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Understanding the role of magnetic reconnection in the heating and dynamics of the solar atmosphere requires detailed observational data of any observable aspect of the reconnection process, including small-scale features such as plasmoids. Here, we examine the capability of active and upcoming instruments to detect plasmoids generated by reconnection in the corona including low-density regimes. We used the Bifrost code to perform simulations of plasmoid-mediated reconnection in the corona with a 2D idealized setup: a fan-spine topology with uniform density including thermal conduction. Through a forward-modeling of extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) observables, we checked whether our simulated plasmoids could be detected with the instruments of Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and Solar Orbiter (SO), as well as the upcoming Multi-Slit Solar Explorer (MUSE) and Solar-C missions. Short-lived (10-20 s) small-scale (0.2-0.5 Mm) coronal plasmoids are not resolvable with the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board SDO, but could be captured with the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) of SO. The spatial and temporal high-resolution planned for the MUSE spectrograph (SG) is adequate to obtain full spectral information of these plasmoids. Detection of 0.8 MK plasmoids in the MUSE/SG 171 {\AA} channel is possible in full-raster mode in regions with electron densities above 10^9 cm^3 whereas on sit-and-stare mode for lower-density regions. Solar-C could also capture these coronal plasmoids using the EUV High-Throughput Spectroscopic Telescope (EUVST), considering rapid changes in Doppler shift and line widths in different EUV lines caused by plasmoid motions along the current sheet. With combined spectra of MUSE/SG and Solar-C/EUVST in multiple emission lines, along with high-resolution images from SO/EUI and MUSE/CI, it should be possible to gain new insights about plasmoid formation in the corona.

We present an analysis of the first connection mosaic made by the SPICE instrument on board of the ESA / NASA Solar Orbiter mission on March 2nd, 2022. The data will be used to map coronal composition that will be compared with in-situ measurements taken by SWA/HIS to establish the coronal origin of the solar wind plasma observed at Solar Orbiter. The SPICE spectral lines were chosen to have varying sensitivity to the First Ionization Potential (FIP) effect, and therefore the radiances of the spectral lines will vary significantly depending on whether the elemental composition is coronal or photospheric. We investigate the link between the behavior of sulfur with the hypothesis that Alfv\'en waves drive FIP fractionation above the chromosphere. We perform temperature diagnostics using line ratios and Emission Measure (EM) loci, and compute relative FIP biases using three different approaches (two line ratio (2LR), ratios of linear combinations of spectral lines (LCR), and differential emission measure (DEM) inversion) to perform composition diagnostics in the corona. We then compare the SPICE composition analysis and EUI data of the potential solar wind source regions to the SWA / HIS data products. Radiance maps are extracted from SPICE spectral data cubes, with values matching previous observations. We find isothermal plasma of around LogT = 5.8 for the active region loops targeted, and that higher FIP-bias values are present at the footpoints of the coronal loops associated with two active regions. Comparing the results with the SWA/HIS data products encourages us to think that Solar Orbiter was connected to a source of slow solar wind during this observation campaign. We demonstrate FIP fractionation in observations of the upper chromosphere and transition region, emphasized by the behavior of the intermediate-FIP element sulfur., Comment: 20 pages, 19 figures, submitted to A&A on August 3rd, accepted on February 12th, 2024

The Solar Orbiter mission completed its first remote-sensing observation windows in the spring of 2022. On 2/4/2022, an M-class flare followed by a filament eruption was seen both by the instruments on board the mission and from several observatories in Earth's orbit. The complexity of the observed features is compared with the predictions given by the standard flare model in 3D. We use the observations from a multi-view dataset, which includes EUV imaging to spectroscopy and magnetic field measurements. These data come from IRIS, SDO, Hinode, as well as several instruments on Solar Orbiter. Information given by SDO/HMI and Solar Orbiter PHI/HRT shows that a parasitic polarity emerging underneath the filament is responsible for bringing the flux rope to an unstable state. As the flux rope erupts, Hinode/EIS captures blue-shifted emission in the transition region and coronal lines in the northern leg of the flux rope prior to the flare peak. Solar Orbiter SPICE captures the whole region, complementing the Doppler diagnostics of the filament eruption. Analyses of the formation and evolution of a complex set of flare ribbons and loops show that the parasitic emerging bipole plays an important role in the evolution of the flaring region. While the analysed data are overall consistent with the standard flare model, the present particular magnetic configuration shows that surrounding magnetic activity such as nearby emergence needs to be taken into account to fully understand the processes at work. This filament eruption is the first to be covered from different angles by spectroscopic instruments, and provides an unprecedented diagnostic of the multi-thermal structures present before and during the flare. This dataset of an eruptive event showcases the capabilities of coordinated observations with the Solar Orbiter mission., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomy & Astrophysics special edition "Solar Orbiter First Results (Nominal Mission Phase)" (23/05/2023)

Oscillations are abundant in the solar corona. Coronal loop oscillations are typically studied using highly idealised models of magnetic flux tubes. In order to improve our understanding of coronal oscillations, it is necessary to consider the effect of realistic magnetic field topology and density structuring. We analyse the damping of coronal oscillations using a self-consistent 3D radiation-MHD simulation of the solar atmosphere spanning from the convection zone into the corona, the associated oscillation dissipation and heating, and finally the physical processes responsible for the damping and dissipation. The simulated corona formed in such a model does not depend on any prior assumptions about the shape of the coronal loops. We find that the bundle of magnetic loops shows damped transverse oscillations in response to perturbations in two separate instances with oscillation periods of 177 s and 191 s, velocity amplitudes of 10 km/s and 16 km/s and damping times of 176 s and 198 s, respectively. The coronal oscillations lead to the development of velocity shear in the simulated corona resulting in the formation of vortices seen in the velocity field caused by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, contributing to the damping and dissipation of the transverse oscillations. The oscillation parameters and evolution observed are in line with the values typically seen in observations of coronal loop oscillations. The dynamic evolution of the coronal loop bundle suggests the models of monolithic and static coronal loops with constant lengths might need to be re-evaluated by relaxing the assumption of highly idealised waveguides., Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

