Spatial and Dynamical Relations between Spicules and Network Bright Points

Abstract Spicules are among the most ubiquitous small-scale, jet-like features in the solar chromosphere and are widely believed to play a significant role in transporting mass and energy into the solar corona, with their mechanisms not fully understood. We utilize high-resolution H α images acquired from the 1.6 m Goode Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory to investigate spatial and dynamical properties of both spicules and network bright points (NBPs), and for the first time, incorporated NBP motions in the analyses of spicules. Our main results are as follows: (1) The speed distributions of blueshifted spicules and NBPs both exhibit distinct peaks, whereas that of redshifted spicules is monotonically decreasing. (2) Torsional motions of spicules inferred from alternating signs of Doppler shifts are faster than the NBPs’ transversal motions by a factor of 10–10 2 , which may imply the mass density ratio in two different heights as 10 2 –10 4 . (3) Blueshifted spicules are found to be more abundant than redshifted spicules in general, but their relative population difference reduces to ∼10% at Doppler speeds above ∼35 km s −1 . (4) Redshifted spicules lying at higher heights share morphological and dynamical similarity with the blueshifted spicules, which implies the same driving mechanism operating in both directions. (5) These two populations appear above NBPs concentrated under the AIA 193 Å bright region. We interpret these results in favor of a scenario that Alfvén waves generated by NBPs' motions impart their energies to spicules in both torsional and field-aligned motions, and also contribute to the coronal heating and possibly the acceleration of the solar wind.