Nature of Hβ microflashes

Determine whether chromospheric Hβ microflashes are lower-atmosphere counterparts of EUV microflashes or constitute a distinct class of small-scale transient brightenings.

Background

The paper reports Hβ microflashes as compact, short-lived brightenings occurring in predominantly unipolar magnetic regions. Although they may resemble the EUV microflashes previously observed at coronal-plume bases, the Hβ events differ substantially in size, lifetime, and observational context: the analyzed Hβ microflashes are smaller, longer-lived, and located in non-plume regions.

The authors therefore leave unresolved whether the two phenomena are physically related manifestations of the same process at different atmospheric heights or represent distinct classes of transient brightenings. They identify higher-cadence VBI imaging, higher-cadence ViSP spectropolarimetry, and coordinated observations with Solar Orbiter/EUI as necessary to resolve the question.