Nanoflare heating through small-scale magnetic reconnection events is one of the prime candidates to explain heating of the solar corona. However, direct signatures of nanoflares are difficult to determine, and unambiguous observational evidence is still lacking. Numerical models that include accelerated electrons and can reproduce flaring conditions are essential in understanding how low-energetic events act as a heating mechanism of the corona, and how such events are able to produce signatures in the spectral lines that can be detected through observations. We investigate the effects of accelerated electrons in synthetic spectra from a 3D radiative magnetohydrodynamics simulation to better understand small-scale heating events and their impact on the solar atmosphere. We synthesised the chromospheric Ca II and Mg II lines and the transition region Si IV resonance lines from a quiet Sun numerical simulation that includes accelerated electrons. We calculated the contribution function to the intensity to better understand how the lines are formed, and what factors are contributing to the detailed shape of the spectral profiles. The synthetic spectra are highly affected by variations in temperature and vertical velocity. Beam heating exceeds conductive heating at the heights where the spectral lines form, indicating that the electrons should contribute to the heating of the lower atmosphere and hence affect the line profiles. However, we find that it is difficult to determine specific signatures from the non-thermal electrons due to the complexity of the atmospheric response to the heating in combination with the relatively low energy output (~1e21 erg/s). Even so, our results contribute to understanding small-scale heating events in the solar atmosphere, and give further guidance to future observations.

The smallest extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) brightening events that were detected so far, called campfires, have recently been uncovered by the High Resolution EUV telescope (HRIEUV), which is part of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) on board Solar Orbiter. HRIEUV has a broad bandpass centered at 17.4 nm that is dominated by Fe ix and Fe x emission at about 1 MK. We study the thermal properties of EUI brightening events by simultaneously observing their responses at different wavelengths using spectral data from the Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) also on board Solar Orbiter and imaging data from EUI. We studied three EUI brightenings that were identified in HRIEUV data that lie within the small areas covered by the slit of the SPICE EUV spectrometer. We obtained the line intensities of the spectral profiles by Gaussian fitting. These diagnostics were used to study the evolution of the EUI brightenings over time at the different line-formation temperatures. We find that (i) the detection of these EUI brightenings is at the limit of the SPICE capabilities. They could not have been independently identified in the data without the aid of HRIEUV observations. (ii) Two of these EUI brightenings with longer lifetimes are observed up to Ne viii temperatures (0.6 MK). (iii) All of the events are detectable in O vi (0.3 MK), and the two longer-lived events are also detected in other transition region (TR) lines. (iv) In one case, we observe two peaks in the intensity light curve of the TR lines that are separated by 2.7 min for C iii and 1.2 min for O vi. The Ne viii intensity shows a single peak between the two peak times of the TR line intensity. Spectral data from SPICE allow us to follow the thermal properties of EUI brightenings. Our results indicate that at least some EUI brightenings barely reach coronal temperatures., Comment: 13 pages, 16 figures, language editing, accepted in A&A

In stochastic modeling of infectious diseases, it has been established that variations in infectivity affect the probability of a major outbreak, but not the shape of the curves during a major outbreak, which is predicted by deterministic models [Diekmann et al., 2012]. However, such conclusions are derived under idealized assumptions such as the population size tending to infinity, and the individual degree of infectivity only depending on variations in the infectiousness period. In this paper we show that the same conclusions hold true in a finite population representing a medium size city, where the degree of infectivity is determined by the offspring distribution, which we try to make as realistic as possible for SARS-CoV-2. In particular, we consider distributions with fat tails, to incorporate the existence of super-spreaders. We also provide new theoretical results on convergence of stochastic models which allows to incorporate any offspring distribution with a finite variance.

The CLASP2 (Chromospheric LAyer SpectroPolarimeter 2) sounding rocket mission was launched on 2019 April 11. CLASP2 measured the four Stokes parameters of the Mg II h & k spectral region around 2800 Angstroms along a 200 arcsecond slit at three locations on the solar disk, achieving the first spatially and spectrally resolved observations of the solar polarization in this near ultraviolet region. The focus of the work presented here is the center-to-limb variation of the linear polarization across these resonance lines, which is produced by the scattering of anisotropic radiation in the solar atmosphere. The linear polarization signals of the Mg II h & k lines are sensitive to the magnetic field from the low to the upper chromosphere through the Hanle and magneto-optical effects. We compare the observations to theoretical predictions from radiative transfer calculations in unmagnetized semi-empirical models, arguing that magnetic fields and horizontal inhomogeneities are needed to explain the observed polarization signals and spatial variations. This comparison is an important step in both validating and refining our understanding of the physical origin of these polarization signatures, and also in paving the way toward future space telescopes for probing the magnetic fields of the solar upper atmosphere via ultraviolet spectropolarimetry., Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, to be published in the Astrophysical Journal (ApJ), initially submitted May 2022, revised submission July 2022

Heating signatures from small-scale magnetic reconnection events in the solar atmosphere have proven to be difficult to detect through observations. Numerical models that reproduce flaring conditions are essential in the understanding of how nanoflares may act as a heating mechanism of the corona. We study the effects of non-thermal electrons in synthetic spectra from 1D hydrodynamic RADYN simulations of nanoflare heated loops to investigate the diagnostic potential of chromospheric emission from small-scale events. The Mg II h and k, Ca II H and K, Ca II 854.2 nm, H-alpha and H-beta chromospheric lines were synthesised from various RADYN models of coronal loops subject to electron beams of nanoflare energies. The contribution function to the line intensity was computed to better understand how the atmospheric response to the non-thermal electrons affects the formation of spectral lines and the detailed shape of their spectral profiles. The spectral line signatures arising from the electron beams highly depend on the density of the loop and the lower cutoff energy of the electrons. Low-energy (5 keV) electrons deposit their energy in the corona and transition region, producing strong plasma flows that cause both redshifts and blueshifts of the chromospheric spectra. Higher-energy (10 and 15 keV) electrons deposit their energy in the lower transition region and chromosphere, resulting in increased emission from local heating. Our results indicate that effects from small-scale events can be observed with ground-based telescopes, expanding the list of possible diagnostics for the presence and properties of nanoflares.

