Bibcode
Martinez Pillet, V.
Bibliographical reference
Science with Large Solar Telescopes, Proceedings of IAU Special Session 6, held 22-24 August, 2012. Online at http://www.arcetri.astro.it/IAUSpS6, id.E3.04
Advertised on:
12
2012
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
In the last two decades, solar physics has greatly explored the 10^-3
polarimetric sensitivity level (referred to the continuum intensity).
This has provided us with a quantitatively accurate picture of the
photospheric magnetism for mean longitudinal fields in the range of
about 5 Gauss. However, the same 10^-3 detection levels translate into a
sensitivity to transverse fields of the order of 100 Gauss, which shows
that our picture of the magnetic field is fundamentally biased. The
Zeeman effect is perverse enough to tell us that a 5 G sensitivity in
the transverse fields will only be achieved when we reach the 10^-5
sensitivity level. While the Hanle effect is already helping us to
detect hidden transverse fields at the photosphere, it is also clear
that it biases our results in other ways. Thus, we are left with the
imperious need to progress towards increasing our polarimetric
sensitivities one order of magnitude or even better. In this talk, I
will present the science cases that expect us in the 10^-4 sensitivity
world and the technical challenges that we must face for that.