passage. We have also identified that heating is taking place at the front of the wave pulse rather than at the rear. Our results provide support for the case that the event under study here is a compressive fast-mode wave or a shock.

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A coronal wave and an asymmetric eruptive filament in SUMER, CDS, EIT, and TRACE co-observations

The objectives of the present study is to provide a better physical understanding of the complex inter-relation and evolution of several solar coronal features comprising a double-peak flare, a coronal dimming caused by a CME, a CME-driven compression, and a fast-mode wave. For the first time, the evolution of an asymmetric eruptive filament is analysed in simultaneous SUMER spectroscopic and TRACE and EIT imaging data. We use imaging observations from EIT and TRACE in the 195A channel and spectroscopic observations from the CDS in a rastering and SUMER in a sit-and-stare observing mode. The SUMER spectra cover spectral lines with formation temperatures from logT(K) ~ 4.0 to 6.1. Although the event was already analysed in two previous studies, our analysis brings a wealth of new information on the dynamics and physical properties of the observed phenomena. We found that the dynamic event is related to a complex flare with two distinct impulsive peaks, one according to the GOES classification as C1.1 and the second - C1.9. The first energy release triggers a fast-mode wave and a CME with a clear CME driven compression ahead of it. This activity is related to, or possibly caused, by an asymmetric filament eruption. The filament is observed to rise with its leading edge moving at a speed of ~300 km/s detected both in the SUMER and CDS data. The rest of the filament body moves at only ~150 km/s while untwisting. No signature is found of the fast-mode wave in the SUMER data, suggesting that the plasma disturbed by the wave had temperatures above 600 000 K. The erupting filament material is found to emit only in spectral lines at transition region temperatures. Earlier identification of a coronal response detected in the Mg X 609.79 A line is found to be caused by a blend from the O IV 609.83 A line.

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Hα spectroscopy and multiwavelength imaging of a solar flare caused by filament eruption

We study a sequence of eruptive events including filament eruption, a GOES C4.3 flare and a coronal mass ejection. We aim to identify the possible trigger(s) and precursor(s) of the filament destabilisation; investigate flare kernel characteristics; flare ribbons/kernels formation and evolution; study the interrelation of the filament-eruption/flare/coronal-mass-ejection phenomena as part of the integral active-region magnetic field configuration; determine Hα line profile evolution during the eruptive phenomena. Multi-instrument observations are analysed including Hα line profiles, speckle images at Hα-0.8 Å and Hα+0.8 Å from IBIS at DST/NSO, EUV images and magnetograms from the SDO, coronagraph images from STEREO and the X-ray flux observations from FERMI and GOES. We establish that the filament destabilisation and eruption are the main trigger for the flaring activity. A surge-like event with a circular ribbon in one of the filament footpoints is determined as the possible trigger of the filament destabilisation. Plasma draining in this footpoint is identified as the precursor for the filament eruption. A magnetic flux emergence prior to the filament destabilisation followed by a high rate of flux cancelation of 1.34$\times10^{16}$ Mx s$^{-1}$ is found during the flare activity. The flare X-ray lightcurves reveal three phases that are found to be associated with three different ribbons occurring consecutively. A kernel from each ribbon is selected and analysed. The kernel lightcurves and H alpha line profiles reveal that the emission increase in the line centre is stronger than that in the line wings. A delay of around 5-6 mins is found between the increase in the line centre and the occurrence of red asymmetry. Only red asymmetry is observed in the ribbons during the impulsive phases. Blue asymmetry is only associated with the dynamic filament.

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Intensity enhancement of O VI ultraviolet emission lines in solar spectra due to opacity

Opacity is a property of many plasmas, and it is normally expected that if an emission line in a plasma becomes optically thick, its intensity ratio to that of another transition that remains optically thin should decrease. However, radiative transfer calculations undertaken both by ourselves and others predict that under certain conditions the intensity ratio of an optically thick to thin line can show an increase over the optically thin value, indicating an enhancement in the former. These conditions include the geometry of the emitting plasma and its orientation to the observer. A similar effect can take place between lines of differing optical depth. Previous observational studies have focused on stellar point sources, and here we investigate the spatially-resolved solar atmosphere using measurements of the I(1032 A)/I(1038 A) intensity ratio of O VI in several regions obtained with the Solar Ultraviolet Measurements of Emitted Radiation (SUMER) instrument on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SoHO) satellite. We find several I(1032 A)/I(1038 A) ratios observed on the disk to be significantly larger than the optically thin value of 2.0, providing the first detection (to our knowledge) of intensity enhancement in the ratio arising from opacity effects in the solar atmosphere. Agreement between observation and theory is excellent, and confirms that the O VI emission originates from a slab-like geometry in the solar atmosphere, rather than from cylindrical structures.