Aims: We examine the movements of mass elements within dense fibrils using passive tracer particles (corks) in order to understand fibril creation and destruction processes. Methods: Simulated fibrils were selected at times when they were visible in an H$\alpha$ image proxy. The corks were selected within fibril H$\alpha$ formation regions. From this set, a cork was selected, and the field line passing through it was constructed. Other fibrilar corks close to this fieldline were also selected. Pathlines were constructed, revealing the locations of the mass elements forward and backward in time. The forces acting on these mass elements were analysed. Results: The main process of fibrilar loading in the simulation is different to the mass loading scenario in which waves steepen into shocks and push material upwards along the fieldlines from near their footpoints. Twisted low lying fieldlines were destabilised and then they untwisted, lifting the material trapped above their apexes via the Lorentz force. Subsequently, the majority of the mass drained down the fieldlines towards one or both footpoints under gravity. Material with large horizontal velocities could also elevated in rising fieldlines, creating somewhat parabolic motions, but material was not generally moving upward along a stationary magnetic fieldline during loading. Conclusions: The processes observed in the simulation are plausible additional scenarios. Criteria for observing such events are described. It is desirable that our simulations can also form more densely-packed fibrils from material fed from the base of field footpoints. Experimental parameters required to achieve this are discussed., Comment: Submitted to A&A

We present first science observations taken during the commissioning activities of the Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument on the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter mission. SPICE is a high-resolution imaging spectrometer operating at extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelengths. In this paper we illustrate the possible types of observations to give prospective users a better understanding of the science capabilities of SPICE. The paper discusses the first observations of the Sun on different targets and presents an example of the full spectra from the quiet Sun, identifying over 40 spectral lines from neutral hydrogen and ions of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, neon, sulphur, magnesium, and iron. These lines cover the temperature range between 20,000 K and 1 million K (10MK in flares), providing slices of the Sun's atmosphere in narrow temperature intervals. We provide a list of count rates for the 23 brightest spectral lines. We show examples of raster images of the quiet Sun in several strong transition region lines, where we have found unusually bright, compact structures in the quiet Sun network, with extreme intensities up to 25 times greater than the average intensity across the image. The lifetimes of these structures can exceed 2.5 hours. We identify them as a transition region signature of coronal bright points and compare their areas and intensity enhancements. We also show the first above-limb measurements with SPICE above the polar limb in C III, O VI, and Ne VIII lines, and far off limb measurements in the equatorial plane in Mg IX, Ne VIII, and O VI lines. We discuss the potential to use abundance diagnostics methods to study the variability of the elemental composition that can be compared with in situ measurements to help confirm the magnetic connection between the spacecraft location and the Sun's surface, and locate the sources of the solar wind., Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A

Future ground-based telescopes will expand our capabilities for simultaneous multi-line polarimetric observations in a wide range of wavelengths, from the near-ultraviolet to the near-infrared. This creates a strong demand to compare candidate spectral lines to establish a guideline of the lines that are most appropriate for each observation target. We focused in this first work on Zeeman-sensitive photospheric lines in the visible and infrared. We first examined their polarisation signals and response functions using a 1D semi-empirical atmosphere. Then we studied the spatial distribution of the line core intensity and linear and circular polarisation signals using a realistic 3D numerical simulation. We ran inversions of synthetic profiles, and we compared the heights at which we obtain a high correlation between the input and the inferred atmosphere. We also used this opportunity to revisit the atomic information we have on these lines and computed the broadening cross-sections due to collisions with neutral hydrogen atoms for all the studied spectral lines. The results reveal that four spectral lines stand out from the rest for quiet-Sun and network conditions: Fe I 5250.2, 6302, 8468, and 15648 A. The first three form higher in the atmosphere, and the last line is mainly sensitive to the atmospheric parameters at the bottom of the photosphere. However, as they reach different heights, we strongly recommend using at least one of the first three candidates together with the Fe I 15648 A line to optimise our capabilities for inferring the thermal and magnetic properties of the lower atmosphere., Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, regular publication

The importance of the chromosphere in the mass and energy transport within the solar atmosphere is now widely recognised. This review discusses the physics of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves and instabilities in large-scale chromospheric structures as well as in magnetic flux tubes. We highlight a number of key observational aspects that have helped our understanding of the role of the solar chromosphere in various dynamic processes and wave phenomena, and the heating scenario of the solar chromosphere is also discussed. The review focuses on the physics of waves and invokes the basics of plasma instabilities in the context of this important layer of the solar atmosphere. Potential implications, future trends and outstanding questions are also delineated., Comment: This is an invited review article in the special issue "Solar and Heliospheric Plasma Structures: Waves, Turbulence, and Dissipation" of JGR - Space Physics (57 pages, 9 figures, Paper #2020JA029097R) with Editors: Leon Ofman and Shreekrishna Tripathi

The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) has been obtaining near- and far-ultraviolet images and spectra of the solar atmosphere since July 2013. The unique combination of near and far-ultraviolet spectra and images at subarcsecond resolution and high cadence allows the tracing of mass and energy through the critical interface between the solar surface and the corona or solar wind. IRIS has enabled research into the fundamental physical processes thought to play a role in the low solar atmosphere such as ion-neutral interactions, magnetic reconnection, the generation, propagation, and dissipation of various types of waves, the acceleration of non-thermal particles, and various small-scale instabilities. These new findings have helped provide novel insights into a wide range of phenomena including the discovery of non-thermal particles in coronal nanoflares, the formation and impact of spicules and other jets, resonant absorption and dissipation of Alfvenic waves, energy release associated with braiding of magnetic field lines, the thermal instability in the chromosphere-corona mass and energy cycle, the contribution of waves, turbulence, and non-thermal particles in the energy deposition during flares and smaller-scale events such as UV bursts, and the role of flux ropes and other mechanisms in triggering CMEs. IRIS observations have also advanced studies of the connections between solar and stellar physics. Advances in numerical modeling, inversion codes, and machine learning techniques have played a key role in driving these new insights. With the advent of exciting new instrumentation both on the ground (e.g., DKIST, ALMA) and space-based (e.g., Parker Solar Probe, Solar Orbiter), we aim to review new insights based on IRIS observations or related modeling, and highlight some of the outstanding challenges that have been brought to the fore., Comment: 105 pages, 30 figures, accepted for publication in Solar Physics

