Microflares in the solar magnetic network

Abstract

It is suggested that the events observed by HRTS are microflares in tiny magnetic bipoles (some in cell interiors but most in the magnetic network) and that these same events, when strong enough and frequent enough in some of the larger bipoles, sustain X-ray bright points. In this paper, the authors present new evidence in favor of this hypothesis. Using C IV spectroheliograms in combination with magnetograms and He I λ10,830 spectroheliograms they find that impulsive heating events of the class observed by HRTS are common at small bipoles in the network, both at bipoles corresponding to X-ray bright points and at many weaker bipoles that show no sustained enhanced coronal brightness.