PROMINENCE PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS THROUGH EXTREME-ULTRAVIOLET ABSORPTION.

In this paper, we introduce a new diagnostic technique that uses EUV and UV absorption to determine the electron temperature and column emission measure, as well as the He/H relative abundance of the absorbing plasma. If a realistic assumption on the geometry of the latter can be made and a spectral code such as CHIANTI is used, then this technique can also yield the absorbing plasma hydrogen and electron density. This technique capitalizes on the absorption properties of hydrogen and helium at different wavelength ranges and temperature regimes. Several cases where this technique can be successfully applied are described. This technique works best when the absorbing plasma is hotter than 15,000 K. We demonstrate this technique on AIA observations of plasma absorption during a coronal mass ejection eruption. This technique can be easily applied to existing observations of prominences and cold plasmas in the Sun from almost all space missions devoted to the study of the solar atmosphere, which we list. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]