Solar Orbiter, the first mission of ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 programme and a mission of international collaboration between ESA and NASA, will explore the Sun and heliosphere from close up and out of the ecliptic plane. It was launched on 10 February 2020 04:03 UTC from Cape Canaveral and aims to address key questions of solar and heliospheric physics pertaining to how the Sun creates and controls the Heliosphere, and why solar activity changes with time. To answer these, the mission carries six remote-sensing instruments to observe the Sun and the solar corona, and four in-situ instruments to measure the solar wind, energetic particles, and electromagnetic fields. In this paper, we describe the science objectives of the mission, and how these will be addressed by the joint observations of the instruments onboard. The paper first summarises the mission-level science objectives, followed by an overview of the spacecraft and payload. We report the observables and performance figures of each instrument, as well as the trajectory design. This is followed by a summary of the science operations concept. The paper concludes with a more detailed description of the science objectives. Solar Orbiter will combine in-situ measurements in the heliosphere with high-resolution remote-sensing observations of the Sun to address fundamental questions of solar and heliospheric physics. The performance of the Solar Orbiter payload meets the requirements derived from the mission's science objectives. Its science return will be augmented further by coordinated observations with other space missions and ground-based observatories., Comment: 32 pages, 30 figures; accepted for publication in A&A

There has been tremendous progress in the degree of realism of three-dimensional radiation magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of the solar atmosphere in the past decades. Four of the most frequently used numerical codes are Bifrost, CO5BOLD, MANCHA3D, and MURaM. Here we test and compare the wave propagation characteristics in model runs from these four codes by measuring the dispersion relation of acoustic-gravity waves at various heights. We find considerable differences between the various models. The height dependence of wave power, in particular of high-frequency waves, varies by up to two orders of magnitude between the models, and the phase difference spectra of several models show unexpected features, including $\pm180^\circ$ phase jumps., Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures

NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) provides high resolution observations of the solar atmosphere through UV spectroscopy and imaging. Since the launch of IRIS in June 2013, we have conducted systematic observation campaigns in coordination with the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) on La Palma. The SST provides complementary high-resolution observations of the photosphere and chromosphere. The SST observations include spectro-polarimetric imaging in photospheric Fe I lines and spectrally-resolved imaging in the chromospheric Ca II 8542 A, H-alpha, and Ca II K lines. We present a database of co-aligned IRIS and SST datasets that is open for analysis to the scientific community. The database covers a variety of targets including active regions, sunspots, plage, quiet Sun, and coronal holes., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics (July 21, 2020)

Ambipolar diffusion is a physical mechanism related to the drift between charged and neutral particles in a partially ionized plasma that is key in many different astrophysical systems. However, understanding its effects is challenging due to basic uncertainties concerning relevant microphysical aspects and the strong constraints it imposes on the numerical modeling. Our aim is to introduce a numerical tool that allows us to address complex problems involving ambipolar diffusion in which, additionally, departures from ionization equilibrium are important or high resolution is needed. The primary application of this tool is for solar atmosphere calculations, but the methods and results presented here may also have a potential impact on other astrophysical systems. We have developed a new module for the stellar atmosphere Bifrost code that improves its computational capabilities of the ambipolar diffusion term in the Generalized Ohm's Law. This module includes, among other things, collision terms adequate to processes in the coolest regions in the solar chromosphere. As a key feature of the module, we have implemented the Super Time-Stepping (STS) technique, that allows an important acceleration of the calculations. We have also introduced hyperdiffusion terms to guarantee the stability of the code. We show that to have an accurate value for the ambipolar diffusion coefficient in the solar atmosphere it is necessary to include as atomic elements in the equation of state not only hydrogen and helium but also the main electron donors like sodium, silicon and potassium. In addition, we establish a range of criteria to set up an automatic selection of the free parameters of the STS method that guarantees the best performance, optimizing the stability and speed for the ambipolar diffusion calculations. We validate the STS implementation by comparison with a self-similar analytical solution., Comment: Accepted in A&A, 10 pages, 7 figures

We examine the capabilities of a fast and simple method to infer line-of-sight (LOS) velocities from observations of the photospheric Si I 10827 A line. This spectral line is routinely observed together with the chromospheric He I 10830 A triplet as it helps to constrain the atmospheric parameters. We study the accuracy of bisector analysis and a line core fit of Si I 10827 A. We employ synthetic profiles starting from the Bifrost enhanced network simulation. The profiles are computed solving the radiative transfer equation, including non-local thermodynamic equilibrium effects on the determination of the atomic level populations of Si I. We found a good correlation between the inferred velocities from bisectors taken at different line profile intensities and the original simulation velocity at given optical depths. This good correlation means that we can associate bisectors taken at different line-profile percentages with atmospheric layers that linearly increase as we scan lower spectral line intensities. We also determined that a fit to the line-core intensity is robust and reliable, providing information about atmospheric layers that are above those accessible through bisectors. Therefore, by combining both methods on the Si I 10827 A line, we can seamlessly trace the quiet-Sun LOS velocity stratification from the deep photosphere to higher layers until around $\log \tau = -3.5$ in a fast and straightforward way. This method is ideal for generating quick-look reference images for future missions like the Daniel K. Inoue Solar Telescope and the European Solar Telescope, for example., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, 7 pages, 7 figures

The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a research infrastructure for solar physics. It is planned to be an on-axis solar telescope with an aperture of 4 m and equipped with an innovative suite of spectro-polarimetric and imaging post-focus instrumentation. The EST project was initiated and is driven by EAST, the European Association for Solar Telescopes. EAST was founded in 2006 as an association of 14 European countries. Today, as of December 2019, EAST consists of 26 European research institutes from 18 European countries. The Preliminary Design Phase of EST was accomplished between 2008 and 2011. During this phase, in 2010, the first version of the EST Science Requirement Document (SRD) was published. After EST became a project on the ESFRI roadmap 2016, the preparatory phase started. The goal of the preparatory phase is to accomplish a final design for the telescope and the legal governance structure of EST. A major milestone on this path is to revisit and update the Science Requirement Document (SRD). The EST Science Advisory Group (SAG) has been constituted by EAST and the Board of the PRE-EST EU project in November 2017 and has been charged with the task of providing with a final statement on the science requirements for EST. Based on the conceptual design, the SRD update takes into account recent technical and scientific developments, to ensure that EST provides significant advancement beyond the current state-of-the-art. The present update of the EST SRD has been developed and discussed during a series of EST SAG meetings. The SRD develops the top-level science objectives of EST into individual science cases. Identifying critical science requirements is one of its main goals. Those requirements will define the capabilities of EST and the post-focus instrument suite. The technical requirements for the final design of EST will be derived from the SRD., Comment: 2nd edition, December 2019, 138 pages

