FINE STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF SUNSPOT PENUMBRA

A mature sunspot is usually surrounded by a penumbra: strong vertical magnetic field in the umbra, the dark central region of sunspot, becomes more and more horizontal toward the periphery forming an ensemble of a thin magnetic filaments of varying inclinations. Recent high resolution observations with the 1-meter Swedish Solar Telescope (SST) on La Palma revealed a fine substructure of penumbral filaments and new regularities in their dynamics.¹ These findings provide both the basis and constraints for an adequate model of the penumbra whose origin still remains enigmatic. We present results of recent observations obtained with the SST. Our data, taken simultaneously in 4305 Å G-band and 4396 Å continuum bandpasses and compiled in high cadence movies, confirm previous results and reveal new features of the penumbra. We find e.g. that individual filaments are cylindrical helices with a pitch/radius ratio providing their dynamic stability. We propose a mechanism that may explain the fine structure of penumbral filaments, the observed regularities, and their togetherness with sunspot formation. The mechanism is based on the anatomy of sunspots in which not only penumbra has a filamentary structure but umbra itself is a dense conglomerate of twisted interlaced flux tubes.