Observation of Convective Collapse and Upward‐moving Shocks in the Quiet Sun

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Abstract
We present spectropolarimetric evidence of convective collapse and destruction of magnetic flux by upward-moving fronts in the quiet Sun. The observational material consists of time series of the full Stokes vector of two infrared spectral lines emerging from regions associated with Ca II K network points. The amplitude of the circular polarization profiles of a particular spatial point is seen to increase while the profiles are redshifted. It then decreases during a much shorter phase characterized by large blueshifts. Inspection of the data indicates that the blueshift occurs because of the sudden appearance of a new, strongly displaced Stokes V profile of the same polarity. The amplification of the magnetic signal takes place in a time interval of about 13 minutes, while blueshifts and the concomitant decreasing Stokes V amplitudes last for only 2 minutes. An inversion code based on the thin flux-tube scenario has been applied to the data in order to derive the thermal, magnetic, and dynamic structures of the atmosphere. According to our results, the field strength undergoes a moderate increase from 400 to 600 G at z = 0 km during the phase in which redshifts are present. The observed redshifts are produced by internal downflows of up to 6 km s-1 at z = 0 km. After ~13 minutes, the material falling down inside the tube appears to bounce off in the deeper layers, originating an upward-propagating front whose manifestation on the Stokes V profiles is a large blueshift. The front moves with a speed of 2.3 km s-1 and has a downflow-to-upflow velocity difference of about 7 km s-1 initially and some 4 km s-1 after 2 minutes. It strongly weakens the magnetic field strength and may be responsible for the complete destruction of the magnetic feature. The observed behavior is in general agreement with theoretical predictions of flux expulsion, convective collapse, and development of shocks within magnetic flux tubes.