Magnetic flux emergence has been shown to be a key mechanism for unleashing a wide variety of solar phenomena. However, there are still open questions concerning the rise of the magnetized plasma through the atmosphere, mainly in the chromosphere, where the plasma departs from local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) and is partially ionized. We aim to investigate the impact of the nonequilibrium (NEQ) ionization and recombination and molecule formation of hydrogen, as well as ambipolar diffusion, on the dynamics and thermodynamics of the flux emergence process. Using the Bifrost code, we performed 2.5D numerical experiments of magnetic flux emergence from the convection zone up to the corona. The experiments include the NEQ ionization and recombination of atomic hydrogen, the NEQ formation and dissociation of H2 molecules, and the ambipolar diffusion term of the Generalized Ohm's Law. Our experiments show that the LTE assumption substantially underestimates the ionization fraction in most of the emerged region, leading to an artificial increase in the ambipolar diffusion and, therefore, in the heating and temperatures as compared to those found when taking the NEQ effects on the hydrogen ion population into account. We see that LTE also overestimates the number density of H2 molecules within the emerged region, thus mistakenly magnifying the exothermic contribution of the H2 molecule formation to the thermal energy during the flux emergence process. We find that the ambipolar diffusion does not significantly affect the amount of total unsigned emerged magnetic flux, but it is important in the shocks that cross the emerged region, heating the plasma on characteristic times ranging from 0.1 to 100 s. We also briefly discuss the importance of including elements heavier than hydrogen in the equation of state so as not to overestimate the role of ambipolar diffusion in the atmosphere., Comment: Accepted in A&A. 15 pages, 11 figures, 7 movies

Context. The pursuit of more realistic spectroscopic modelling and consistent abundances has led us to begin a new series of papers designed to improve current solar and stellar abundances of various atomic species. To achieve this, we have began updating the three-dimensional (3D) non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) radiative transfer code, Multi3D, and the equivalent one-dimensional (1D) non-LTE radiative transfer code, MULTI. Aims. We examine our improvements to these codes by redetermining the solar barium abundance. Barium was chosen for this test as it is an important diagnostic element of the s-process in the context of galactic chemical evolution. New Ba II + H collisional data for excitation and charge exchange reactions computed from first principles had recently become available and were included in the model atom. The atom also includes the effects of isotopic line shifts and hyperfine splitting. Method. A grid of 1D LTE barium lines were constructed with MULTI and fit to the four Ba II lines available to us in the optical region of the solar spectrum. Abundance corrections were then determined in 1D non-LTE, 3D LTE, and 3D non-LTE. A new 3D non-LTE solar barium abundance was computed from these corrections. Results. We present for the first time the full 3D non-LTE barium abundance of $A({\rm Ba})=2.27\pm0.02\pm0.01$, which was derived from four individual fully consistent barium lines. Errors here represent the systematic and random errors, respectively., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 12 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, 1 Appendix containing 4 tables. Updated to correct columns 9 & 10 in Table3, which were swapped with each other

The interpretation of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data is of interest in a number of fields. In \"{O}gren [Eur. Phys. J. B (2014) 87: 255] local boundary conditions for random walk simulations of NMR relaxation in digital domains were presented. Here, we have applied those boundary conditions to large, three-dimensional (3D) porous media samples. We compared the random walk results with known solutions and then applied them to highly structured 3D domains, from images derived using synchrotron radiation CT scanning of North Sea chalk samples. As expected, there were systematic errors caused by digitalization of the pore surfaces so we quantified those errors, and by using linear local boundary conditions, we were able to significantly improve the output. We also present a technique for treating numerical data prior to input into the ESPRIT algorithm for retrieving Laplace components of time series from NMR data (commonly called $T$-inversion).

The Spectral Imaging of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument is a high-resolution imaging spectrometer operating at extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelengths. In this paper, we present the concept, design, and pre-launch performance of this facility instrument on the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter mission. The goal of this paper is to give prospective users a better understanding of the possible types of observations, the data acquisition, and the sources that contribute to the instrument's signal. The paper discusses the science objectives, with a focus on the SPICE-specific aspects, before presenting the instrument's design, including optical, mechanical, thermal, and electronics aspects. This is followed by a characterisation and calibration of the instrument's performance. The paper concludes with descriptions of the operations concept and data processing. The performance measurements of the various instrument parameters meet the requirements derived from the mission's science objectives. The SPICE instrument is ready to perform measurements that will provide vital contributions to the scientific success of the Solar Orbiter mission., Comment: A&A, accepted 19 August 2019; 26 pages, 25 figures

Ellerman bombs and UV bursts are transient brightenings that are ubiquitously observed in the lower atmospheres of active and emerging flux regions. Here we present inversion results of SST/CRISP and CHROMIS, as well as IRIS data of such transient events. Combining information from the Mg II h & k, Si IV and Ca II 8542A and Ca II H & K lines, we aim to characterise their temperature and velocity stratification, as well as their magnetic field configuration. We find average temperature enhancements of a few thousand kelvin close to the classical temperature minimum, but localised peak temperatures of up to 10,000-15,000 K from Ca II inversions. Including Mg II generally dampens these temperature enhancements to below 8000 K, while Si IV requires temperatures in excess of 10,000 K at low heights, but may also be reproduced with secondary temperature enhancements of 35,000-60,000 K higher up. However, reproducing Si IV comes at the expense of overestimating the Mg II emission. The line-of-sight velocity maps show clear bi-directional jet signatures and strong correlation with substructure in the intensity images, with slightly larger velocities towards the observer than away. The magnetic field parameters show an enhancement of the horizontal field co-located with the brightenings at similar heights as the temperature increase. We are thus able to largely reproduce the observational properties of Ellerman bombs with UV burst signature with temperature stratifications peaking close to the classical temperature minimum. Correctly modelling the Si IV emission in agreement with all other diagnostics is, however, an outstanding issue. Accounting for resolution differences, fitting localised temperature enhancements and/or performing spatially-coupled inversions is likely necessary to obtain better agreement between all considered diagnostics., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. 24 pages, 17 figures

