Counter-Streaming Velocities in a Quiescent Filament

Abstract

Filaments/prominences are cold plasma (~ 10000 K) embedded in the solar corona, two orders of magnitude hotter. Filament plasma is structured by the magnetic field in thin elongated threads. Counter-streaming flows have been observed. The aim of this paper is to characterize these flows. For that, we use high spatial resolution observations of spectral data obtained with THEMIS in H-alpha and with IRIS in Mg II k lines on 29 September 2023. We best detect counter-streaming flows in both the blue and red wings of these spectral lines. They are forming long Doppler shifted strands slightly inclined on the filament axis. The blue/red shift alternates across the strands at the arc second scale. H-alpha spectral profiles with large widths are interpreted as formed by multi-strands with opposite velocity directions. The absorption in the core of Mg II k line is also broader than in the chromosphere. This corresponds also to counter-streaming velocities. We derive that a fraction of the filament plasma is moving at supersonic speed (of the order of 20 km/s ) with the assumption that the filament is optically thick. We conclude that the counter-directed Doppler shifts might not be magnetic field aligned flows but rather correspond to kink transverse oscillations of the magnetic field with independent motions in nearby strands.