Investigation of sunspot substructure using chromospheric bright patches in a merging sunspot

Sunspot substructure is an important subject to explain their stability and energy transport. Previous studies suggested two substructure models, monolithic and spaghetti model, but no clear evidence has been found supporting a particular model. To obtain the clue of the sunspot substructure the IRIS Mg II 2796Å slit-jaw images (SJI) were examined. The Mg II images formed in the chromosphere show bright patches inside umbrae which are regarded as an observational signature of upward propagating slow magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves. The slow MHD waves are expected to be generated by convective motion below the photosphere. By tracking the motion of the bright patches it is possible to estimate the locations of oscillation centers that correspond to the occurrence position of the convections. I investigated the spatial distribution of the oscillation center in a merging sunspot and found it is randomly distributed. It implies that the occurrence rate of the convective motion inside the sunspot is not much different from that of between the two sunspots, and supports the spaghetti model as the sunspot substructure.