Context. Broad-band images of the solar chromosphere in the Ca ii H&K line cores around active regions are covered with fine bright elongated structures called bright fibrils. The mechanisms that form these structures and cause them to appear bright are still unknown. Aims. We aim to investigate the physical properties, such as temperature, line-of-sight velocity, and microturbulence, in the atmosphere that produces bright fibrils and to compare those to the properties of their surrounding atmosphere. Methods. We used simultaneous observations of a plage region in Fe i 6301-2 Å, Ca ii 8542 Å, Ca ii K, and Hα acquired by the CRISP and CHROMIS instruments on the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope. We manually selected a sample of 282 Ca ii K bright fibrils. We compared the appearance of the fibrils in our sample to the Ca ii 8542 Å and Hα data. We performed non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) inversions using the inversion code STiC on the Fe i 6301-2 Å, Ca ii 8542 Å, and Ca ii K lines to infer the physical properties of the atmosphere. Results. The line profiles in bright fibrils have a higher intensity in their K 2 peaks compared to profiles formed in the surrounding atmosphere. The inversion results show that the atmosphere in fibrils is on average 100−200 K hotter at an optical depth log(τ 500 nm ) = −4.3 compared to their surroundings. The line-of-sight velocity at chromospheric heights in the fibrils does not show any preference towards upflows or downflows. The microturbulence in the fibrils is on average 0.5 km s −1 higher compared to their surroundings. Our results suggest that the fibrils have a limited extent in height, and they should be viewed as hot threads pervading the chromosphere.

Context. It has so far proven impossible to reproduce all aspects of the solar plage chromosphere in quasi-realistic numerical models. The magnetic field configuration in the lower atmosphere is one of the few free parameters in such simulations. The literature only offers proxy-based estimates of the field strength, as it is difficult to obtain observational constraints in this region. Sufficiently sensitive spectro-polarimetric measurements require a high signal-to-noise ratio, spectral resolution, and cadence, which are at the limit of current capabilities. Aims. We use critically sampled spectro-polarimetric observations of the Ca II 8542 Å line obtained with the CRISP instrument of the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope to study the strength and inclination of the chromospheric magnetic field of a plage region. This will provide direct physics-based estimates of these values, which could aid modelers to put constraints on plage models. Methods. We increased the signal-to-noise ratio of the data by applying several methods including deep learning and PCA. We estimated the noise level to be 1 × 10−3 Ic. We then used STiC, a non-local thermodynamic equilibrium inversion code to infer the atmospheric structure and magnetic field pixel by pixel. Results. We are able to infer the magnetic field strength and inclination for a plage region and for fibrils in the surrounding canopy. In the plage we report an absolute field strength of |B| = 440 ± 90 G, with an inclination of 10° ±16° with respect to the local vertical. This value for |B| is roughly double of what was reported previously, while the inclination matches previous studies done in the photosphere. In the fibrillar region we found |B| = 300 ± 50 G, with an inclination of 50° ±13°.

We present high-resolution and multiline observations of a C2-class solar flare (SOL2019-05-06T08:47), which occurred in NOAA AR 12740 on May 6, 2019. The rise, peak, and decay phases of the flare were recorded continuously and quasi-simultaneously in the Ca II K line with the CHROMIS instrument and in the Ca II 8542 Å and Fe I 6173 Å lines with the CRISP instrument at the Swedish 1 m Solar Telescope. The observations in the chromospheric Ca II lines exhibit intense brightening near the flare footpoints. At these locations, a nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium inversion code was employed to infer the temperature, magnetic field, line-of-sight (LOS) velocity, and microturbulent velocity stratification in the flaring atmosphere. The temporal analysis of the inferred temperature at the flare footpoints shows that the flaring atmosphere from log τ500 ∼ −2.5 to −3.5 is heated up to 7 kK, whereas from log τ500 ∼ −3.5 to −5 the inferred temperature ranges between ∼7.5 kK and ∼11 kK. During the flare peak time, the LOS velocity shows both upflows and downflows around the flare footpoints in the upper chromosphere and lower chromosphere, respectively. Moreover, the temporal analysis of the LOS magnetic field at the flare points exhibits a maximum change of ∼600 G. After the flare, the LOS magnetic field decreases to the non-flaring value, exhibiting no permanent or step-wise change. The analysis of response functions to the temperature, LOS magnetic field, and velocity shows that the Ca II lines exhibit enhanced sensitivity to the deeper layers (i.e., log τ500 ∼ −3) of the flaring atmosphere, whereas for the non-flaring atmosphere they are mainly sensitive around log τ500 ∼ −4. We suggest that a fraction of the apparent increase in the LOS magnetic field at the flare footpoints may be due to the increase in the sensitivity of the Ca II 8542 Å line in the deeper layers, where the field strength is relatively strong. The rest may be due to magnetic field reconfiguration during the flare. In the photosphere, we do not notice significant changes in the physical parameters during the flare or non-flare times. Our observations illustrate that even a less intense C-class flare can heat the deeper layers of the solar chromosphere, mainly at the flare footpoints, without affecting the photosphere.