Ba II 4554 Å speckle imaging as solar Doppler diagnostic

Abstract

We present observations testing the Dopplergram capability of a narrow-band (80 mÅ) Lyot filter imaging the solar surface in the wings of the Ba II 4554 Å resonance line in combination with speckle reconstruction to obtain high angular resolution. The Ba II line is found to be an excellent tool for high-resolution Doppler mapping thanks to opacity insensitivity to temperature variations and line-width insensitivity to thermal broadening. The resulting Dopplergrams show concentrated downflows of 1.2-2.2 km s^-1 in intergranular lanes that probably mark magnetic fluxtubes. Two-wavelength profile sampling is found to suffice for high-resolution Dopplergram construction. The filter will be installed as part of a multi-wavelength speckle imaging system on the new Dutch Open Telescope.