Gianna Cauzzi

NameGianna Cauzzi
AffiliationNational Solar Observatory, USA
TitleChromospheric Thermodynamics and Magnetic Fields
AuthorsGianna Cauzzi
Abstract The role of the chromosphere as an essential "mediator" in the transfer of non-thermal energy from the photosphere to the corona has come to the forefront in recent years. Together with numerical simulations, high resolution observations and novel diagnostics are necessary to advance our understanding of this complex, non-equilibrium part of the solar atmosphere. Imaging spectrographs based on Fabry-Perot interferometers have helped spurring a "renaissance" for classical chromospheric diagnostics such as Halpha and CaII H&K, highlighting the complex spatiotemporal thermo-dynamics of features such as fibrils and spicules and their relevance to the upper atmosphere. New capabilities in spectropolarimetry, especially in the CaII IR and HeI 1083nm triplets, are now starting to allow inference of the chromospheric magnetic field in a variety of features, including prominences and coronal rain, providing a key piece of the puzzle that has been missing for decades. Novel, complementary diagnostics have also entered the scene recently, such as UV spectral lines from IRIS and CLASP, and the much awaited millimiter continuum observed at high resolution by ALMA, which can provide a unambiguous measure of the electron temperature and its temporal evolution. During this talk I will provide an overview of how these new observations and diagnostics are shaping our understanding of the chromosphere.