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Ellerman Bombs - Evidence for Magnetic Reconnection in the Lower Solar Atmosphere

The presence of photospheric magnetic reconnection has long been thought to give rise to short and impulsive events, such as Ellerman bombs (EBs) and Type II spicules. In this article, we combine high-resolution, high-cadence observations from the Interferometric BIdimensional Spectrometer (IBIS) and Rapid Oscillations in the Solar Atmosphere (ROSA) instruments at the Dunn Solar Telescope, National Solar Observatory, New Mexico with co-aligned Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (SDO/AIA) and Solar Optical Telescope (Hinode/SOT) data to observe small-scale events situated within an active region. These data are then compared with state-of-the-art numerical simulations of the lower atmosphere made using the MURaM code. It is found that brightenings, in both the observations and the simulations, of the wings of the H alpha line profile, interpreted as EBs, are often spatially correlated with increases in the intensity of the FeI 6302.5A line core. Bi-polar regions inferred from Hinode/SOT magnetic field data show evidence of flux cancellation associated, co-spatially, with these EBs, suggesting magnetic reconnection could be a driver of these high-energy events. Through the analysis of similar events in the simulated lower atmosphere, we are able to infer that line profiles analogous to the observations occur co-spatially with regions of strong opposite polarity magnetic flux. These observed events and their simulated counterparts are interpreted as evidence of photospheric magnetic reconnection at scales observable using current observational instrumentation.

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Diagnosing transient ionization in dynamic events

The present study aims to provide a diagnostic line ratio that will enable the observer to determine whether a plasma is in a state of transient ionization. We use the Atomic Data and Analysis Structure (ADAS) to calculate line contribution functions for two lines, Si IV 1394 A and O IV 1401 A, formed in the solar transition region. The generalized collisional-radiative theory is used. It includes all radiative and electron collisional processes, except for photon-induced processes. State-resolved direct ionization and recombination to and from the next ionization stage are also taken into account. For dynamic bursts with a decay time of a few seconds, the Si IV 1394 A line can be enhanced by a factor of 2-4 in the first fraction of a second with the peak in the line contribution function occurring initially at a higher electron temperature due to transient ionization compared to ionization equilibrium conditions. On the other hand, the O IV 1401 A does not show such any enhancement. Thus the ratio of these two lines, which can be observed with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, can be used as a diagnostic of transient ionization. We show that simultaneous high-cadence observations of two lines formed in the solar transition region may be used as a direct diagnostic of whether the observed plasma is in transient ionization. The ratio of these two lines can change by a factor of four in a few seconds owing to transient ionization alone.

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Coronal hole boundaries at small scales: IV. SOT view Magnetic field properties of small-scale transient brightenings in coronal holes

We study the magnetic properties of small-scale transients in coronal hole. We found all brightening events are associated with bipolar regions and caused by magnetic flux emergence followed by cancellation with the pre-existing and newly emerging magnetic flux. In the coronal hole, 19 of 22 events have a single stable polarity which does not change its position in time. In eleven cases this is the dominant polarity. The dominant flux of the coronal hole form the largest concentration of magnetic flux in terms of size while the opposite polarity is distributed in small concentrations. In the coronal hole the number of magnetic elements of the dominant polarity is four times higher than the non-dominant one. The supergranulation configuration appears to preserve its general shape during approximately nine hours of observations although the large concentrations in the network did evolve and were slightly displaced, and their strength either increased or decreased. The emission fluctuations seen in the X-ray bright points are associated with reoccurring magnetic cancellation in the footpoints. Unique observations of an X-ray jet reveal similar magnetic behaviour in the footpoints, i.e. cancellation of the opposite polarity magnetic flux. We found that the magnetic flux cancellation rate during the jet is much higher than in bright points. Not all magnetic cancellations result in an X-ray enhancement, suggesting that there is a threshold of the amount of magnetic flux involved in a cancellation above which brightening would occur at X-ray temperatures. Our study demonstrates that the magnetic flux in coronal holes is continuously recycled through magnetic reconnection which is responsible for the formation of numerous small-scale transient events. The open magnetic flux forming the coronal-hole phenomenon is largely involved in these transient features.