Ellerman bombs (EBs) and UV bursts are both brightenings related to flux emergence regions and specifically to magnetic flux of opposite polarity that meet in the photosphere. These two reconnection-related phenomena, nominally formed far apart, occasionally occur in the same location and at the same time, thus challenging our understanding of reconnection and heating of the lower solar atmosphere. We consider the formation of an active region, including long fibrils and hot and dense coronal plasma. The emergence of a untwisted magnetic flux sheet, injected $2.5$~Mm below the photosphere, is studied as it pierces the photosphere and interacts with the preexisting ambient field. Specifically, we aim to study whether EBs and UV bursts are generated as a result of such flux emergence and examine their physical relationship. The Bifrost radiative magnetohydrodynamics code was used to model flux emerging into a model atmosphere that contained a fairly strong ambient field, constraining the emerging field to a limited volume wherein multiple reconnection events occur as the field breaks through the photosphere and expands into the outer atmosphere. Synthetic spectra of the different reconnection events were computed using the $1.5$D RH code and the fully 3D MULTI3D code. The formation of UV bursts and EBs at intensities and with line profiles that are highly reminiscent of observed spectra are understood to be a result of the reconnection of emerging flux with itself in a long-lasting current sheet that extends over several scale heights through the chromosphere. Synthetic diagnostics suggest that there are no compelling reasons to assume that UV bursts occur in the photosphere. Instead, EBs and UV bursts are occasionally formed at opposite ends of a long current sheet that resides in an extended bubble of cool gas., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted by A&A

We investigate the diagnostic potential of the spectral lines at 850 nm for understanding the magnetism of the lower atmosphere. For that purpose, we use a newly developed 3D simulation of a chromospheric jet to check the sensitivity of the spectral lines to this phenomenon as well as our ability to infer the atmospheric information through spectropolarimetric inversions of noisy synthetic data. We start comparing the benefits of inverting the entire spectrum at 850 nm versus only the Ca II 8542 A spectral line. We found a better match of the input atmosphere for the former case, mainly at lower heights. However, the results at higher layers were not accurate. After several tests, we determined that we need to weight more the chromospheric lines than the photospheric ones in the computation of the goodness of the fit. The new inversion configuration allows us to obtain better fits and consequently more accurate physical parameters. Therefore, to extract the most from multi-line inversions, a proper set of weights needs to be estimated. Besides that, we conclude again that the lines at 850 nm, or a similar arrangement with Ca II 8542 A plus Zeeman sensitive photospheric lines, poses the best observing configuration for examining the thermal and magnetic properties of the lower solar atmosphere., Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures

We study the polarization signals and physical parameters of penumbral microjets (PMJs) by using high spatial resolution data taken in the Fe I 630 nm pair, Ca II 854.2 nm and Ca II K lines with the CRISP and CHROMIS instruments at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope. We infer their physical parameters, such as physical observables in the photosphere and chromospheric velocity diagnostics, by different methods, including inversions of the observed Stokes profiles with the STiC code. PMJs harbor overall brighter Ca II K line profiles and conspicuous polarization signals in Ca II 854.2 nm, specifically in circular polarization that often shows multiple lobes mainly due to the shape of Stokes I. They usually overlap photospheric regions with sheared magnetic field configuration, suggesting that magnetic reconnections could play an important role in the origin of PMJs. The discrepancy between their low LOS velocities and the high apparent speeds reported on earlier, as well as the existence of different vertical velocity gradients in the chromosphere, indicate that PMJs might not be entirely related to mass motions. Instead, PMJs could be due to perturbation fronts induced by magnetic reconnections occurring in the deep photosphere that propagate through the chromosphere. This reconnection may be associated with current heating that produces temperature enhancements from the temperature minimum region. Furthermore, enhanced collisions with electrons could also increase the coupling to the local conditions at higher layers during the PMJ phase, giving a possible explanation for the enhanced emission in the overall Ca II K profiles emerging from these transients., Comment: 15 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ. Added references for Section 4.5

The next generation of solar observatories aim to understand the magnetism of the solar chromosphere. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the polarimetric signatures of chromospheric spectral lines. For this purpose, we here examine the suitability of the three Fraunhofer Mg I b1, b2, and b4 lines at 5183.6, 5172.7, and 5167.3 A, respectively. We start by describing a simplified atomic model of only 6 levels and 3 line transitions for computing the atomic populations of the 3p-4s (multiplet number 2) levels involved in the Mg I b line transitions assuming non-local thermodynamic conditions and considering only the Zeeman effect using the field-free approximation. We test this simplified atom against more complex ones finding that, although there are differences in the computed profiles, they are small compared with the advantages provided by the simple atom in terms of speed and robustness. After comparing the three Mg I lines, we conclude that the most capable one is the b2 line as b1 forms at similar heights and always show weaker polarization signals while b4 is severely blended with photospheric lines. We also compare Mg I b2 with the K I D1 and Ca II 8542 A lines finding that the former is sensitive to the atmospheric parameters at heights that are in between those covered by the latter two lines. This makes Mg I b2 an excellent candidate for future multi-line observations that aim to seamlessly infer the thermal and magnetic properties of different features in the lower solar atmosphere., Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, and 5 tables

The Chromospheric Lyman-Alpha Spectro-Polarimeter (CLASP) is a suborbital rocket experiment that on 3rd September 2015 measured the linear polarization produced by scattering processes in the hydrogen Ly-$\alpha$ line of the solar disk radiation, whose line-center photons stem from the chromosphere-corona transition region (TR). These unprecedented spectropolarimetric observations revealed an interesting surprise, namely that there is practically no center-to-limb variation (CLV) in the $Q/I$ line-center signals. Using an analytical model, we first show that the geometrical complexity of the corrugated surface that delineates the TR has a crucial impact on the CLV of the $Q/I$ and $U/I$ line-center signals. Secondly, we introduce a statistical description of the solar atmosphere based on a three-dimensional (3D) model derived from a state-of-the-art radiation magneto-hydrodynamic simulation. Each realization of the statistical ensemble is a 3D model characterized by a given degree of magnetization and corrugation of the TR, and for each such realization we solve the full 3D radiative transfer problem taking into account the impact of the CLASP instrument degradation on the calculated polarization signals. Finally, we apply the statistical inference method presented in a previous paper to show that the TR of the 3D model that produces the best agreement with the CLASP observations has a relatively weak magnetic field and a relatively high degree of corrugation. We emphasize that a suitable way to validate or refute numerical models of the upper solar chromosphere is by confronting calculations and observations of the scattering polarization in ultraviolet lines sensitive to the Hanle effect., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

