Thermal structure of a hot non-flaring corona from Hinode/EIS

Aims: In previous studies, a very hot plasma component has been diagnosed in solar active regions through the images in three different narrow-band channels of Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). This diagnostic from extreme ultraviolet (EUV) imaging data has also been supported by the matching morphology of emission in the hot Ca XVII line, as observed with Extreme-Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on board Hinode. This evidence is debated because of the unknown distribution of the emission measure along the line of sight. Here we investigate in detail the thermal distribution of one such region using EUV spectroscopic data. Methods: In an active region observed with SDO/AIA, Hinode/EIS, and X-ray telescope (XRT), we select a sub-region with a very hot plasma component and another cooler sub-region for comparison. The average spectrum is extracted for both, and 14 intense lines are selected for analysis that probe the 5.5 < log T < 7 temperature range uniformly. From these lines, the emission measure distributions are reconstructed with the Markov-chain Monte Carlo method. Results are cross-checked in comparison with the two sub-regions, with a different inversion method, with the morphology of the images, and with the addition of fluxes measured with narrow, and broadband imagers. Results: We find that, whereas the cool region has a flat and featureless distribution that drops at temperature log T ≥ 6.3, the distribution of the hot region shows a well-defined peak at log T = 6.6 and gradually decreasing trends on both sides, thus supporting the very hot nature of the hot component diagnosed with imagers. The other cross-checks are consistent with this result. Conclusions: This study provides a completion of the analysis of active region components, and the resulting scenario supports the presence of a minor very hot plasma component in the core, with temperatures log T > 6.6.