Bibcode
Ishikawa, R.; Asensio Ramos, A.; Belluzzi, L.; Manso Sainz, R.; Štěpán, J.; Trujillo Bueno, J.; Goto, M.; Tsuneta, S.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 787, Issue 2, article id. 159, 11 pp. (2014).
Advertised on:
6
2014
Journal
Citations
15
Refereed citations
12
Description
Magnetic field measurements in the upper chromosphere and above, where
the gas-to-magnetic pressure ratio β is lower than unity, are
essential for understanding the thermal structure and dynamical activity
of the solar atmosphere. Recent developments in the theory and numerical
modeling of polarization in spectral lines have suggested that
information on the magnetic field of the chromosphere-corona transition
region could be obtained by measuring the linear polarization of the
solar disk radiation at the core of the hydrogen Lyα line at 121.6
nm, which is produced by scattering processes and the Hanle effect. The
Chromospheric Lyman-Alpha SpectroPolarimeter (CLASP) sounding rocket
experiment aims to measure the intensity (Stokes I) and the linear
polarization profiles (Q/I and U/I) of the hydrogen Lyα line. In
this paper, we clarify the information that the Hanle effect can provide
by applying a Stokes inversion technique based on a database search. The
database contains all theoretical Q/I and U/I profiles calculated in a
one-dimensional semi-empirical model of the solar atmosphere for all
possible values of the strength, inclination, and azimuth of the
magnetic field vector, though this atmospheric region is highly
inhomogeneous and dynamic. We focus on understanding the sensitivity of
the inversion results to the noise and spectral resolution of the
synthetic observations as well as the ambiguities and limitation
inherent to the Hanle effect when only the hydrogen Lyα is used.
We conclude that spectropolarimetric observations with CLASP can indeed
be a suitable diagnostic tool for probing the magnetism of the
transition region, especially when complemented with information on the
magnetic field azimuth that can be obtained from other instruments.
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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