Bibcode
Carlin, E. S.; Asensio Ramos, A.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 801, Issue 1, article id. 16, 15 pp. (2015).
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3
2015
Journal
Citations
28
Refereed citations
20
Description
This paper presents a synthetic tomography of the quiet solar
chromosphere formed by spatial maps of scattering polarization. It has
been calculated for the Ca II 8498, 8542, and 3934 Å lines by
solving the non-LTE radiative transfer problem of the second kind in a
three-dimensional atmosphere model obtained from realistic
magneto-hydrodynamical simulations. Our investigation focuses on the
linear polarization signals induced by kinematics, radiation field
anisotropy, and the Hanle effect in forward-scattering geometry. Thus,
instead of considering slit profiles at the limb as normally done in the
study of the second solar spectrum, we synthesize and analyze spatial
maps of polarization at the disk center. This allows us to understand
the spatial signatures of dynamics and magnetic field in the linear
polarization in order to discriminate them observationally. Our results
suggest some ideas for chromospheric diagnosis that will be developed
throughout a series of papers. In particular, Hanle polarity inversion
lines and dynamic Hanle diagrams are two concepts introduced in the
present work. We find that chromospheric dynamics and magnetic field
topology create spatial polarization fingerprints that trace the dynamic
situation of the plasma and the magnetic field. This allows us to
reconstruct the magnetic field intensity in the middle chromosphere
using Stokes V along grooves of null linear polarization. We finally
address the problems of diagnosing Hanle saturation and kinematic
amplification of scattering signals using Hanle diagrams.
Related projects
Magnetism, Polarization and Radiative Transfer in Astrophysics
Magnetic fields pervade all astrophysical plasmas and govern most of the variability in the Universe at intermediate time scales. They are present in stars across the whole Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, in galaxies, and even perhaps in the intergalactic medium. Polarized light provides the most reliable source of information at our disposal for the
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