On 3rd September 2015, the Chromospheric Lyman-Alpha SpectroPolarimeter (CLASP) successfully measured the linear polarization produced by scattering processes in the hydrogen Lyman-$\alpha$ line of the solar disk radiation, revealing conspicuous spatial variations in the $Q/I$ and $U/I$ signals. Via the Hanle effect the line-center $Q/I$ and $U/I$ amplitudes encode information on the magnetic field of the chromosphere-corona transition region (TR), but they are also sensitive to the three-dimensional structure of this corrugated interface region. With the help of a simple line formation model, here we propose a statistical inference method for interpreting the Lyman-$\alpha$ line-center polarization observed by CLASP., Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

We study the M1.9 class solar flare SOL2015-09-27T10:40 UT using high-resolution full-Stokes imaging spectropolarimetry of the Ca ii 8542 {\AA} line obtained with the CRISP imaging spectropolarimeter at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope. Spectropolarimetric inversions using the non-LTE code NICOLE are used to construct semi-empirical models of the flaring atmosphere to investigate the structure and evolution of the flare temperature and magnetic field. A comparison of the temperature stratification in flaring and non-flaring areas reveals strong heating of the flare ribbon during the flare peak. The polarization signals of the ribbon in the chromosphere during the flare maximum become stronger when compared to its surroundings and to pre- and post- flare profiles. Furthermore, a comparison of the response functions to perturbations in the line-of-sight magnetic field and temperature in flaring and non-flaring atmospheres shows that during the flare the Ca ii 8542 {\AA} line is more sensitive to the lower atmosphere where the magnetic field is expected to be stronger. The chromospheric magnetic field was also determined with the weak-field approximation which led to results similar to those obtained with the NICOLE inversions., Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, accepted in ApJ

The measured average velocities in solar and stellar spectral lines formed at transition region temperatures have been difficult to interpret. However, realistic three-dimensional radiation magnetohydrodynamics (3D rMHD) models of the solar atmosphere are able to reproduce the observed dominant line shifts and may thus hold the key to resolve these issues. Our new 3D rMHD simulations aim to shed light on how mass flows between the chromosphere and corona and on how the coronal mass is maintained. Passive tracer particles, so-called corks, allow the tracking of parcels of plasma over time and thus the study of changes in plasma temperature and velocity not only locally, but also in a co-moving frame. By following the trajectories of the corks, we can investigate mass and energy flows and understand the composition of the observed velocities. Our findings show that most of the transition region mass is cooling. The preponderance of transition region redshifts in the model can be explained by the higher percentage of downflowing mass in the lower and middle transition region. The average upflows in the upper transition region can be explained by a combination of both stronger upflows than downflows and a higher percentage of upflowing mass. The most common combination at lower and middle transition region temperatures are corks that are cooling and traveling downward. For these corks, a strong correlation between the pressure gradient along the magnetic field line and the velocity along the magnetic field line has been observed, indicating a formation mechanism that is related to downward propagating pressure disturbances. Corks at upper transition region temperatures are subject to a rather slow and highly variable but continuous heating process., Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, online movie

We present the results of 1D hydrodynamic simulations of coronal loops which are subject to nanoflares, caused by either in-situ thermal heating, or non-thermal electrons (NTE) beams. The synthesized intensity and Doppler shifts can be directly compared with IRIS and AIA observations of rapid variability in the transition region (TR) of coronal loops, associated with transient coronal heating. We find that NTE with high enough low-energy cutoff (E$_\textrm{C}$) deposit energy in the lower TR and chromosphere causing blueshifts (up to~$\sim$~20 km/s) in the \emph{IRIS} \siiv~lines, which thermal conduction cannot reproduce. The E$_\textrm{C}$ threshold value for the blueshifts depends on the total energy of the events ($\approx$~5 keV for 10$^{24}$ ergs, up to 15 keV for 10$^{25}$ ergs). The observed footpoint emission intensity and flows, combined with the simulations, can provide constraints on both the energy of the heating event and E$_\textrm{C}$. The response of the loop plasma to nanoflares depends crucially on the electron density: significant \siiv~intensity enhancements and flows are observed only for initially low-density loops ($<$~10$^{9}$~cm$^{-3}$). This provides a possible explanation of the relative scarcity of observations of significant moss variability. While the TR response to single heating episodes can be clearly observed, the predicted coronal emission (AIA 94\AA) for single strands is below current detectability, and can only be observed when several strands are heated closely in time. Finally, we show that the analysis of the IRIS \mgii~chromospheric lines can help further constrain the properties of the heating mechanisms.

Magnetic reconnection is thought to drive a wide variety of dynamic phenomena in the solar atmosphere. Yet the detailed physical mechanisms driving reconnection are difficult to discern in the remote sensing observations that are used to study the solar atmosphere. In this paper we exploit the high-resolution instruments Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) and the new CHROMIS Fabry-Perot instrument at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) to identify the intermittency of magnetic reconnection and its association with the formation of plasmoids in so-called UV bursts in the low solar atmosphere. The Si IV 1403A UV burst spectra from the transition region show evidence of highly broadened line profiles with often non-Gaussian and triangular shapes, in addition to signatures of bidirectional flows. Such profiles had previously been linked, in idealized numerical simulations, to magnetic reconnection driven by the plasmoid instability. Simultaneous CHROMIS images in the chromospheric Ca II K 3934A line now provide compelling evidence for the presence of plasmoids, by revealing highly dynamic and rapidly moving brightenings that are smaller than 0.2 arcsec and that evolve on timescales of order seconds. Our interpretation of the observations is supported by detailed comparisons with synthetic observables from advanced numerical simulations of magnetic reconnection and associated plasmoids in the chromosphere. Our results highlight how subarcsecond imaging spectroscopy sensitive to a wide range of temperatures combined with advanced numerical simulations that are realistic enough to compare with observations can directly reveal the small-scale physical processes that drive the wide range of phenomena in the solar atmosphere., Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal Letters. Movies are available at http://folk.uio.no/rouppe/plasmoids_chromis/

