On the Nature of Prominence Absorption and Emission in Highly Ionized Iron and in Neutral Hydrogen

We have studied the behavior of the emission in the highly ionized EUV lines Fe ix/x, 171 Å, Fe xii, 195 Å, and Fe xv, 284 Å observed in quiescent prominences. Kucera, Andretta, and Poland (1998) have explained the absorption of other highly ionized metallic EUV lines as due to absorption in the hydrogen continuum. However, since the authors noticed deviations from the expected λ3 dependence of the absorption strengths, we have explored the possibility that emission in EUV iron lines can influence the observations. We propose the existence of a hot, i.e., million-degree plasma component of the prominence–corona transition region (PCTR), where the EUV iron lines originate. We find that (i) neither of the two scenarios alone reproduces observations; (ii) both emission and absorption increase prior to eruption; (iii) the measurements of Kucera, Andretta, and Poland's 14 May event are strongly affected by hot PCTR emission.