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Nature of Quiet Sun Oscillations Using Data from the Hinode, TRACE, and SOHO Spacecraft

We study the nature of quiet-Sun oscillations using multi-wavelength observations from TRACE, Hinode, and SOHO. The aim is to investigate the existence of propagating waves in the solar chromosphere and the transition region via analyzing the statistical distribution of power in different locations, e.g. in bright magnetic (network), bright non-magnetic and dark non-magnetic (inter-network) regions, separately. We use Fourier power and phase-difference techniques combined with a wavelet analysis. Two-dimensional Fourier power maps were constructed in the period bands 2-4 minutes, 4-6 minutes, 6-15 minutes, and beyond 15 minutes. We detect the presence of long-period oscillations with periods between 15 and 30 minutes in bright magnetic regions. These oscillations were detected from the chromosphere to the transition region. The Fourier power maps show that short-period powers are mainly concentrated in dark regions whereas long-period powers are concentrated in bright magnetic regions. This is the first report of long-period waves in quiet-Sun network regions. We suggest that the observed propagating oscillations are due to magnetoacoustic waves which can be important for the heating of the solar atmosphere.

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Solar fine-scale structures. I. Spicules and other small-scale, jet-like events at the chromospheric level: observations and physical parameters

Over the last two decades the uninterrupted, high-resolution observations of the Sun, from the excellent range of telescopes aboard many spacecraft complemented with observations from sophisticated ground-based telescopes have opened up a new world producing significantly more complete information on the physical conditions of the solar atmosphere than before. The interface between the lower solar atmosphere where energy is generated by subsurface convection and the corona comprises the chromosphere, which is dominated by jet-like, dynamic structures, called mottles when found in quiet regions, fibrils when found in active regions and spicules when observed at the solar limb. Recently, space observations with Hinode have led to the suggestion that there should exist two different types of spicules called Type I and Type II which have different properties. Ground-based observations in the Ca II H and K filtergrams reveal the existence of long, thin emission features called straws in observations close to the limb, and a class of short-lived events called rapid blue-shifted excursions characterized by large Doppler shifts that appear only in the blue wing of the Ca II infrared line. It has been suggested that the key to understanding how the solar plasma is accelerated and heated may well be found in the studies of these jet-like, dynamic events. However, while these structures are observed and studied for more than 130 years in the visible, but also in the UV and EUV emission lines and continua, there are still many questions to be answered. In this review we present observations and physical properties of small-scale jet-like chromospheric events observed in active and quiet regions, on the disk and at the limb and discuss their interrelationship.

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Coronal hole boundaries at small scales: III. EIS and SUMER views

We report on the plasma properties of small-scale transient events identified in the quiet Sun, coronal holes and their boundaries. We use spectroscopic co-observations from SUMER/SoHO and EIS/Hinode combined with high cadence imaging data from XRT/Hinode. We measure Doppler shifts using single and multiple Gauss fits of transition region and coronal lines as well as electron densities and temperatures. We combine co-temporal imaging and spectroscopy to separate brightening expansions from plasma flows. The transient brightening events in coronal holes and their boundaries were found to be very dynamical producing high density outflows at large speeds. Most of these events represent X-ray jets from pre-existing or newly emerging coronal bright points at X-ray temperatures. The average electron density of the jets is logNe ~ 8.76 cm^-3 while in the flaring site it is logNe ~ 9.51 cm^-3. The jet temperatures reach a maximum of 2.5 MK but in the majority of the cases the temperatures do not exceed 1.6 MK. The footpoints of jets have temperatures of a maximum of 2.5 MK though in a single event scanned a minute after the flaring the measured temperature was 12 MK. The jets are produced by multiple microflaring in the transition region and corona. Chromospheric emission was only detected in their footpoints and was only associated with downflows. The Doppler shift measurements in the quiet Sun transient brightenings confirmed that these events do not produce jet-like phenomena. The plasma flows in these phenomena remain trapped in closed loops.

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The Diagnostic Potential of Transition Region Lines under-going Transient Ionization in Dynamic Events

We discuss the diagnostic potential of high cadence ultraviolet spectral data when transient ionization is considered. For this we use high cadence UV spectra taken during the impulsive phase of a solar flares (observed with instruments on-board the Solar Maximum Mission) which showed excellent correspondence with hard X-ray pulses. The ionization fraction of the transition region ion O V and in particular the contribution function for the O V 1371A line are computed within the Atomic Data and Analysis Structure, which is a collection of fundamental and derived atomic data and codes which manipulate them. Due to transient ionization, the O V 1371A line is enhanced in the first fraction of a second with the peak in the line contribution function occurring initially at a higher electron temperature than in ionization equilibrium. The rise time and enhancement factor depend mostly on the electron density. The fractional increase in the O V 1371A emissivity due to transient ionization can reach a factor of 2--4 and can explain the fast response in the line flux of transition regions ions during the impulsive phase of flares solely as a result of transient ionization. This technique can be used to diagnostic the electron temperature and density of solar flares observed with the forth-coming Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph.

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