In this publication we continue the work started in Quintero Noda et al. (2017) examining this time a numerical simulation of a magnetic flux tube concentration. Our goal is to study if the physical phenomena that take place in it, in particular, the magnetic pumping, leaves a specific imprint on the examined spectral lines. We find that the profiles from the interior of the flux tube are periodically dopplershifted following an oscillation pattern that is also reflected in the amplitude of the circular polarization signals. In addition, we analyse the properties of the Stokes profiles at the edges of the flux tube discovering the presence of linear polarization signals for the Ca II lines, although they are weak with an amplitude around 0.5% of the continuum intensity. Finally, we compute the response functions to perturbations in the longitudinal field and we estimate the field strength using the weak field approximation. Our results indicate that the height of formation of the spectral lines changes during the magnetic pumping process which makes the interpretation of the inferred magnetic field strength and its evolution more difficult. These results complement those from previous works demonstrating the capabilities and limitations of the 850 nm spectrum for chromospheric Zeeman polarimetry in a very dynamic and complex atmosphere., Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, 0 tables, MNRAS main journal publication

We characterize the K I D1 & D2 lines in order to determine whether they could complement the 850 nm window, containing the Ca II infrared triplet lines and several Zeeman sensitive photospheric lines, that was studied previously. We investigate the effect of partial redistribution on the intensity profiles, their sensitivity to changes in different atmospheric parameters, and the spatial distribution of Zeeman polarization signals employing a realistic magnetohydrodynamic simulation. The results show that these lines form in the upper photosphere at around 500 km and that they are sensitive to the line of sight velocity and magnetic field strength at heights where neither the photospheric lines nor the Ca II infrared lines are. However, at the same time, we found that their sensitivity to the temperature essentially comes from the photosphere. Then, we conclude that the K I lines provide a complement to the lines in the 850 nm window for the determination of atmospheric parameters in the upper photosphere, especially for the line of sight velocity and the magnetic field., Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, main journal publication

There is a thin transition region (TR) in the solar atmosphere where the temperature rises from 10,000 K in the chromosphere to millions of degrees in the corona. Little is known about the mechanisms that dominate this enigmatic region other than the magnetic field plays a key role. The magnetism of the TR can only be detected by polarimetric measurements of a few ultraviolet (UV) spectral lines, the Lyman-$\alpha$ line of neutral hydrogen at 121.6 nm (the strongest line of the solar UV spectrum) being of particular interest given its sensitivity to the Hanle effect (the magnetic-field-induced modification of the scattering line polarization). We report the discovery of linear polarization produced by scattering processes in the Lyman-$\alpha$ line, obtained with the Chromospheric Lyman-Alpha Spectro-Polarimeter (CLASP) rocket experiment. The Stokes profiles observed by CLASP in quiet regions of the solar disk show that the $Q/I$ and $U/I$ linear polarization signals are of the order of 0.1 % in the line core and up to a few percent in the nearby wings, and that both have conspicuous spatial variations with scales of $\sim 10$ arcsec. These observations help constrain theoretical models of the chromosphere-corona TR and extrapolations of the magnetic field from photospheric magnetograms. In fact, the observed spatial variation from disk to limb of polarization at the line core and wings already challenge the predictions from three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamical models of the upper solar chromosphere.

Future solar missions and ground-based telescopes aim to understand the magnetism of the solar chromosphere. We performed a supporting study in Quintero Noda et al. (2016) focused on the infrared Ca II 8542 A line and we concluded that is one of the best candidates because it is sensitive to a large range of atmospheric heights, from the photosphere to the middle chromosphere. However, we believe that it is worth to try improving the results produced by this line observing additional spectral lines. In that regard, we examined the neighbour solar spectrum looking for spectral lines that could increase the sensitivity to the atmospheric parameters. Interestingly, we discovered several photospheric lines that greatly improve the photospheric sensitivity to the magnetic field vector. Moreover, they are located close to a second chromospheric line that also belongs to the Ca II infrared triplet, i.e. the Ca II 8498 A line, and enhances the sensitivity to the atmospheric parameters at chromospheric layers. We conclude that the lines in the vicinity of the Ca II 8542 A line not only increase its sensitivity to the atmospheric parameters at all layers, but also they constitute an excellent spectral window for chromospheric polarimetry., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, 1 table

This document was created by the Solar Simulations for the Atacama Large Millimeter Observatory Network (SSALMON) in preparation of the first regular observations of the Sun with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), which are anticipated to start in ALMA Cycle 4 in October 2016. The science cases presented here demonstrate that a large number of scientifically highly interesting observations could be made already with the still limited solar observing modes foreseen for Cycle 4 and that ALMA has the potential to make important contributions to answering long-standing scientific questions in solar physics. With the proposal deadline for ALMA Cycle 4 in April 2016 and the Commissioning and Science Verification campaign in December 2015 in sight, several of the SSALMON Expert Teams composed strategic documents in which they outlined potential solar observations that could be feasible given the anticipated technical capabilities in Cycle 4. These documents have been combined and supplemented with an analysis, resulting in recommendations for solar observing with ALMA in Cycle 4. In addition, the detailed science cases also demonstrate the scientific priorities of the solar physics community and which capabilities are wanted for the next observing cycles. The work on this White Paper effort was coordinated in close cooperation with the two international solar ALMA development studies led by T. Bastian (NRAO, USA) and R. Brajsa, (ESO). This document will be further updated until the beginning of Cycle 4 in October 2016. In particular, we plan to adjust the technical capabilities of the solar observing modes once finally decided and to further demonstrate the feasibility and scientific potential of the included science cases by means of numerical simulations of the solar atmosphere and corresponding simulated ALMA observations., Comment: SSALMON White Paper with focus on potential solar science with ALMA in Cycle 4; 54 pages. Version 1.2, March 29th, 2016 (updated technical capabilities and observing plans)