Letter to the Editor

Evidence of small-scale magnetic concentrations dragged by vortex motion of solar photospheric plasma

¹ Image Processing Laboratory, University of Valencia, PO Box 22085, 46980 Paterna, Valencia, Spain e-mail: laura.balmaceda@uv.es
² Instituto de Ciencias Astronómicas, de la Tierra y el Espacio, ICATE-CONICET, San Juan, Argentina
³ Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, Surrey, RH5 6NT, UK

Received: 2 November 2009
Accepted: 18 March 2010

Abstract

Vortex-type motions have been measured by tracking bright points in high-resolution observations of the solar photosphere. These small-scale motions are thought to be determinant in the evolution of magnetic footpoints and their interaction with plasma and therefore likely to play a role in heating the upper solar atmosphere by twisting magnetic flux tubes. We report the observation of magnetic concentrations being dragged towards the center of a convective vortex motion in the solar photosphere from high-resolution ground-based and space-borne data. We describe this event by analyzing a series of images at different solar atmospheric layers. By computing horizontal proper motions, we detect a vortex whose center appears to be the draining point for the magnetic concentrations detected in magnetograms and well-correlated with the locations of bright points seen in G-band and CN images.